Our Runner Ducks (All Grown Up)

Our ducks are officially grown up. They have so much character and always greet me when I come through the fence with non-stop quacking. The lightest colored one is very clearly a crossbreed, although it tries very hard to fit in. :) It will stand up tall like the others sometimes, but when it spreads out its wings they are huge and actually provide some lift.

One way to tell gender with a decent level of confidence is by looking at their tails. The males will have a "drake tail" which is a feather at the base of their tail that is very curled. While not 100%, because flocks that are all females can have one female that develops a mock drake tail, it is pretty accurate (see photos below). Additionally, you can usually identify males from females by their quack, or lack there of. The males will have a hoarse, much quieter quack, than the females. You can also sex them by checking their reproductive organs, as the males have a penis, but if done improperly you can injure the bird.

At this point we are fairly confident in the genders of the Runners, but not of the crossbreed. The crossbreed has a very hoarse, quiet quack, but there is no curly feather, so who knows. For us, it really doesn't matter what they are, as we mostly wanted to know for naming purposes. Other than being quite stinky and attracting more flies than I would like, we are really enjoying them! We haven't quite finished their house, but overall they seem quite happy.