Does the color of a young duck indicate its gender?

Question

I went to the petshop yesterday. There were pure yellow little ducks andthen there were darker [brownish black] ducks with stripes or blotches. Do those colors determine the gender of the duck? If not, is there another way I could find out what th gender was?


Please answer if ONLY youre positively sure.

Answer 1

From iVillage Garden Web:

"Ducklings at that age cannot be sexed by any visual or voice characteristics. They can be vent sexed, but it takes practice and experience to be able to do it, do do it correctly, and above all not to injure them in the process, which is fairly easy to do, especially for the inexperienced. I suggest that you pry open your wallet and invest in a good book. If you have this question, surely you'll have others, and the two best books out there on keeping domestic ducks are Storey's Guide to Raising Ducks by Dave Holderread and The Domestic Duck by Chris and Mike Ashton. They're not that expensive, and both have detailed illustrated instructions on how to vent sex."

http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/load/farmlife/msg0113355225259.html

Answer 2

No, the color of their birth (hatch?) feathers doesn't say anything about their sex. When they lose their baby feathers and grow permanant ones, in most cases, there will be different colored feathers for the males & females.

On baby birds, it is near impossible to tell sex as they look exactly the same on the outside. If you want to buy a baby duck, you will be taking your chances on sex. And, don't let the seller tell you differently. The seller can't tell either and might just tell you it is of the sex you want.

Answer 3

What you saw were two different breeds, the white were I believe Pekins, which are all white, the darker were most likely mallards. Some you can tell apart at birth, but the majority you hafta wait until they change.

Answer 4

the colour difference may show different species, however the gender is hard to know for one who doesnt know much about ducks. Our neighbour, who rears all birds says its only visble in the beak, i didnt understand much because he qwas speaking german, that i dont know very well. but i know the brighter the beak the duckling is female