Identifying Gender Of Khaki Campbell Ducklings

It is difficult to guess what gender a duckling is just by looking at the duckling but my ‘farmingfriends’ friend Maureen has challenged me to take a guess at the gender of her three ducklings named Treacle, Toffee and Fudge.

‘Hi Sara, as someone far more knowlegable than me, how do you fancy taking a guess at the sex of my ducklings. I seem to have the full set small medium and large, have a feeling may have two drakes but the medium could just be a larger duck. Mo’

Hi Maureen, Smaller ducklings may mean females but it’s not guaranteed as some of my ducks are as big as my drake. What colour are their legs? My drake has bright orange legs and all the females have duller legs so this could be an indication, otherwise it’s waiting till their feathers develop and their call. Here’s a useful post about identifying ducks and drakes.
Look forward to finding out their gender.
Best Wishes
Sara

The books say it is possible to identify a duck and a drake from about 5 weeks of age but in reality I found that it was only when my drake moulted and got his male plumage and the curled tail feathers that I was certain I had a male!

Here are some ways to help identify the gender:

The tail feathers. It is the male that has curling tail feathers.

Colour of plumage. Some breeds of duck the male are more brightly coloured.

Colour of bill. Some breeds show a different colour in their bills from about 6 weeks between the male and female, where the females is usually darker.

Body size. Drakes usually have larger bodies and heads.

The quack. The drake has a softer quack, whereas the female has a louder more distinctive quack. The distinction by call can be made from 5 weeks onwards.

If you keep ducks or are interested in keeping ducks then visit the farmingfriends duck forum for the latest chat about ducks and then check out the khaki campbell duck eggs for hatching sales page.

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If you keep ducks or are interested in keeping ducks then check out the books shown above about keeping ducks which are informative and excellent for the beginner and a handy reference for the more experienced duck keeper.

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