r/duck • • Apr 14 '26

Public Service Announcement drake feathers and what they indicate

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147 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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39 Upvotes

r/duck • • 11h ago

Babies! Ducklings exploring

465 Upvotes

r/duck • • 6h ago

Wild Ducks Mandarin ducks in my park

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63 Upvotes

r/duck • • 7h ago

Meet the Flock Ducks in the village near canal

57 Upvotes

r/duck • • 2h ago

Wild Ducks Geese at the lake in Palermo, Buenos Aires

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20 Upvotes

Bosques de Palermo


r/duck • • 8h ago

Muscovy Duck I’d never seen a duck sneeze before.

49 Upvotes

He must have gotten some seeds caught in his nasal passages.


r/duck • • 11h ago

Wild Ducks Mandarin ducks (own content)

73 Upvotes

r/duck • • 21h ago

Muscovy Duck such a little cutie

360 Upvotes

r/duck • • 3h ago

Beginner's Question Angel Wing or Bormal Growth?

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9 Upvotes

The Rouen and Golden Cascade look like the have droopy wings. Is this angel wing that needs correction or normal growth, maybe with a change in diet + supplements will help?


r/duck • • 37m ago

Brooders/Coops/Runs How to i get them to to into the coop?

• Upvotes

I put peas 🫛 on the ramp, peas in a bowl just inside, but they just stand on the ramp, grab a bite, and go back down.


r/duck • • 1h ago

Breed/Species/Sex ID I’m confused about my ducks gender

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• Upvotes

We have 2 ducks. Mine is Swim Shady and my brothers is Shaggy 2 Duck. Shady has a very loud and clear quack and a pin straight tail and I’m confident that shady is a girl, Shaggy kinda looks like they have a straight tail and they’re still not quacking very loudly they still have kinda a peep voice. This is my first time having ducks and they do live inside with twice a day monitored outside time. We assumed shaggy was a boy when we heard a raspy voice but their tail is confusing us so bad. Please help lol.


r/duck • • 1d ago

Wild Ducks Mr Jumpy Duck

193 Upvotes

I visited my assortment of feathered chums on Wednesday and forgot to upload this video until now. I have a duck friend I have named Mr Jumpy Duck, the reason for which can be seen in the video.

He's so adorable. He sploots all the way straight down as of he is going to spring up like one of those old toys you'd press down on a desk and they shoot up straight into the air, only to manage about 2 inches off the ground, though he does occasionally go full wing flaps and flies up a little to eat from my hand. I love him, he's silly and cute, and I thought you'd enjoy him too.


r/duck • • 22h ago

Wild Ducks Yosemite Ducks

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57 Upvotes

Some wood and mallard ducks I came across during my trip to Yosemite recently.


r/duck • • 15h ago

Wild Ducks Ferruginous Duck

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14 Upvotes

r/duck • • 20h ago

Meet the Flock Motley Crew

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31 Upvotes

These three were hanging out all day like a group of misfits lol


r/duck • • 10h ago

Muscovy Duck She's doing it all out of love okay? 😊

3 Upvotes

It's a molting season which is why she looks a little rough


r/duck • • 11h ago

Behavior Questions duckling problems?

2 Upvotes

Not sure what flair for this so sorry if its wrong.
I only had one ducking last time and tht was 7-8 months ago and before that it was multiple years since I got my other ducks. I'm wondering if this is normal or not. And sorry if I just sound silly.

One of the ducklings only has really really wet projectile poops but the others don't? I'm pretty sure that one is a boy because he is bigger then the other too.
Then one of the girls has been bobbing her head a lot and talking a lot more even when eating. She only started this late yesterday and today.
They are around 2 weeks old yesterday.
I'm wondering if I should be concerned or not???


r/duck • • 1d ago

Call Duck Quite athletic Ducks

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43 Upvotes

Was even allowed to hold Dipsy today, and she made herself a loaf on my hand. she hates even the thought of being picked up lol


r/duck • • 1d ago

Wild Ducks Does this duck think it's in jail?

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78 Upvotes

I often walk at night in a neighborhood with a retention pond at the center. There is a fence around the pond with a sidewalk next to it. Often I'll see a single duck hanging out on the sidewalk, sometimes watching other ducks inside the fence. What's going on here? Did one of the pond ducks give them a restraining order?


r/duck • • 1d ago

Meet the Flock Coco has something to say!

248 Upvotes

But she's shy...


r/duck • • 1d ago

Brooders/Coops/Runs Duck pen ideas

4 Upvotes

Has anyone got any recommendations for must haves in their duck pen? I’m looking for enrichment ideas and general tips as I am expanding mine! 🦆


r/duck • • 1d ago

Behavior Questions Need Advice! Female/Male ratio

2 Upvotes

I have three runner ducks, (they live with 8 chickens as well) all hatched at home so I couldn’t pick and choose their sex. As it turns out they’re two males and one female. The female is a month older (nearly 5 months). One of the males is pretty big while the other one has been kind of the runt of the litter since he was born, always a bit slow and trailing behind his brother. He’s never shown any aggressive behaviors or really initiative of any kind, just wants to be by his brother.
My concern is about mating season. I’m hoping that the smaller one doesn’t even try anything, given his past behavior of letting his brother take the lead. Is that possible? Has that happened to anyone? I can’t rehome any of them or get more females, and I certainly won’t cull them. Should I wait and see if they can coexist during mating season or should I separate one of the ducks before said period? If so, how and when? If it wasn’t obvious, I’m a first time duck owner. Thanks!


r/duck • • 2d ago

Adoption/Rehoming/Rescue 8 babies I rescued as mum has gone to the big pond in the sky

464 Upvotes

Sadly mum found run over 🥺 8 little babies all wet on the side of the road. Dried them off, gave them some water & sending them on there way to a bird rescue


r/duck • • 2d ago

Brooders/Coops/Runs Has anyone every added a rabbit style castle to their duck pen?

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151 Upvotes

I have a miniature appleyard called Tommy and she’s a bit of a princess and likes to stand on things and over look the rest of the ducks so I’ve been looking into getting her something to play on in the enclosure where she can over look everyone like the queen she is. I was looking at rabbit play castles and was wondering has anyone done anything like this for their ducks at all? I’ve attached a photo of Tommy standing on top of a pumpkin and what I was thinking just wondering if anyone has any ideas of fun play things for her.