# Drake or Hen?



## MrSafety (Feb 22, 2005)

I'm sure someone has run into this before. I shot a mallard yesterday in Western MN that definately appeared to be a drake coming in. When I got it from my dog the first thing I noticed was a DEFINATE hen bill.......but........it had a green mottled head, white neck ring, brown drake upper chest and 3 curly tails.....??????..............drake or hen? I will post pics as soon as I can figure out how...........


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## Pikeguy (Oct 16, 2006)

Drake 
You can always sex it manually as well


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## Chuck_5 (Dec 11, 2005)

maybe a hermaphrodite


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## Bandcollector02 (Oct 4, 2005)

uke:


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## Goldeneye (Feb 24, 2006)

The way to positively sex a Mallard is to look at the white bar in front of the violet speculum of the wing. The white bar will stop directly above the violet feathers on the drake, whereas the white bar on a hen will extend toward the body a few feathers past the violet


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## Invector (Jan 13, 2006)

A drake mallard can appear hen like when its a young bird. The BEST way to tell a male from a female is by looking at the bill. A hen will have that brownish orange while a drake will have that green color. The bill or a younger male will have a bit darker green then the adult. A older drake will have a greenish yellow color. The differance is very easy to tell just by looking at the bill...not the colors when their are young.


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## ND_duckman (Feb 17, 2006)

Do a cloacal exam on the bird, that will give you a definate answer.


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## greenheadfallon (Oct 19, 2005)

ima say drake. i wanna see some pics though sounds like a cool bird. maybe a trophy you never know.


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## Triple B (Mar 9, 2004)

yep, gotta get the fingwers moist to know for sure!!!! :beer:


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## USSapper (Sep 26, 2005)

uke:


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## wolfmanjack (Sep 27, 2006)

black mallard....


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## Invector (Jan 13, 2006)

color of bill is a must need to know info here. You could have killed some poor littles girl pet duck though.


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## King Eider (Mar 9, 2005)

With the description of the bill you gave as well as the rest of the bird it sounds like a female. I mounted one several years ago for a friend. I did quite a bit of research on this and visited with Frank Belrose before he passed away. If you don't know who he was he was probably the worlds foremost waterfowl research bio. He said t is not uncommon for this to be seen in Mallards but rare none the less. What happens is similar to a female human growing facial hair. Basically a hormone imballance.

There has been much discussion on this subject lately with photos on another site. If it is allowed I will give it so you all can see the discussion.

Someone please let me know if I can post that info here.

I saw a Wood Duck one year that showed the same characteristics. Photos of it are on the other site too.


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