How to Sex a Duck

Often, people who raise ducks want to know their ducklings' sex right after hatching. The most accurate way of sexing ducklings, aside from reading their DNA, is to vent them-- open the cloaca and view the genitalia. However, this is not much fun for either duck or keeper, so if you can wait a while, there are easier ways to tell if your ducks are male or female.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Venting Method

1. Hold the duckling on its back with its head pointing down your wrist in your right hand and its legs up in the air pointing away from you.
2. Expose the vent by holding the tail up with your left hand, and pressing in and up between the duck's legs with the thumb and forefinger of your right hand. With very slow, gentle pressure, open the vent.
3. Observe the genitalia through the opening. Female ducklings have a cone-shaped organ that is more easily observable. Males have a smaller, longer, pointed organ inside a larger cloaca. The male's organ may not even appear for several seconds after the vent is opened.

Other Sexing Methods

4. Listen to the ducks' voices at one month of age. Females will have a loud quack; males have a softer cluck.
5. Check the ducks' tail feathers when they are two months old. The males will have a distinct curled feather at the tips of their tails that will be present even if they have molted for the summer.
6. Look for extravagant plumage. Males of the mallard-type northern duck species have brightly colored feathers in the winter, but beware: they molt in the summer, adopting a more feminine appearance.

Tips & Warnings

• Do not attempt to put your fingers into the vent opening; this can cause serious injury to the duckling. Use only gentle pressure applied to the edge of the opening.