Male vs Female: How to Identify Adult Ducks

A common question we get is if a duck is a male or female. This can be determined using a few different methods. Most ducks can be identified by using a couple of physical attributes while others can be identified by their coloring.

Size

Simply put, male ducks are usually bigger than females. The size of the head and body are usually bigger and bulkier. Of course, there are exceptions such as with an abnormally small male or abnormally large female, but this is a good general start.

 

 

 

Tail

A male duck of all common breeds (except the Muscovy) grows a distinctly curled feather in its tail. The lack of a curly feather, however, does not indicate a female as it could have been pulled or molted. However, a curly feather does indicate a male. The curly feather appears within about eight weeks.

As an interesting aside, the reason all domestic male ducks (besides the Muscovy) have curly feathers is because they all originated from the Mallard breed and Mallard males have a curly feather on their tail. You look at all other wild ducks - Teals, Wood, Mandarin, Shoveler, Canvasback, etc - and none of the males have a curly feather on their tail. Only the Mallard male has a curly feather - so that is one of the reasons we know that all domestic ducks where the male has a curly feather originate from Mallards.

Voice

Sadly, the cute chirp of a duckling starts to change within several weeks. By eight to ten weeks males have a deep, raspy voice while females maintain the loud QUACK. For practice you can listen to our video of male and female duck’s voices.

Coloring

There are breeds of ducks that are sex-linked in their coloring. The best examples are the Mallard and Rouen breeds. Both males and females start as a black and yellow ducklings and turn brown once they get their first feathers. But when they start to get another set of feathers at about 12 weeks, the males begin to get their green heads, cinnamon chest and silver belly. For some other breeds like the Buff, Fawn and White Runner, Khaki Campbell, Welsh Harlequin and Silver Appleyard, the males will have a different coloration in their head and/or body feathers, though not as striking as the Mallard and Rouen.

Some breeds have a different colored bill for males and females. This is true of the Khaki Campbell and Welsh Harlequin where the males have lighter colored bill than the females.

If All Else Fails

If you still cannot determine the sex by the size, tail, voice, or coloring, there is vent sexing. We will be covering this in a future post, so stay tuned.

Pekin Ducks

Pekin Ducklings

The Pekin duck has a long history with records in China going as far back as the 1300s. It was introduced to Great Britain in 1872 and then the United State in 1873. It has since taken over the US market as the go-to commercial meat duck.

The Pekin was bred for its meat, but can be considered a very good egg layer, too. Averaging 8 to 12 pounds in weight, it can lay 150 to 200 eggs per year, making it a great multi-purpose duck.

They are typically processed at six to seven weeks of age with its breast filet being about 21% of the carcass. As such, it has become a very popular commercial duck with a fast growth time and excellent feed conversion (only 2.4 pounds of feed per pound of live body weight gain). In culinary circles, it is the main ingredient for roasted Peking duck.

Female and male Pekin

The dinner table is not the only place the Pekin has become famous. The Aflac duck is a Pekin which originally came from our farm and the
was also the inspiration behind Donald Duck.

We have two names for our Pekin: the Pekin and Grimaud Hybrid Pekin. The Pekin and the Grimaud Hybrid Pekin are the exact same bird, exact same price, just under different names. We did this because some people know what a Pekin is, but not a Grimaud Hybrid, while others may want the Grimaud Hybrid specifically.

The Grimaud Hybrid is named as such because we purchase day-old breeders from Frimaud Freres in France every four months. It is called a hybrid since the Grimaud Hybrid is produced by crossing two strains of Pekin, one strain bred for high meat production and one strain bred for high egg production. By crossing females from the egg laying strain with the males from the meat production strain, you hatch a lot of ducklings that can be grown for meat.

Outside of the commercial market, advertisement, and entertainment industries, the Pekin is a very popular duck among kids and 4-H groups. It does well as a meat class bird at the county fair and is an amazing addition for any backyard hobbyist.

Breed	Temperament	Weight	Egg Production	Mothering	Bluish Eggs	Egg Size
Pekin	Calm	8-12.25 pounds	150-200/year	Poor	<2%	90-100 grams
Fertility	APA Class	Foraging Ability	Conservation Status	Our Show Quality	Flying Ability	Origin
89%	Heavy	Fair	Abundant	Meat Class Only	None	China

Information from our Duck Comparison Table