Tailfeathers

See the feathers starting to come out on the ducklings’ tails? They look like pins:

I had read that female ducklings start getting real feathers before male ducklings. So I thought that might be a way to discover how many future egg layers I will have. But, alas, they all have little pin feathers coming out of their tails and bellies, except the runt.

Here’s a closeup of the tails