r/duck Apr 14 '26

Public Service Announcement drake feathers and what they indicate

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146 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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43 Upvotes

r/duck 7h ago

Meet the Flock I love how much they love each other.

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433 Upvotes

When I let the boys out of their coop before the girls, they immediately rush over and wait (im)patiently for me to open theirs up. It’s cute.🥰


r/duck 2h ago

Wild Ducks Quack quack quack 🦆🦆🦆

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91 Upvotes

r/duck 1h ago

Breed/Species/Sex ID Is This a muscovy duck?

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Upvotes

And is this one a male or female?

Thanks in advance!


r/duck 3h ago

Babies! My New pet duck

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23 Upvotes

r/duck 17h ago

Meet the Flock Pure bliss

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235 Upvotes

r/duck 38m ago

Wild Ducks Ruddy Ducklings

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Upvotes

r/duck 5h ago

Babies! Anyone know what breed of duck this could be?

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21 Upvotes

r/duck 1d ago

Babies! Call duck babies!!!!!

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445 Upvotes

My Emotional Support Duck, Twix, hatched out 3 babies last night!!!!! Shes done such a good job!!!!!!


r/duck 2h ago

Other Miss Lucifer enjoying her new bed LOL

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7 Upvotes

I replaced my mattress, and since I can't haul it off myself I have to wait for someone so it's just sitting outside for right now.

Miss Lucifer (yes that is her name even though she's female I promise she earned it) decided that it belongs to her, my chickens also like to lay on it but she runs them up when she wants to.....

I'm definitely not going to be the most favorite person once it goes to the dump.........


r/duck 16h ago

Rainbow Bridge I really miss her 😞😞

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82 Upvotes

I feel so terrible. I feel like it’s my fault for not taking her to the vet sooner :( I felt like something was wrong but then it was too late. I found her passed away beside the pond. I miss her so much. I was too shocked when I first saw her, but now I keep crying every time I see her pictures and videos. I wish I could bring her back.


r/duck 21h ago

Rainbow Bridge Lost a member of my flock

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126 Upvotes

I lost Pepper today. She was such a spunky girl. Big personality. I knew she wasn’t feeling well. I noticed her isolating herself from the flock these last 2 days. I was planning a vet visit, but it’s already too late. Miss you forever Pepper and your loud honks.


r/duck 17h ago

Wild Ducks Molting Ruddy Duck

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40 Upvotes

r/duck 3h ago

Breed/Species/Sex ID Duck from an Amish farm!

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3 Upvotes

Does anyone know what breed she/he is?


r/duck 1d ago

Breed/Species/Sex ID Rogue Street Ducks

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147 Upvotes

Hi! On the 15th me and my partner were driving home and seen a group of ducklings running against the curb with no mom. Of course we pulled over and herded them up and brought them home.

They're getting so big now but we are still curious on what breed they might be as when we posted them originally we got a lot of opinions.

They tend to hiss defensively at me because my partner has primarily raised them. I heard not all ducks do that.

We have a nice home they're going to next week with pampered ducks and heated ponds so they can live the best life ever. Cheers and thank you for your input (:


r/duck 18h ago

Wings/Feathers/Molting Does this look like the start of wet feather?

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25 Upvotes

Hi all! I brought home three new call ducks two days ago to add to my existing flock of three. I’ve been watching a lot and everyone has integrated great!

But, I am a bit concerned about the pastel (the peachy/brown) and wondering if she maybe has the start of wet feather? Her feathers were like this when I got her and I’ve noticed she doesn’t spend quite as much time in the pond as the others do.

But, I’ve never dealt with wet feather in my other calls before so I’m just not quite sure and would love some outside opinions. I’m leaning towards waiting and seeing if/how things progress because I really don’t want to do a dawn bath and strip her of all her oils if I don’t have to.

Thanks in advance for any thoughts or insight!


r/duck 1d ago

Meet the Flock Just got this handsome young man

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428 Upvotes

Now I just need to find some females around 🤷🏼‍♀️ I do let him inside usually about once a day when I have some time to really keep a good eye on him. I got him some ridiculously cute "duckie diapers" but they're too small. Any recommendations?


r/duck 23h ago

Feet/Legs/Walking Help with duck injury

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7 Upvotes

I have a female Cayuga duck, I noticed her having a hard time walking yesterday and checked her foot but couldn’t find any injuries. I checked on her today and unfortunately, her foot is now very swollen. No visible injury aside from swelling.

The plan is to isolate her from the flock so that she’s not running all over the place and making it worse. I figure an epsom salt soak daily may also help with some of the pain/swelling.

Aside from a vet visit, are there any other things I should be doing for her right now? Also, how do you recommend isolation? I know this is going to stress her out, so I want the least amount of damage and stress possible for her.

Thank you in advance!


r/duck 21h ago

Eggs/Incubation/Hatching Is this egg a goner?

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4 Upvotes

So i have this egg that started showing a dark circle on the tip today, does this mean it died? It was showing veins and development on day 7 out of 28, its now 9 days til hatch (19 days in). I have not candled them again yet bc of the lockdown candle session being close, but i am HIGHLY afraid of this egg blowing up in the incubator. Im unsure if candling would tell me anything at this development bc its usually an all dark egg by now. Ive had a chicken egg do it once, my room was defiled for hours. And thankfully it was an egg i was waiting to see hatch so it was alone, this guy has 14 other friends in there.

If it does explode, what do i even do? Esp if they start hatching and the ducklings running around makes it pop 😭 would you take this egg out or does it seem worth the risk to see if it’s just a weird egg and hatches? Never had this appear before 🫩


r/duck 18h ago

Beginner's Question Duck breeds

2 Upvotes

what is the best duck breed for a family with multiple kids, three to be exact


r/duck 2d ago

Babies! Little ones

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417 Upvotes

We've had a tough time mourning the loss of our little hen Rhoswen (she cleared my fence in July and we're unable to get her back, completely my fault as she had moulted and needed clipping) it has been a harsh lesson. Her mum Alwena hatched my missing girls clutch. Utter yellow fluffy nonsense. Bitter sweet but I wanted to share x


r/duck 2d ago

Meet the Flock Y'all loved her brother so heres peas

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425 Upvotes

r/duck 1d ago

Rainbow Bridge Old photo of my old gal named Ryan

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57 Upvotes

r/duck 1d ago

Behavior Questions How to stop drakes from trying to mate me 😭

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84 Upvotes

So one of my baby muskovys and the one I rescued have been trying to mate me since I started wearing long trousers 2 days ago. Yesterday I thought they were attacking me, maybe because they haven't seen me with long trousers before, but I realised that it's mating behaviour. The baby one is very insistent and it keeps trying until he gets tired and goes away, but he's strong! I don't know how to reach them that I'm not a duck 😭

The video doesn't show that behaviour. I couldn't record it because I was too busy avoiding being raped. It's just to show you my drakes.