Welsh Harlequin Ducklings (Sexing)

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Nyxsie

Nyxsie

In the Brooder
Oct 30, 2016
47
7
21
Florida
I purchased two Welsh Harlequin ducklings recently. I requested for 1 female, 1 male. The woman did vent checking when I bought them but seemed a little unsure. Her son confirmed the smaller one is the male because he remember the females were much larger.

I was unsure whether to get 2 females or 1 male and 1 female originally so I guess it's not a huge deal. Aside from that, mistakes happen. So I wouldn't be upset or anything if they were both females, but I just wanted to get a second opinion now that the feathers are coming in. Bare with me, because I'm no expert on ducklings. I know a fare amount about them and have done research, but I'm still in the dark on the way their feathers grow in. As the male duckling's feathers began coming in, I notice they were exactly the same coloration as the female's feathers. Is it just because of the specific feathers that are growing? Is it due to age? Or are both of my ducklings females?



About 1 week ago.


Today.


My yard has a lot of dirt it's ugleh.
 
There's no way to tell at this stage, you just have to hope the vent sexing was correct.

By the way, males are not smaller than females, so the son was incorrect with that information.
 
Pyxis said:
By the way, males are not smaller than females, so the son was incorrect with that information.
Click to expand...
Pyxis is right. That's completely the other way round, but only when they grow up.

They look a little young to be quacking still.
I personally believe voice sexing is the earliest(except vent sexing of couse)and surest way to tell. Maybe in a week or two they will start. I have found guessing on size, colour or bill shape not helpful in the least.
 
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Pyxis said:
There's no way to tell at this stage, you just have to hope the vent sexing was correct.

By the way, males are not smaller than females, so the son was incorrect with that information.
Click to expand...

Hopefully it was correct then. Too bad I can't just ask the ducklings. :(

I kind of phrased the size thing wrong. The male is a little younger than the female and so he is smaller. I should have said younger. ;x Oops.

Bills vs Beaks said:
Pyxis is right. That's completely the other way round, but only when they grow up.

They look a little young to be quacking still.
I personally believe voice sexing is the earliest(except vent sexing of couse)and surest way to tell. Maybe in a week or two they will start. I have found guessing on size, colour or bill shape not helpful in the least.
Click to expand...

The female started learning to quack a couple days ago and now she quacks quite a bit- sometimes it's mixed with with her duckling sounds and sometimes straight quacking. Like when she is calling out, it starts ducklingish and ends quackish. The male duckling doesn't quack yet, but in general he doesn't make much sounds anyways. The female does enough talking for both of them. :p
 
Nyxsie said:
Hopefully it was correct then. Too bad I can't just ask the ducklings. :(

I kind of phrased the size thing wrong. The male is a little younger than the female and so he is smaller. I should have said younger. ;x Oops.


The female started learning to quack a couple days ago and now she quacks quite a bit- sometimes it's mixed with with her duckling sounds and sometimes straight quacking. Like when she is calling out, it starts ducklingish and ends quackish. The male duckling doesn't quack yet, but in general he doesn't make much sounds anyways. The female does enough talking for both of them. :p
Click to expand...

Ok now I understand why one is bigger. If the male is younger, there's still a chance he may turn out she. How many weeks are they?
 
Bills vs Beaks said:
Ok now I understand why one is bigger. If the male is younger, there's still a chance he may turn out she. How many weeks are they?
Click to expand...

She gave me an estimate of 3 weeks last week. So they are around 4 weeks old. If that age is correct for the female, I would guess that the male is 3.5 weeks old judging by the feather growth in comparison to the female. I bought them on October 30th.
 
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Not all the time, but at least 65% of time the older female duckling quacks. However, I don't know how accurate "4 weeks old" is. She didn't give me a date, just an estimate haha.
 
I love when they give you an "estimate"
1f644.png
 
Bills vs Beaks said:
I love when they give you an "estimate"
1f644.png
Click to expand...
Yeah... I do wish I knew the exact dates. It would make it more fun to track the progress. Soon enough though my ducklings will grow to ducks and they will produce their own ducklings. :)

Some more photos, taken today:

Younger duckling.


Older duckling.


Older duckling.



Here is a recording of the female calling, ending with some quacks, when I disappeared around the corner:
http://vocaroo.com/i/s0wjHU6yiEM5
Dunno how long that link will remain active lol, never used that site before.

She also will just lay and quack as well, but that's usually at night time when they are in their housing and right now they are running about in the yard. I realized today that the male (or little female lol) actually is quacking a little bit. I guess I just didn't notice because he is quieter and not even close to being as talkative as the larger duckling.
 
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