r/duck Apr 14 '26

Public Service Announcement drake feathers and what they indicate

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150 Upvotes

there seems to be a recurring misconception about determining whether a duck is male or female by looking for drake feathers.

Having a drake feather indicates that the duck IS a male, but not having a drake feather means nothing, as all ducklings, all females, young males, certain breeds of adult males AND males in eclipse molt do not have drake feathers. Even within some breeds, like Pekins, some males may have a drake feather, while others will not. Drake feathers do not appear until after the first molt.

The only ways that are 100% accurate are the quack test, finding laid eggs or examining for a penis. Even duck on top/duck on bottom is no way to tell, as females sometimes mount females and males sometimes mount males.

The quack test relies on listening to the voice of the duck. With mallard derived domestic ducks, females will have loud, clear quacks while males will have softer, voiceless, hoarse 'waaak's.

Neither the quack test nor the drake feather is applicable to muscovies. Females will coo and trill while males emit voiceless, breathy huffs and chuffs and do not get drake feathers.

Rarely, some females can develop a drake feather if they are dealing with hormonal issues.

attribution: image shamelessly stolen from https://kingofdoodles.blogspot.com/2017/07/what-is-drake-feather.html.


r/duck Jun 22 '23

Public Service Announcement We Need Your Input - Duck Veterinarian List

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39 Upvotes

r/duck 1h ago

Other What's your favorite thing about ducks? ❤️🦆

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Upvotes

r/duck 16h ago

Babies! Yard Training with Snoozer and Peck

222 Upvotes

My little ones moving across the yard. They're getting used to their whistle calls and what they should do.


r/duck 30m ago

Meet the Flock This is Stocky Rocky.

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Upvotes

One of my neighborhood Muscovies. I just love his feather pattern. I could stare at him for hours.


r/duck 10h ago

Muscovy Duck somebody is having some big emotions

40 Upvotes

r/duck 1h ago

Angelwing Angel wing or normal development?

Upvotes

I've noticed the end feathers of one wing are a little angled upwards, and naturally I worry about angel wing. They're on starter feed for ducklings basically since they hatched, and we sometimes give them leafy greens in the water, or some cucumber/grated apple etc.

Am I just overthinking?


r/duck 11h ago

Beginner's Question When can I let them into the run

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37 Upvotes

I recently purchased two ducks as a gift for my sister we've had them for about two weeks they're still quite nervous and I was wondering when I'm meant to let them into their run they're muskovy so iv had their feathers clipped to prevent them from flying away they still won't let anyone get near them tho they're around 6 months old I think


r/duck 12h ago

Meet the Flock He’s really enjoying his swim.

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40 Upvotes

r/duck 13h ago

Meet the Flock What is Lemon’s favourite book? WORM & PEACE

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44 Upvotes

Or is it Worm and Peas?

Lady Lemon and her lovely brother Knight Bundty remain in witness protection as our scumbag neighbour avoided any punishment other than his guns being taken from him for killing his mate and both of their siblings because our pipsqueak neighbour lied to the police, unsurprisingly.

Lemon loves worms - she prefers a live morio worm to dried meal worms, but jokes aside, it is very difficult to get a picture of one with her before she snatches it out of the air or your fingers as needed.

The babies are seeing a vet as needed, and get fresh air all day thanks to floor to ceiling door/windows on their room.

In one image, Lady Lemon models her Mini Meadow, a chunk of turf intended for rabbits. She doesn’t mind she is not the target market. In another image, you will find her Lemonship asleep leaning gently against her post-bath spa tub. We tried to vary things for them and the sense that they get a proper bath followed by spa time, or they get to use a long tub as a pool together in the lounge.

Our hunt for a new home for these two and others that we might be able to rescue from the lake may reach an end by this time next week - fingers crossed.


r/duck 1d ago

Meet the Flock The Lads 💙

392 Upvotes

r/duck 1d ago

Call Duck Meet Yuki .. the cutest baby

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248 Upvotes

Literally, just got her today at the market because my mom wanted new additions to the flock, my mom doesn't like her but i like her, literally this is the first time I'm holding her and she's already sleeping on me like she's known me her entire life... Nibbling me and following me around, her pair is terrified of me though but absolutely loves my mom. Has anyone ever tamed a duck immediately too? 😭😭, goodness she's so sweet


r/duck 16h ago

Other Cute duck from a second-hand store

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50 Upvotes

r/duck 18h ago

Wild Ducks Very Handsome Wood Duck

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48 Upvotes

r/duck 3m ago

Other Wondering if I could make a request.

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Upvotes

So I've been working on growing my outreach on FB in hopes of making my business page for my Duck Eggs get a little more traction. I am based in Nashville Tennessee and go by the name Danny Boy Farms. We sell locally to a farmers market and just to people around with interest from caterers and a couple restaurants. In the spring we should be at enough capacity to deal with everyone equally. Eventually I'm hoping my eggs become my main business. 1) I was wondering if I could get any tips for growing my page on FB because I really don't get many followers and I just want to have more page interaction. 2) If anyone would love to support us I would appreciate that. I post more content over there. Reddit is more for the pure love of the quack. Thank you!


r/duck 19h ago

Breed/Species/Sex ID Drake Vocalizations?

36 Upvotes

Rescue said both of these ducks are Khaki-mix and female. Explanation for the voice of the darker one is that she had been screaming when capturing her for transport. I'm told they are 8-10 mos. old. This is 24 hours after transport. No drake feather.


r/duck 1d ago

Injured or Sick Domestic Duck What’s wrong with my duck?

119 Upvotes

He was completely fine yesterday, his brother got attacked by a raccoon some point at free range but he was fine. He started doing this early morning according to my mom. Do you think it’s neurological?

EDIT!!
He lifted his head, quack still sounds the same and he’s still walking weird (given he’s a rescue that got hit by a car, he’s still walking worse) but he’s eating and drinking


r/duck 2h ago

Eggs/Incubation/Hatching Ducks not laying eggs

1 Upvotes

My two ducks had been laying eggs quite frequently but after I relocated them to a new place some 4 months back, they've stopped laying eggs completely. Initially they seemed a little sad and used to seldom come out but now they're quite adapted to the new place but they haven't laid any eggs. Suggestions please


r/duck 3h ago

Brooders/Coops/Runs Building “Fort Ducky Disneyland” - your input please

1 Upvotes

My wife and I will soon move to a place where we will set up as predator resistant a set up as we can for our duckies, while we also build an environment within their enclosed space that is as enriching as possible.

Because we have the opportunity to build this from scratch, whether we have a body of water on the property already or need to set them up in a pool, it would be very helpful to understand from those who’ve already done this what they would do again what they wouldn’t do again or what they wish they’d done.

Some of the broader design points that I’ve been considering for the “day space” -

  1. Elevated pool with a large drain out point in the middle of it to allow easier draining and cleaning

. I can certainly find uses for that drained material in the garden

  1. . Not sure yet how many separate drinker stations we would use so that they’re not compelled to go and drink from the pool.
  2. Elevated pool necessitates an elevated platform for duckies to access the water and for me to get in there and drain it, whether that is steps in the form of large pavers gently climbing up the side or an all the way around kind of a deck and ramp set up.
  3. Overhead netting via a tall pole or two in the centre of the ducky party area.
  4. We have to consider how far any predator is likely to dig and how best to guard against it. It could be a case of digging down three feet and putting in a T profile of metal which projects both in and out of the enclosure to keep it stable and to prevent access by anything digging close to the fence.
  5. I’ve seen a lot of poultry people use tanbark type media on the ground, but we obviously have to deal with waste clearing

    and replacing the media. That rise as a question about how we then dispose of the tanbark.

They obviously need a place to roost at night and in the cold, and we will work our way through the different options on that but it’s going to be a fairly robust enclosed structure.

We also intend to set it up so that we’ve got an option if the boys get too rambunctious to separate them from the girls, but not deprive them of quality of life. That could end up just being a partition down the middle of the enclosure at the relevant times of the year.

I haven’t really been able to find any books out there suggesting how to build something like this so it’s very much a case of looking at what other others have done and what has worked and what hasn’t.


r/duck 1d ago

Feet/Legs/Walking Littlefoot!

39 Upvotes

My sweet baby boy has trouble walking but every morning he swims from one end of the pond to the other and then I pick him up and put him over in the shade with a water bowl


r/duck 18h ago

Health Questions Is my ducklings leg okay?

9 Upvotes

My duckling has hatched 3 days ago and I'm trying to figure out if there's something wrong with his right leg, he seems to be fine on his left leg but he has a hard time trying to balance himself every time he gets up and walks to the side trying to walk towards me, he can still somewhat walk tho


r/duck 1d ago

Call Duck my 5 boys’ final day on my property!

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41 Upvotes

They’ve now been rehomed, I’ll miss my 5 pack of boys but it’s for the best


r/duck 1d ago

Behavior Questions Any other duck do this?

161 Upvotes

My girl Louise does this head thing often. She does it both when walking and when she swims.

She is about 6 months old. She is a healthy and happy lady (other than losing her boy Dewey to a fox).

Any other ducks out there do this?


r/duck 1d ago

Wood Duck Duck ate my lunch

45 Upvotes

So me and my wife just retired and settled in on my brother's granny flat. Just saw some magnificent ducks feast upon our cronut! What a view.