Welsh harlequin ducks, all girls maybe?

[emileexepic]

Okay so I picked up a few day old ducklings back in May for my poor overzealous broody Muscovy who unsuccessfully sat on 25 eggs in late winter. (I think she realized her mistake as she's currently attempting to hatch a clutch of just 1 lol). Anyway she ended up being the proud mother of three darling welsh harlequin babies. It was evident when I picked them up that the family farm I purchased from was not breeding for the auto sexing trait, their bills had very little bean definition and were sort of hazy pink and brown mixed together. They're all pretty grown now (i think) at 9+ weeks but I've been going back and forth on what their genders are. They look like girls, but only one (maybe two) are quacking. The others are still kind of peeping. Do I need to wait longer? Are they going to molt again and completely change appearance? There are no drake feathers that I can see, but my Cayuga drake doesn't have that anymore either, he did when he first matured but lost it somewhere I guess. Sorry for the rambling. Am I wrong or did I luck out and end up with 3 lady ducks?

 

[Duck mommy 2019]

i see atleast one drake, possibly two

 

[Miss Lydia]

At least one drake with the dark head. Gorgeous ducks! ❤

 

[jaykayhuff]

You could possibly have three females. I have two WH females and their heads are darker. Unless the one on the far right has the mallard green feathers coming in on it’s head it could still be a girl.

 

[emileexepic]

You could possibly have three females. I have two WH females and their heads are darker. Unless the one on the far right has the mallard green feathers coming in on it’s head it could still be a girl.

Thank you, that's what I was thinking too. I was really hoping someone else who kept WH would weigh in. There's no mallard green feathers on any of them... yet. Really hoping it stays that way. It would really help balance my flock dynamics.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Really the dark head maybe a female. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a female with that dark of head.

 

[21hens-incharge]

I think you have a trio. I see 1 drake and 2 ducks. My little Webman didn't get the green head until 12-13 weeks old.

 

[Trisseh]

I’m seeing a drake (The darker head, looks like it’s getting the coloration around the bill like they do when they’re starting to get the male colouring) and a possible drake, hard to see details on the 2 that aren’t standing upright and separate. By this age you should be able to voice sex no problem, though. Girls make the quintessential quack, boys sound like they smoke a few too many packs a day.

 

[Trisseh]

these aren’t WH (Silver Appleyards) but demonstrate similar color patterns emerging. These guys develop a little slower being a heavyweight breed, but they’re 10-11 weeks in this picture. You can clearly see the drake in the front, and the duck in the back, but I already knew at 7-8 weeks when she started quacking and he kept on peeping.

 

[21hens-incharge]

This was my little webman July 10th. Hatch date April 1. That puts him a bit over 13 weeks I think. You can see he still had traces of light grey around the front of his face. This week he is full on green on the head.
Forgive the "poop deck" please. The pool gets filled then that gets sprayed off.

I have one female with a buff colored head but it is LIGHT buff. She was not up for a photo shoot.