15 week old buff Orpington ducks sexes?

[proudduckowner22]

Hey y’all, I got my first buff Orpington ducks about 2 weeks ago they are 15 weeks old now. I was wanting to purchase 4 girls and 1 boy and when I got them I was pretty sure I got what I wanted, in the photo you can see the drake in the pool he clearly has a different bill colour then everyone else (I took the photo the day I bought them). However when I went out to go spend some time with them today I noticed that one of the ducks I was sure was female has a curl on her tail. Is this normal? The guy I bought these from was pretty sure too that it was 4 girls and a drake but I am starting to have my doubts. Any help here on figuring out their sexes would be appreciated!

 

[BelovedBirds]

Hey y’all, I got my first buff Orpington ducks about 2 weeks ago they are 15 weeks old now. I was wanting to purchase 4 girls and 1 boy and when I got them I was pretty sure I got what I wanted, in the photo you can see the drake in the pool he clearly has a different bill colour then everyone else (I took the photo the day I bought them). However when I went out to go spend some time with them today I noticed that one of the ducks I was sure was female has a curl on her tail. Is this normal? The guy I bought these from was pretty sure too that it was 4 girls and a drake but I am starting to have my doubts. Any help here on figuring out their sexes would be appreciated!

They're gorgeous! It is possible, though a little rare, for a girl to have a curly drake feather. Could you get a photo of the duck in question?
By now it should be fairly simple to voice sex, do the "girls" all quack? Only girls can quack, boys will do a whispery raspy sound.

 

[proudduckowner22]

They're gorgeous! It is possible, though a little rare, for a girl to have a curly drake feather. Could you get a photo of the duck in question?
By now it should be fairly simple to voice sex, do the "girls" all quack? Only girls can quack, boys will do a whispery raspy sound.

Thank you for your kind words! They are quite beautiful birds. I just went out and did a voice check on ‘em and the “male” sounds about the same as the ones I believe to be female. However, I can hear some slight differences in the males voice sounds slightly more whispery. I also snapped a quick photo of the gal with her little curl too. Sorry that I’m having troubles figuring out the sexes of these ducks I’m quite new to raising these beauties of birds, I got my first ones back in late April this year!

 

[Quatie]

Bill color doesn't really mean much in most ducks sadly. It can sometimes be an indication of one sex but it is never 100% accurate. From what it looks like, it looks like the gray heads are starting to come in. In a few more days it will be super obvious as that gray head coloring comes in.

 

[proudduckowner22]

Bill color doesn't really mean much in most ducks sadly. It can sometimes be an indication of one sex but it is never 100% accurate. From what it looks like, it looks like the gray heads are starting to come in. In a few more days it will be super obvious as that gray head coloring comes in.

I will provide an update however long it takes for them to get their gray heads in. Is it possible for the females to get somewhat of a gray head, or is a trait only for the male buffs? I’m really hoping I don’t have to get rid of any of these ducks if I get more then 1 drake. Hopefully I can get my 4 females only time will tell it looks like!

 

[Quatie]

I will provide an update however long it takes for them to get their gray heads in. Is it possible for the females to get somewhat of a gray head, or is a trait only for the male buffs? I’m really hoping I don’t have to get rid of any of these ducks if I get more then 1 drake. Hopefully I can get my 4 females only time will tell it looks like!

At this age, unlikely. I am more familiar with Saxony, which are very similar to buffs. They do have some gray tone to their feathers, but their head shouldn't be gray. If you have a video we can confirm quacks or rasps.

I know females can get male coloring when there is an issue with hormone imbalance.

 

[BelovedBirds]

Thank you for your kind words! They are quite beautiful birds. I just went out and did a voice check on ‘em and the “male” sounds about the same as the ones I believe to be female. However, I can hear some slight differences in the males voice sounds slightly more whispery. I also snapped a quick photo of the gal with her little curl too. Sorry that I’m having troubles figuring out the sexes of these ducks I’m quite new to raising these beauties of birds, I got my first ones back in late April this year!

if you can, a video/s of their quacks will help us in sexing them, but you'd need to upload the video to youtube or something similar, then post the link.
And don't be sorry! I'm fairly new to it also and had similar doubts with one of my girls.

 

[Miss Lydia]

I have 2 female Buffs and neither has a dab of grey on them only drakes have the grey on their heads. Gorgeous ducks aren't they? I just love my 2.

 

[Tretinker]

You can add videos to the gallery on here, another member showed me the other day if you click on the burger menu in the top left corner on a mobile device. You'll see a tab for Gallery this is where you can select add media and upload your video. Then just copy the link to your video and paste here.

It's really handy! I'm struggling to tell the sex of my ducks too and this has helped me to upload videos.

 

[proudduckowner22]

if you can, a video/s of their quacks will help us in sexing them, but you'd need to upload the video to youtube or something similar, then post the link.
And don't be sorry! I'm fairly new to it also and had similar doubts with one of my girls.

I have been having troubles trying to upload videos to YouTube, but I just had some great news about the ones I couldn’t figure out their sexes. I found my first egg from them today! And it came from one of the ones I thought was female too!! From more research I am doing on this breed too, many sources are saying that only males have the yellow bills for buff ducks, if that’s true then that means that I did only get my one drake. I think my case has been closed on this one! Was such a relief to find an egg from them today