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.

Mallard Ducks

The most popular and well-known duck is probably the Mallard. They can be found just about anywhere in the world. Mallards are so common that when most think of a duck, they imagine a Mallard.

The Mallard is the origin of all domestic duck breeds other than the Muscovy. According to Charles Darwin, of all wild ducks, only the male Mallard has the distinctive curl in the tail feathers. As all male domestic ducks have these curly feathers, he came to the conclusion that all domestic breeds originated from the Mallard. From the big, meaty Pekin to the skinny, upright Runner duck - their ancestor is the Mallard breed.

They are a very popular hunting bird as they are so abundant throughout the US. Their meat is considered very flavorful.

They can lay between 60 to 120 eggs a year on a farm. In the wild they will lay 10-15 eggs in a nest. If their first brood is raised early or their nest is destroyed, they can lay a second set of eggs. Compared to domestic breeds their egg production is low, but their fertility is one of the best we have - about 90%.

Mallards are beautiful birds. Females are a speckled brown, but the males sport striking green heads, a white collar around the neck, gray on the belly, and cinnamon chests when they are adults. However, until males start to get their colorful feathers at 12 weeks of age, they are the same coloring as the females. By 16 weeks the males are fully feathered and retain these colors until the end of the breeding season when they molt into more drab, less brightly colored feathers. After 3-4 months, their beautiful feathers grow back and these are retained until their molt the next summer.

Today, the Mallard is considered an invasive wild species in some areas as it is able to mate with other indigenous ducks thereby producing new hybrids and eventually diluting the pure native breed until purebreds are rare. Wildlife authorities in both Hawaii and Florida do not allow the importation of Mallards in fear of them hybridizing their native duck population. In Hawaii, the native duck is the Koloa duck which is on the endangered list, and in Florida it is the Mottled duck.

The vast majority of wild Mallards migrate. In the summer they can be found in the northern parts of the US and all of Canada. When fall arrives and food becomes scarce, they fly south to more temperate climates such as the southern US and parts of Mexico. Come spring, they again return to their nesting grounds.

This migration pattern can be divided in to four different flyways or flight paths: Pacific, Central, Mississippi, and Atlantic Flyways. Scientists believe they use a combination of polarized light, stars, and landmarks to find their way during migration. Nature’s own GPS!

There are, of course, exceptions. There are plenty of areas that do not have a winter - where the water does not freeze over and there are enough food resources year round. In these areas many Mallards decide to take up year round residence. This includes Hawaii’s Koloa and Florida’s Mottled ducks which are both categorized as non-migratory.

If you release Mallards that have not been hatched and grown in the wild, it is highly unlikely they will migrate. Studies show they go no further than five miles from where they were released. Though your released birds may fly away, the Mallard’s ability to fly and escape predators makes them much more likely to survive than any domestic ducks released into ponds and streams. If, however, you do not want your Mallards to fly, you can trim their wing feathers as show in our feather trimming blog post.

Mallards are beautiful birds. Enjoy them in your pen, barnyard, garden or pond.

Breed	Temperament	Weight	Egg Production	Mothering	Bluish Eggs	Egg Size
Mallard	Calm	2.25-2.5 pounds	60-120/year	Very Good	70%	65-75 grams
Fertility	APA Class	Foraging Ability	Conservation Status	Our Show Quality	Flying Ability	Origin
90%	Bantam	Very Good	Abundant	Too "Chunky"	Very Good	Native to North America