Piccapii
In the Brooder
- Jun 17, 2020
- 8
- 4
- 11
Hi everyone,
I wanted to post in this forum because it's become my bible as during isolation from COVID-19 I decided to hatch my own Welsh Harlequin eggs, and previously knew nothing about raising or hatching ducks. (I was always planning on getting ducks, isolation just seemed like the perfect time to do it.. no it was not a pandemic panic purchase haha)
So my ducks are now 6 1/2 weeks old, and I am trying to work out the age old question... are they male or female?
From the get go I had guessed that one was male and the other female. Looking at their baby duckling photos you can clearly see that one has a dark grey bill, and the other has a yellow bill with a very dark tip. This would most often mean 1 male, 1 female. Easy done!
- Ductape and Zammie immediatley after hatching - again, you can see Ductape's beak is very pink with a dark tip.
This would make me guess she is female. Zammie's is a darker grey so I guessed he was a boy.
- Zammie and Ductape a day after hatching
- The ducks at about 3 weeks old - you can see they've kept the colours on their beaks... with Zammie's being grey and Ductape's yellow.
At about 3 weeks the female one started to quack, and I was SO sure I'd gotten it right... but in the last two weeks she's stopped quacking and has gone back to almost a musical whistle.
- Ductape (left of this picture) and Zammie (right) at 6 1/2 weeks (taken this morning)... you can now see they are getting dark heads.
Some Welsh Harlequin breeder's have assured me this can be normal for both males and females at this age, however it makes me think they MUST both be males.
As they start to molt they are looking and sounding more and more similar to each other... and their dark heads are leading me to think perhaps they are male instead.
Has anyone got any guesses?
I wanted to post this here to get other people's thoughts and opinions, but also to track what gender they actually wind up being. I'll make another post or add to this one in a few weeks once I 100% know for sure. That way if someone else is trying to find the same info it will be here for them
I wanted to post in this forum because it's become my bible as during isolation from COVID-19 I decided to hatch my own Welsh Harlequin eggs, and previously knew nothing about raising or hatching ducks. (I was always planning on getting ducks, isolation just seemed like the perfect time to do it.. no it was not a pandemic panic purchase haha)
So my ducks are now 6 1/2 weeks old, and I am trying to work out the age old question... are they male or female?
From the get go I had guessed that one was male and the other female. Looking at their baby duckling photos you can clearly see that one has a dark grey bill, and the other has a yellow bill with a very dark tip. This would most often mean 1 male, 1 female. Easy done!
- Ductape and Zammie immediatley after hatching - again, you can see Ductape's beak is very pink with a dark tip.
This would make me guess she is female. Zammie's is a darker grey so I guessed he was a boy.
- Zammie and Ductape a day after hatching
- The ducks at about 3 weeks old - you can see they've kept the colours on their beaks... with Zammie's being grey and Ductape's yellow.
At about 3 weeks the female one started to quack, and I was SO sure I'd gotten it right... but in the last two weeks she's stopped quacking and has gone back to almost a musical whistle.
- Ductape (left of this picture) and Zammie (right) at 6 1/2 weeks (taken this morning)... you can now see they are getting dark heads.
Some Welsh Harlequin breeder's have assured me this can be normal for both males and females at this age, however it makes me think they MUST both be males.
As they start to molt they are looking and sounding more and more similar to each other... and their dark heads are leading me to think perhaps they are male instead.
Has anyone got any guesses?
I wanted to post this here to get other people's thoughts and opinions, but also to track what gender they actually wind up being. I'll make another post or add to this one in a few weeks once I 100% know for sure. That way if someone else is trying to find the same info it will be here for them
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