Heather_256715 Posted July 19, 2012 Share Posted July 19, 2012 Now I've heard of chickens changing gender, but so far two of my favourite female ducks have turned male!! A cross between a runner and mallard went through a moult on his second year. He was previously brown all over with some white- like his/her two sisters- but then turned into a green headed, curly tailed, driven male. Enough said that when he came back in the summer for mating season I had to look twice to believe it was him. He has now fathered some of my ducklings! My other duck was my hand reared female that, like the runner, changed into a male. She/he hasn't come back to the property after a few weeks of her sex change. In the summer, all of my mallard drakes- who are probably not pure- turn brown. They keep their line through the eyes and the different shades and tones of colours, but instead of a lovely green, it's a feminine brown. What is going on?????????? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
karencopas Posted July 20, 2012 Share Posted July 20, 2012 oh my goodness i didn't know that could happen!! i knew i didn't know a lot about ducks but didn't think i'd need to worry about sex changes i've got 4 out of 6 that are drakes i wouldn't mind if they turned into ladies Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chortle Chook Posted July 20, 2012 Share Posted July 20, 2012 Are you certain they weren't always boys, but just change colour to brown in the off season and then back again in Spring? My little call duck drake had a curly tale and a green head when I first got him but he soon moulted and now his head is chocolate brown and the curled tale feather has gone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
miller30 Posted July 20, 2012 Share Posted July 20, 2012 Ducks can change sex but its not very common so dont start worrying all your females are going to turn into drakes leanne Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heather_256715 Posted August 28, 2012 Author Share Posted August 28, 2012 Are you certain they weren't always boys, but just change colour to brown in the off season and then back again in Spring? My little call duck drake had a curly tale and a green head when I first got him but he soon moulted and now his head is chocolate brown and the curled tale feather has gone. I really don't think so- my other mallard drakes change to brown when moulting but they all change back. These didn't... Probably something to do with the mixed gene pool I have here- they all seem to be related somewhere along the line! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
