I got my new ducks and I have a question on the the khaki campbells. Can you tell the sex of the ducklings by the bill color? Some are brown and some are very light colored.

-- shari (smillers@snowcrest.net), February 15, 2002

Answers

that's an interesting question. mature adult males have yellow bills and females have a grey/green bill. after reading your question I looked through some photographs of my ducks earlier in their life and I noticed the males had greenish bills and the females had more greyish ones. couldn't distinguish colors in the really early photos (1~3 weeks). did you buy sexed or straight run? I'm also interested in hearing the answers to this question. Khaki males are really handsome ducks when mature.

-- B. Lackie - Zone3 (cwrench@hotmail.com), February 15, 2002.

I bought the campbells as straight run. They sure are cute and friendly!

-- shari (smillers@snowcrest.net), February 15, 2002.

Ducks that I have had that are mallard like in feather pattern tend to be like you describe: drakes are darker billed, ducks are lighter in colour. But the clincher is who quacks. "If it walks like a duck and TALKS like a duck (quack, quack), it's a duck." :) It's always fun to hear those first squeaky quacks when the ducks are finding their voices. The poor drakes just whisper.

-- Jennifer L. (Northern NYS) (jlance@nospammail.com), February 15, 2002.

you are talking young ducklings, right? if so, you might consider marking the bills lightly with a waterproof marker, a separate mark for each color or some sort, and see what turns out. science project! once they're a little older the drake/duck question is self evident.

-- B. Lackie - Zone3 (cwrench@hotmail.com), February 15, 2002.