What are they??

[BearSpringsFarm]

Looking for some help - don't know if these are ducklings or goslings - our daughter wanted to add them to the farm so we purchased them, but the man we got them from doesn't know what they are either. Right now they have been adopted by our momma hen even though they are over twice the sized of the chicks - they haven't gotten any feathers yet and they love grass and clover!! We would like to know what they are - ducks? geese? breed? and if the sex can be determined by color? Thanks!

 

[jonhpdx]

Looks an awful lot like goslings to me. Then again, I'm a duck guy. As far as ducks are concerned, it doesn't look like any purebred duck breed I've seen, that's mainly why I'm guessing gosling. There are also a few other things tipping me off, like the length of their necks and their bills, but again I could be wrong.

 

[Rosie42892]

Hmm... I am thinking they are carrying themselves more like ducks, but your guess is as good as mine! I would say the chances of them being pure anything is low, but it will be fun to see what they grow into!

 

[jonhpdx]

Regardless, I think they're much cuter than those chicks!

 

[missnu01]

Whatever they are they are very pretty. I found some pictures of muscovy ducklings that look like yours. They don't look like any geese I have seen, and they look duck sized compared to your chicken and chicks in the picture. Goslings are really big...hard to tell which is which unless you have a duckling and gosling together. Goslings are way larger...For example here is a newly hatched duckling beside a newly hatched gosling...

I am super super guessing muscovy...just look on google images, search for muscovy duckling...I mean they come in all colors, but there are a number colored like yours.

 

[Rosie42892]

Jonhpdx, Agreed!

 

[Speceider]

Muscovy ducklings.

Clint

 

[Going Quackers]

They look like scovies to me as well. Some of mine from last year. Unfortunately, sexing a 'scovie isn't so straightforward. It's based on size, the drakes outside the ducks. So it'll be awhile before you know, if one starts to outsize the other, probably a drake.



Such a cute pic of them with that mama hen though!

 

[desertdarlene]

I'm pretty sure they are muscovies which are great meat and egg ducks. Males generally get bigger and have more carnuncles on the face than the female. Sometimes, you can tell gender by the size of the feet and legs early on (males bigger and thicker). I might be wrong about that, though. They're also extremely quiet, so the quack test for gender won't really work, though females are a bit more vocal than the males.

 

[missnu01]

I want some muscovy ducks bad....