The Story of Cyril (or how to tell whether your duck is a girl)

If your duck is a girl she will quack!*

As a rule of thumb, I expect my ducks to quack by six weeks old – and sometimes a bit earlier. If a female duckling gets a fright she may also let out an early isolated quack amongst her cheeps. In contrast, a drake makes a much quieter, raspier sound.

I have a little white female duck I named Cyril, as I believed she was a boy. Cyril is now five years old and I’d forgotten why I’d thought she was a boy – until this year when I hatched three of her ducklings.

Some time before Cyril’s ducklings were six weeks old I’d decided I had two girls and a boy, as two had smaller heads and prettier faces and just looked ‘girlier’. However, six weeks came and went without any quacks, so I begrudgingly decided I’d been guilty of wishful thinking…until, unexpectedly, at eight weeks old the two prettier ducks quacked!!!

I now know why I thought Cyril was a boy – and that ‘rules of thumb’ are just that…

*Muscovy ducks don’t quack, as they are a different species to other domesticated ducks.