r/duck Apr 14 '26

Public Service Announcement drake feathers and what they indicate

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145 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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41 Upvotes

r/duck 9h ago

Meet the Flock Call ducklings = cuteness overload

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337 Upvotes

We finally added calls to our flock! I am obsessed with them, to say the least.

follow along at pepridgehillshomestead on Facebook!


r/duck 6h ago

Breed/Species/Sex ID What kind of duck is this?

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43 Upvotes

r/duck 5h ago

Breed/Species/Sex ID New Duck Friends

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36 Upvotes

Any thoughts on what breed this feathered friend is? In talks with someone who is trying to rehome two ducks. They bought them in April, but also have chickens. They are worried there isn't enough room for everyone. She was told they are brown mallards. Just curious, they are really pretty regardless.


r/duck 10h ago

Wild Ducks Leucistic Mallard and their Tracked Friend

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54 Upvotes

r/duck 6h ago

Wild Ducks Lake Mendota Duck

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13 Upvotes

r/duck 10h ago

Adoption/Rehoming/Rescue Anyone know where to find female Mallards in NE Alabama?

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22 Upvotes

We got this dapper duckie last week but he needs a few chicas for eggs and companionship. I'm having a hard time finding any local and online charges a fortune and I don't like the idea of them being shipped.


r/duck 23h ago

Babies! They haven't learned balance yet

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221 Upvotes

They'll be thoroughly dried, don't worry!


r/duck 1h ago

Other My poor ducks went missing and I feel terrible.

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Upvotes

I finally moved them outside to live with the adults and had been comfortably living there for a few months. They are 13 weeks old. They had an enclosure I started them in and then removed it when I felt they were ready to fully integrate and it went smoothly for a few more months. Then today, I came home from the post office and the pen they live in was open. Not sure how it happened, but out of 6, 5 had gotten out and out of those 5 escapees, I only found 3. My two boys and their sister Pineberry, my other juvenile. Lychee and Rainier (pictured) were nowhere to be found. I can't stop thinking about where they are or what happened to them while I was gone. I feel so terrible for them and feel like I failed to keep them safe. I searched for hours, adjusted the cameras, checked footage, but no luck. I really hope they just wondered off into the woods and will come back once it gets dark, but they weren't taught to free roam.


r/duck 16m ago

Other hi, Arizona duck mom here

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Upvotes

domestic duck dumping problem - what to do now?


r/duck 22h ago

Wild Ducks Someone's hungry!

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93 Upvotes

r/duck 21h ago

Wild Ducks My new friends (repost)

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68 Upvotes

(Reposting because forgot to add a pic I mean to)

Went to a beach on Lake Michigan and had some ducks come up and start following me! I figured the first one was attracted by me skipping stones (assuming I was throwing food) and then the others just kept seeing the first around me and assumed I was giving handouts (didn’t have any unfortunately for them). Such a cool fun experience!


r/duck 23h ago

Meet the Flock Why is this hand a ducky wallet? Because it holds BILLS

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67 Upvotes

Lemon looking lovely as ever and demanding my wife hold her bill precisely this way, or she gets very grumpy and honks at us.


r/duck 1d ago

Meet the Flock i took my duck camping for 3 days at Ruth Lake

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182 Upvotes

so we spent 3 days on the water, me in my litle rowboat, and chicken dinner on a harness and leash, she swam across the lake and enjoyed the quiet and solitude of the campground and the water. here are some video of her in the big pool,


r/duck 1d ago

Meet the Flock New family members

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48 Upvotes

I had a pekin duck when i was 12, he was one of the best, most sweet animals that have evee been in my life. Fast forward to 38, I was fortunate enough to be able to adopt these two babies <3

They are a grey cayuga hybrid, Misty and shes 14wks old and the black cayuga, June and shes 9wks. They were being raised in an apartment and were being sent back to the hatchery in which they came from so I adopted the two darlings... Now they have a yard, enclosure, coop, cuddles etc...June looooves to sit on laps and cuddle. She also will lay her head on your shoulder and hug back....my hearttttt...🫠🫠🫠🫠


r/duck 1d ago

Wild Ducks A Woman in her Maturity

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126 Upvotes

Few green feathers poking through the latest molt. As you can plainly see she can still get it though.


r/duck 22h ago

Brooders/Coops/Runs Coop and run refresh

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16 Upvotes

When we moved here we knew we wanted ducks. So I bought a few books, devoured them, and then tasked my husband with the build. (The chicken coop is even more brilliant!)

I'm normally on top of cleaning but I tore my hip flexor this summer so I've basically just been mucking the coop once a month. Tonight after work he went and got a load of sand, scraped out a few buckets worth of not just the coop but also run, spread First Saturday Lime, then the fresh sand and finally shavings for the coop/nesting boxes. I do love this man!

The crate is for our new drake who is still learning to behave himself with the ladies in the coop lol. We also have a young chicken in here who our goose hatched (it's a whole story).

Chicken coop and run is next for a refresh!


r/duck 1d ago

Meet the Flock What kind of ducks are these?

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22 Upvotes

r/duck 1d ago

Breed/Species/Sex ID What breed do you think they are?

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64 Upvotes

So, we got these ducks when they were a few weeks old and they were all black/dark brown with a green sheen/hue. We thought they would be Cayugas, but since their feathers came in they are definitely not cayugas. Too dark for Kaki Campbells and wrong duckling coloring for Rouen… any ideas? Our age guess is around 5-6 weeks old right now. Quite a few have a green sheen on their head (holding one with a green head), except for one that definitely sounds like a girl.


r/duck 15h ago

Beginner's Question How much chasing is normal

3 Upvotes

My dad got a new duck, he would not listen and keep them appart like i told him to so now they are together since 3 days and the old girls always chase the new duck away any time she gets close. I never have had ducks before and i know they should have been kept appart for a few weeks, but i am sure yall know those kinds of parents who just won't listen.

Now i would love to know how much chasing is normal? The new girl follows the others around but any time she gets closer she is chased away. It has only been three days but i feel so bad for her.

When should one intervene and how?

Info, we had two female ducks who are siblings and now we got a third one who is also female.


r/duck 1d ago

Meet the Flock Speedy the impatient getting crazy

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48 Upvotes

Couldn’t wait for his pool to fill up before getting wild


r/duck 1d ago

Meet the Flock Straight to Jail.

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173 Upvotes

After not leaving his brother's alone and causing a wee little bald patch on the back of his brothers neck, Jelly Boy has earned himself a solid time out until he can calm himself down!

Bonus pic of my happy boy having a much needed love after his trauma 😂😍


r/duck 1d ago

Worried Duck Mom Solo Duck Survivor

11 Upvotes

This is my first year having ducks. It was going great until last week. We suffered our first predator attack. My only survivor was Pumpernickel and she is still healing a head wound. She is safely inside while we rebuild the enclosure with new maximum security measures.

I was waiting to see if she would make it before trying to find her some friends. I am not sure how exactly old she is, but she was always bigger than the other two and lays eggs already. I only intend to get her female friends, but someone just hatched some ducklings on August 15th. I won't be able to get them for another 2 weeks. Would that be too young to put with her?

Photo of the brave survivor before she pooped all over her fresh blankets.


r/duck 1d ago

Wild Geese A beautiful Toulouse goose family out on the calm pond.

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84 Upvotes