Content

• To step
• Method 1 of 2: Recognize color scheme, voice and sex feathers
• Method 2 of 2: Examining a duck's vent
• Tips
• Warning

Ducks, also called waterfowl, are generally found near lakes, rivers and ponds. Depending on the type of duck, the differences between a male ("drake") and females (has no separate name) are not clearly visible. However, once you know what to watch and listen for, you will be better able to distinguish a drake from a female.

To step

Method 1 of 2: Recognize color scheme, voice and sex feathers

1. View the plumage (feathers) of the duck. During the mating season, drakes will have very bright color schemes in their plumage to attract a mate. After the mating season, the drake will moult, lose its bright color schemes and look more like a female.
   • Mallards are sexually dimorphic, meaning that the males and females are different from each other. The females are brown and quite scruffy, while the males have a vibrant purple shimmer across their wings and iridescent colors.
   • The male pochard has solid white to light gray plumage. Its female counterpart has plumage in greyish brown.
   • The male Carolina duck has gray feathers with blue markings on the wings during the mating season. The female's plumage is usually grayish-brown.
   • The male and female of the spotted duck have similarly colored plumage, making it difficult to distinguish them from the plumage alone.
2. Observe the beak color. Beak color is another way of telling the difference between a drake and a female. In many duck species, the beak color does not change during the mating season, so this physical aspect will remain the same throughout the year.
   • In mallards, the male has a bright yellow bill and the female has a brown and orange bill.
   • In spotted ducks, the male duck has a beak that is solid olive green to yellow in color. The female's beak is brown to orange with dark spots.
   • Male Carolina ducks have a red beak with a yellow spot on the underside.
   • In the mating season, the ruddy spiny tail's beak changes to a bright baby blue.
3. Look at the size of the duck. Male ducks are larger than females in all species. In addition to a generally larger body, male mallards, rouan ducks and Welsh harlequins have larger heads and thicker necks than females.
4. Notice a curled feather near the tail. Male drakes have an upward curled feather at the tail; this is known as the "sex feather". This feather, which becomes visible in male ducks when they are between two and four months old, remains after molting.
   • Females do not have a sex feather.
5. Listen to a duck's croak. Female ducks often have a loud and loud croak. Male ducks' croak is usually soft and rough. If you have ducks as a pet and you are comfortable handling them, you can gently hold the duck by its tail until it croaks.
   • The sound of a croak can be used to distinguish between male and female ducks from the time they are about a month old.
   • In muscovy ducks, a female's croaking sounds like a tremble or cooing. A male muscovy duck has a very deep and airy (sounds like "huch-uch-uch") croak.
   • The female Australian teal has a croak that sounds like a cackling sound, which distinguishes it from the male Australian teal.

Method 2 of 2: Examining a duck's vent

1. Place the duck on its back on a table. Examining the vent, also known as vent, is another way of determining a duck's sex. It is used in ducks that are sexually monomorphic (males and females have the same physical appearance), but is also used in chicks from 12 weeks of age. Venting is a difficult procedure to perform; if you don't feel comfortable doing it, ask someone more experienced to do it for you.
   • When you place the duck on the table, hold it so that its chest is up and its legs are turned away from you. The tail should hang over the edge of the table so that it can be bent down to examine the vent.
   • If you don't have a solid surface on which to put the duck, you can also kneel and place the duck on your leg so that its tail can be bent over your knee.
   • Venting is even more difficult in chicks than adult ducks, so ask a professional to do this.
2. Identify the cloaca. The cloaca is a small, external opening on the back of the duck. A duck's genitals and reproductive glands end at the cloaca. Use your fingers to search between the feathers and find this external opening.
3. Expose the cloacal edges and genitals. To do this, use your index fingers to fold the tail down and apply opposite, upward pressure on the other side of the tail with your middle and ring fingers. Then place your thumbs on either side of the vent and slowly move your thumbs away from each other.
   • Use gentle pressure to expose the cloacal margins and genitals. Too much pressure can cause serious injury to the duck.
   • An alternative approach to exposing the cloacal margins and genitals is to insert your finger about an inch into the cloaca and move your finger in a circle to relax the sphincter that keeps the cloaca closed. Once the sphincter is relaxed, you can use your thumbs to separate the cloacal edges.
4. Identify the reproductive organs in the cloaca. By exposing the cloacal margins and genitals you should be able to determine whether the duck is male or female. The duck is a male when a penis comes up from the cloaca. A female duck will have a fallopian tube opening in the cloaca.
   • In male ducks, the penis will be small and uncovered in immature ducks and large and sheathed in adult ducks.

Tips

• A duck's color scheme will change with age, from young duck to adult duck, so using colors to determine the sex of a duck is easier to do once the duck is an adult.
• Both male and female mallards have a spot on their wings called a speculum, which is blue with a white border.
• Some female ducks, such as the South American duck species, have the same colors as their male counterparts.

Warning

• Venting should not be done on ducks that are only one day old or have just hatched. If done incorrectly, venting can cause serious injury or death in ducks this young.