can ducks change sexes?

[creaturelife]

i have never herd of this or saw it in my life i m going to look in on this if it happens with the hole sex change it must only happen with some breeds

 

[Speceider]

Fecca...sounds like you have a drake undergoing normal alternate-basic plumage molts.


They do not change sex, but old ducks or ducks with ovarian tumors may start producing less estrogen altering the ratio with testosterone and start producing Drake plumage and stop laying.

Clint

 

[Tau in]

I have two male ducks in a pen. A big Peking and a Mallard. Both had the curly tail but the Peking was the dominate drake. I swear after molting the Mallard has become female. I am still keeping an eye to see if this change is permanent. I thought I was crazy even to consider if this was possible. Glad to know that nature can always surprise us.

 

[ladyarabella]

I recently was given three kaki cambells drake and two hens
and was told the eldest gal was changing
I wondered if u hav too many drakes a gal could do this in plumage
But can't c how they change sex completely

I havnt bin keeping poultry very long ( since Jan 2014)
And am hoping wen I introduce them to my Muscovy trio this gal settles
I read somewhere that an older duck can use a different ovary which has more testosterone
So mayb that's enough to change their looks but if urs has grown appendiges to match the new feathers plse share

 

[Darezan]

I had a male and a female mallard. Female laid eggs, male laid her. I hatched the resulting eggs under a devoted Wyandotte hen and hatched four duckling who are all female. Mother duck was taken by a predator, surrogate Mum raised the ducklings and Dad duck slowly went from being an indifferent father to a devoted father. Mum (hen) eventually moved on and Dad duck completely took over her role as (single) parent. Now though, approximately 3 months on, Dad has lost all his male plumage and it is only possible to tell him apart from him young daughters by the fact that his legs are still dark orange. He no longer has his beautiful green neck, raspy voice OR curly tail feather.
What the duck? Confusion reigns....

 

[PotatoWaffles]

Male mallards molt into two different plumages depending upon the time of year. During th breeding season, they will sport the well known beautiful breeding plumage with shiny green heads. This coloring is what comes to mind when most people think of a male mallard. However, when breeding season is over, they molt into what is called "eclipse" plumage, where they are nearly identical to the females. This is a survival technique, as they are more camouflaged from predators in this plumage. When males molt, they can also lose their drake feather. My male mallard went without a drake feather for almost a year!

 

[Darezan]

Thanks PotatoWaffles, so glad my male duck should go back to his usual beautiful plumage. Its so odd seeing him the way he is. I have to look out for his dark orange legs to know which duck I'm talking to.

 

[Mitzi Louise]

I'm not sure about your ducks, I've never heard of this, but maybe someone else has? I know that some fish can change genders, but some also can just look and act the other gender for a while but not actually be it.