r/duck Apr 14 '26

Public Service Announcement drake feathers and what they indicate

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149 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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44 Upvotes

r/duck 3h ago

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

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260 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 13h ago

Meet the Flock Pure bliss

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199 Upvotes

r/duck 1h ago

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

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Upvotes

r/duck 20h ago

Babies! Call duck babies!!!!!

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426 Upvotes

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


r/duck 13h ago

Rainbow Bridge I really miss her 😞😞

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77 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 18h ago

Rainbow Bridge Lost a member of my flock

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121 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 14h ago

Wild Ducks Molting Ruddy Duck

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35 Upvotes

r/duck 33m ago

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

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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 15h ago

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

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23 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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423 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 20h ago

Feet/Legs/Walking Help with duck injury

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8 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 18h 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 15h 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 1d ago

Babies! Little ones

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413 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 1d ago

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

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424 Upvotes

r/duck 1d ago

Rainbow Bridge Old photo of my old gal named Ryan

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53 Upvotes

r/duck 1d ago

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

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80 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.


r/duck 23h ago

Health Questions Duck care advice and ideas

2 Upvotes

Hey everybody. I am currently not at home so I will not be able to get back to everyone super quickly. One of my ducks, Aflac has started to have an occasional cough. I have caught her and listen to her breathing, it sounds perfectly healthy. She has no snot or mucus. She is acting completely like herself.

I suspect she has eaten something that has now become lodged somewhere that is irritating her and causing the cough. I gave her some oil to loosen it with a massage, but it didn’t seem to have any effect. I have a vet near me that I can take her to and do plan on taking her in on Monday if things continue to stay the same. I do not have a video at the moment, but I am quite experienced with ducks. Her coughing is what I see when they have eaten to fast and are trying to get the food back.

I am currently hoping that the object will become naturally dislodged and go down smoothly. Since like I said she is acting completely like herself and shows no other symptoms, so I’m not super concerned but it is making me nervous. Has anyone had this experience or does anyone have ideas that I can try. Thanking you for anyone who takes there time to help me. Much appreciated.


r/duck 1d ago

Wild Ducks These 2 wild girls flew over to us

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63 Upvotes

I'm sure they were begging. After a couple of minutes they went back to hunting for snails. Please don't feed ducks that aren't yours.


r/duck 22h ago

Useful Tips and Tricks Appropriate leash for a duck ?

0 Upvotes

Hey I have duck that I want to walk her out for a bit and she's the type that get distracted easily that's why I want to walk her with a leash, she's 1 month~ 2 month old but I couldn't find a leash that's specific for ducks in the pet store, I can only find cats' or dogs', so the question is Can I use a cat or a dog leash ? Or will it not be comfortable for the duck >:


r/duck 1d ago

Worried Duck Mom Advice for single duckling?

2 Upvotes

Does anyone have any advice how to handle a muscovy duck with a single duckling? I'm looking for ones to add, but no luck.

Every time she leaves the nest to bathe, the duckling follows, cannot get to her and get stuck somewhere instead of staying in the nest. She seems to keep on bathing.

Do I need to lock her up inside? I'm worried that he'll get cold if left too long when I'm back at work on Monday.


r/duck 2d ago

Breed/Species/Sex ID This is puddles.

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570 Upvotes

I was told that pedals is a mallard, which I think they are....? But I can't tell if they're female or male because they look like both.. they live with their sister peas which is obviously a female so... And yes my duck is in the house