Welsh Harlequin Gender.. It's a girl??

[adubsroit]

Below is a picture of my Welsh Harlequin Sookie. This summer a lot of True Blood was watched, hence the name, but my boyfriend and I are starting to question whether "Sookie" may be a "Bill." She isn't very loud, and when she quacks it sounds much like a female's voice, but the bouts of quacking are far and few so it is hard to keep good track. At hatch her beak was very much pink, a tad bit of shading down the middle but nothing more.

As of this coming week she will be 11 weeks old, if this helps. Do the Welsh females beaks take a while to go dark? I figured by now that her bill would start showing signs of change and while it seems it may be starting to darken up I think this may be my seeing what I want to see.

Her she is:

The bantam pictured is a silkie-OEGB cross and was hatched within a few days of the Welsh's hatch. They have since become inseparable and what's cooler is how much their coloration and pattern resemble each other.

While I hope Sookie is a girl it really isn't an issue if she is a he. My boyfriend and have already planned to start up a flock of Welsh Harlequins but would like to know sooner rather than later what genders we need to look in acquiring.

Can't wait to hear back from y'all!!

 

[kswaterfowl]

It looks like a hen. As far as bill color. The hens should have fairly dark bill color from about a week old on. If not, they don't fit the breed standard and are pet quality. But the color ranges from dark to light and it changes throughout the year and with every molt. If you hear Q U A C K its a duck...if it sounds like Donald Duck its a drake. but it looks female to me, just has the less than desirable light colored bill. But will still lay eggs for your table. I wouldn't hold me to it, I think hen. We've raisied them for 10 years now, but we never keep birds with light bills. With the orange bill instead of being yellow green, I am led towards female.

 

[adubsroit]

I'm really hoping that maybe it is because she is young, and or it could be due to moult. She was born right at the end of summer and within no time at all it was fall. If she is a female and it is the case that she just has a really bad bill color: should we cull her from breeding? I really don't want to part, lol, she was the first duck my boyfriend and I hatched.

The eggs were purchased off eBay and at the time we wanted Welsh Harlequins regardless of being show quality or not. Of the 8 eggs that were bought she was the only one to hatch.

Another question: when do the Welsh show signs of tail curling? Our Swedish drake's tails started twisting around the 12th week and a curl was obvious by week 14. Is this common for all ducks, or do some mature slower/faster than other?

Here's to hoping Sookie is a girl!!

 

[Dances with Ducks]

If you have even a muffled quack at this point you have a girl!!
Congratulations and enjoy those eggs!!

 

[KansasKid]

my vote is drake, looks like some green coming in around the edges of its face. or maybe she just got done foraging in the mud. hard to tell.

 

[Blooming chicks]

She looks like a hen...I have 3 of them with yellow bills--pet quality, but still nice ducks otherwise.

Not the best pic of her bill, but this is one of my females. I also got my eggs off ebay, my males are nice looking but my girls aren't even close to standard. I only keep mine as pets and for eggs so I don't have to worry about passing the genes on.

Edited for multiple spelling errors.

 

[Senna95]

Judging by the color alone, I vote drake. Look at the dark color coming in around the tail, and the dark breast that's starting to develope...........

But I'm no expert.

Keep us posted.

 

[Blooming chicks]

These are my drakes at 9 weeks old.

 

[adubsroit]

Would we be better off from conformational stand point if Sooki turned out to be a Bill?