r/duck Apr 14 '26

Public Service Announcement drake feathers and what they indicate

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151 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, many breeds of 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.

addendum: rarely, some females can develop a drake curl if they are dealing with hormonal issues. The only way that's 100% accurate is the quack test or finding laid eggs or examining for a penis.

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 My two newest additions

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58 Upvotes

Got two female runners to keep my older two call ducks happy. They’re the best of friends after only a couple weeks! They’re shaq and snowy


r/duck 12h ago

Wild Ducks Handsome Fella

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237 Upvotes

r/duck 4h ago

Health Questions What’s wrong with this duckling? How can I help it?

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48 Upvotes

This duckling is still alive, but listless and has this backbend going on. Any ideas on what is wrong and how to help it?


r/duck 9h ago

Babies! Welcome to Earth

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100 Upvotes

Hatch day is today! So far 6 have hatched and 2 more seem to be hatching!


r/duck 12h ago

Wild Ducks At my local pond

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67 Upvotes

r/duck 12h ago

Wild Ducks Happy chappies

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41 Upvotes

r/duck 6h ago

Beginner's Question are these baby ducks, and how do you pick them up?

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9 Upvotes

found these two babies in my front yard, in shade from the heat. i think their ducks, but i just wanna make sure. They probably came from the lake in my backyard. I want to take them there but I don’t know if that’s the right decision or not. I also saw a big iguana that got scared off, so maybe their siblings were eaten, or they were hiding?

Not sure what to do, does anyone have advice?


r/duck 16m ago

Meet the Flock I just wanted to share this lady duck

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Upvotes

She doesn't have a name yet, but she'll have one soon!


r/duck 22h ago

Babies! Meet Reptar!

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109 Upvotes

r/duck 1d ago

Babies! My duckling:3

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268 Upvotes

Do any of u like muscovy ducks? Personally, I love them sm:3 I have some of them at home and I really enjoy watching them. They're very communicative with their body language, which is quite interesting to watch. They're a bit shy (the drake doesn't like me:(( ), but the ducklings were happy to sit in my hands (one of them is on the photo). By the way, did you know that Muscovy ducks have the longest incubation period of all duck species?

(Srry if my post seems a bit odd or something. English isn't my first language lol)


r/duck 1h ago

Beginner's Question Duck egg issues

Upvotes

I am incubating some call duck eggs right now and Theyre reached, and pasted their hatch dates. out of a 12 egg lot 2 are remaining, however only one has made any progress, which is a half inch hole still covered by the shell fragments. is there anything I can do to help the poor guy or is unfortunately not possible to save him. he hasn’t made any progress for more than 6 hours and it’s been 2 days since the hole originally popped up.


r/duck 9h ago

Eggs/Incubation/Hatching The egg has pipped

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8 Upvotes

r/duck 1d ago

Babies! Is it normal for a mama to have this many bebes?

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251 Upvotes

That's A LOT of bebes!!


r/duck 18h ago

Wild Geese Finally found endangered Nene Geese in Hawaii!

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39 Upvotes

r/duck 18h ago

Happy Birthday! Hatchday :)

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33 Upvotes

2 babies in the first hour of the 28th day ! I am sooo happy and proud 🙂 hopefully the remaining 5 will also come soon🥳


r/duck 9h ago

Pools/Ponds/Water Pool recommendations

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5 Upvotes

Has anyone used this for their babies?? How does it hold up? We had a cheep plastic one but it cracked, which not a big deal it was 12 bucks.

I want one of the big plastic ones you can at tractor supply but I’m in Canada so very limited.

Recommendations pleaseeeee


r/duck 10m ago

Behavior Questions Aggressive mating

Upvotes

I got an adult duck about a week ago, and one of my drakes is desperate to mate with her. Is there any way to stop this? I have 6 other female ducks, too


r/duck 53m ago

Pools/Ponds/Water Watering the ducks

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Upvotes

Super hot weather today making sure the birds are properly hydrated, also cleaning the pool


r/duck 6h ago

Wild Ducks Duck i met during my walk at the park

3 Upvotes

There's a pond in my town, we have many ducks :)


r/duck 1d ago

Wild Ducks HUSTLING - on my way to work 😤

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306 Upvotes

😂


r/duck 21h ago

Wild Ducks Duckies for good vibes

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31 Upvotes

r/duck 2h ago

Beginner's Question I need help

1 Upvotes

I have 3 hens and one drake their muscovy and their 9 months old. Two of the three hens started to fight and i do not know why. They do not fight all the time but i am concerned they damage each other


r/duck 1d ago

Breed/Species/Sex ID Can female Pekin ducklings be late quackery?

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59 Upvotes

One of ducklings are showing the distinct chirp to quack transition. Our other which is slightly bigger has a tiny raspy breath… I’m afraid it might be a drake as we’d have to get more hens to satiate his thirst for mating.

Could the bigger one be a late quacker? He chirps still.