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Farming Friends Forum » Ducks

1. rozza
   Member

   We have five Khaki Campbell ducks - now 6 weeks old. Can we tell yet which are male and female? One of them is quacking - it's the biggest and was different from the rest right from the word go - we assumed it is a male but am not so sure now as it's quacking! Their adult feathers are coming but are all the same at the moment! Any help please!

   Posted 3 years ago #

2. admin
   Sara @ farmingfriends

   Hi Rozza,
   It is possible to identify a duck and a drake from about 5 weeks of age. There are a number of ways of distinguishing between a duck and a drake.

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

   I realised I had a drake from about week 13 when they got their adult feathers.
   I have also noticed that my drake, Sir Francis Drake has more orangey legs and feet than the ducks.

   Here is the head of my drake.
   
   
   Here are the curled tail feathers on my drake.
   
   Here is one of khaki campbell ducks.
   

   Hope this helps.

   kind regards
   Sara @ farmingfriends

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   Posted 3 years ago #

3. rozza
   Member

   Thanks that's really useful to have some pictures. None of our has the curly tail feather yet but I guess it is probably still too early. They're a bit of a bunch of sruff bags at the moment cos they're shedding their baby down and getting proper feathers. It's interesting to see in the last picture that one of the females has a stripe on the face - that's exactly like the largest one of ours. We'll just have to be a bit more patient I think! thanks again.

   Posted 3 years ago #

4. Gez
   Member

   Just spotted this Post! Can't believe you didn't get any better replys than that? I guess with this type of website it's a case of 'people need to stay in more!' ;-)

   Posted 3 years ago #

5. campbell ridge
   Administrator

   Hi Gez,
   I used to live in Hayling Island. I now live in West sussex.
   You can sex a duckling by looking at it's vent. With gentle pressure on the OUTSIDE using thumb and forefinger - open the vent, the females have a cone shaped opening and - if you wait a few seconds - the male has a little pointed organ. The different quack comes at about a month, tail feather 2 months

   Sarah L

   Posted 3 years ago #

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