Sexing a Duck by the Quality of its Quack
 You
can determine the sex of a duck by listening to
the sound of its quack.
At about 10 weeks of age, the voices
of all domestic ducks (except Muscovy ducks) began to take
on male and female characteristics.
The voice of a female
(hen) is a loud "Quack-Quack!"
The voice of a male (drake) is soft and whispery.
To listen to the audio tracks of male and female duck quacks, click on
the play buttons on the audio consoles below.
Sexing a Duck by the Curl of its Tail
The voice of a duck is the most accurate indicator of
gender, but if a duck is out of earshot, or just plain refuses to talk,
you can sometimes determine their sex by the
appearance of their tail
feathers.
If you see any curled tail feathers, you are most likely looking at a drake.
There are rare occasions when a hen will sprout a deceptive
curly tail feather. This tends to occur when there are no
drakes in the flock. Sometimes one hen will temporarily take
on a mock-drake roll.
Also keep in mind that drakes molt their tail feathers once
a year. If you are looking at the tail feathers of a duck
during this time, you may be temporarily fooled into
believing you are seeing a hen--until a new tail feather
grows back in anyway.
Young Jeffrey (Drake) Sports His Curled Tail Feathers
Sexing a Muscovy Duck
The call of a Muscovy Duck sounds like a trill. Females are
more vocal than males.
Although young Muscovy drakes and hens are very similar in
size and appearance, as they age, males grow larger than
females and have more elaborate and bulbous facial masks.
A Male Muscovy (left) and Female Muscovy
(right)
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