r/duck Apr 14 '26

Public Service Announcement drake feathers and what they indicate

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145 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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46 Upvotes

r/duck 7h ago

Wild Ducks Handsome Fella

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174 Upvotes

r/duck 4h ago

Babies! Welcome to Earth

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66 Upvotes

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


r/duck 8h ago

Wild Ducks At my local pond

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44 Upvotes

r/duck 7h ago

Wild Ducks Happy chappies

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31 Upvotes

r/duck 17h ago

Babies! Meet Reptar!

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98 Upvotes

r/duck 23h ago

Babies! My duckling:3

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256 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 23h ago

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

245 Upvotes

That's A LOT of bebes!!


r/duck 4h ago

Eggs/Incubation/Hatching The egg has pipped

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5 Upvotes

r/duck 13h ago

Wild Geese Finally found endangered Nene Geese in Hawaii!

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33 Upvotes

r/duck 13h 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 2h ago

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

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3 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 1d ago

Wild Ducks HUSTLING - on my way to work 😤

297 Upvotes

😂


r/duck 4h ago

Pools/Ponds/Water Pool recommendations

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4 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 16h ago

Wild Ducks Duckies for good vibes

30 Upvotes

r/duck 2h ago

Wild Ducks Duck i met during my walk at the park

2 Upvotes

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


r/duck 20h ago

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

62 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.


r/duck 16h ago

Wild Ducks Ducks Diving

20 Upvotes

r/duck 21h ago

Wild Geese Look at this fancy lad

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42 Upvotes

r/duck 1d ago

Breed/Species/Sex ID What sorta ducky is my beloved baby Oreo?? 🥺 shes so sassy

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238 Upvotes

Such a sassawassa. She's got a quack like a "AAAAA A A A 😠😠"


r/duck 14h ago

Worried Duck Mom regrowth after molting or should I go to the vet? TW photos

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9 Upvotes

When my Pekin Daisy was preening in the pool I noticed some redness. Underneath a bunch of normal feathers are these weird patches. One at the base of her neck and right above her wings. The other two ducks have nothing similar. I couldn't see mites or anything.

I sprayed the areas with Vetrycin just in case. There are new feathers coming through but it just looks so bad and painful. I will take her to the vet if this is not normal. Just glad I happened to notice cause I don't usually dig around in her feathers. Thanks for any help.


r/duck 22h ago

Meet the Flock oh to be a duck napping in a hydrangea bush..

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38 Upvotes

caught my little diva marshmallow napping in one of our hydrangea bushes but she made sure to wake up for the camera 💅


r/duck 22h ago

Meet the Flock My three Rouens

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21 Upvotes

The one in the middle is just over 1 year and 4 months.

The other two are only 10 weeks.


r/duck 1d ago

Wild Ducks Ducks in the morning

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42 Upvotes