Swedish duck questions..

[GeoGreyWolf]

So I have two Swedish ducks. One is a blue Swedish with black bill which everything i read when i first got it was that black bills are female. The other one was bought as an adult and i was told it is a male. has the orangish bill which everything i read said male.
The thing is the orange male has the voice so i know it is a male plus the drake feathers. The Swedish i bought as a duckling black bill, now has drake feathers and the raspy voice. Is it common for male Swedish to have black bills?

 

[CarleeAnn]

Bill color isn’t a true indicator of gender because of variation. It’s more common for drakes to have an orange bill but you see black bills very often too.

 

[GeoGreyWolf]

I see. Well so much information to process on ducks lol. Because of this mis information i read i thought i had 3 females so i went and bought 2 adult males. Now I ended up with 4 males and 1 female.

 

[CarleeAnn]

I’m so sorry! That is frustrating. I believ venting when ducklings is the only true way to tell, everything else is just a “majority rule” but there are always exceptions.

 

[chickens really]

Post a picture of them side shots..

 

[chickens really]

I see. Well so much information to process on ducks lol. Because of this mis information i read i thought i had 3 females so i went and bought 2 adult males. Now I ended up with 4 males and 1 female.

Hens Quack very loud...Drakes rasp...

 

[GeoGreyWolf]

yeah they started rasping and the swedish i thought was female because of black beak has drake feathers now. Also have a pekin i thought was female since she was very talkative in the beginning, then noticed the rasp now and a tiny looking drake feather coming in. The feathers didnt start showing up till recent. The swedish is 14 -15 weeks old and the pekin is 18-19 weeks old. Later than i expected them to show up

 

[chickens really]

Ducks get their voice before the Drake feather ever comes in...Here I'll explain...
Ducklings voices change from peeps to either Quacks or Rasps by 7 weeks old..
Feathers in the tails of Drakes come in at around 4 to 5 months old after the juvenile molt...
Pick them up and walk away...Hen will Quack her head off and Drakes only rasp...
Sorry....You need a plan B now with so many Drakes...

 

[GeoGreyWolf]

Yes looking at some options for plan B. Tried to talk to my daughter about having to give some of the ducks away maybe and getting new ones. Found a possible home for the male pekin, but she went into crying with tears. So now not sure

 

[solarpup]

Yes looking at some options for plan B. Tried to talk to my daughter about having to give some of the ducks away maybe and getting new ones. Found a possible home for the male pekin, but she went into crying with tears. So now not sure

I don't doubt that your daughter will be upset, but once they all reach sexual maturity, that mixture of drakes to the one female is going to get ugly fast, and she will likely be even more upset than she currently is.

I've got one mallard drake and two Swedish girls, and at that, the mallard can get bossy with one of the girls, who has always been shy. It's OK most of the time, but we have to make sure we have options from separating the drake from the two girls.

We used to have three mallard drakes, and that would get ugly. We always had to have one drake completely separate, but within sight, of the other two, otherwise they would mercilessly attack him. And that didn't start until they reached sexual maturity, about 5 months in. We came up with a setup where they could all nest next to each other with a screen inbetween, but we absolutely could not let them be free together. (And we have a *lot* of space in our yard.)

So, if the sexes were all reversed, you could probably get away with what you have. That many drakes with one female, oy, it's likely to get nasty.