Duck Breed Focus - Welsh Harlequin

[Miss Lydia]

We acquired our "Apple Yard" ducks (We didn't know the proper name until coming across your post ) - Welsh Harlequin's on 21 December of last year when they were still ducklings and raised them with our chooks, so we suspect they think of themselves as "chucks."

They are truly characters and a wonderful addition to our family. They Free Range as the rest of our flock do and have discovered the ponds and streams in the surrounding valleys, but always find their way home by supper time. Imagine that.

In July, Twytch, our only female began laying and has been a laying machine ever since - never missed a single day yet. In the local farmers' markets, duck eggs sell for $0.70 - $1.00 each.

One of our hens has gone broody, so we decided to let her incubate five of Twytch's eggs to hopefully increase laying capacity.


Wytch, Rytch and Twytch enjoying the Redneck Pond we
made from an ol' truck tire we found in a paddock.


They've matured beautifully.


This is how they looked when we brought them home.

Twytch egg on the right, 7 cm length and about 77 g compared to one of our chook eggs on the left.

Goodness they are beautiful and love the pond idea.. Huge egg.

Welcome to BYC!

 

[MagpieDucks]

Everyone's WH are so beautiful!

I have 14 WH eggs in the incubator that I bought on Ebay. I'm new to this breed and am wondering how do you tell the difference between them and Appleyards? Are they related?

Harlequins have a different bill color, are much smaller in size, lay more eggs, and don't get a frosty underside.

 

[Tevyes Dad]

Are you planning on breeding? Do you have a specific purpose for them? If not, I would say just get both. I have only WH now but I really want to add some different breeds later. Magpies are on my list.

I agree 100%

Tony's philosophy (I only fit in the last category so take with a grain of salt.)

If you are breeding for meat - Pekin or Muscovy.

If want eggs to sell at maximum efficiency - Khaki Campbell or one of the special Hybrids.

If you want eggs to blow the minds of your chicken owning friends - Pekin.

If you want to breed to sell - select what works well in your area. <soap box>Learn to sex them and be prepared to process a lot of drakes into yummy meals. More drakes end up at ponds because some unsuspecting person gets straight run ducks and ends up with a bad situation 6mo - 1yr later and doesn't know what else to do with them. Feed stores do enough of this. No one who is not prepared to send ducks to freezer camp should end up with three drakes and a duck.</soap box>

If you want a house duck - Call. (less poop)

If you want eggs and pets and to "know" your ducks - Mixed flock - it is possible to do it with leg bands, but why work so hard

and if they aren't as productive with the eggs as you would like... Duck Math!

 

[Tevyes Dad]

I'm getting these in the spring!

Here is a WH 'ling photo to get you in the mood for your babies:

 

[Tevyes Dad]

What to you band with?

That little cutie came from Metzer Farms. When you get sexed ducks from Metzer they come with the bands on them. Green = duck, Purple = drake, White = Runner duck, Something else (I didn't get any) = Runner drake. The bands are kind of like masking tape stuck to itself and they are hard to take off, but if you leave them on, they open slowly then fall off on their own in 4 weeks or so and by then you can tell the ducks apart much easier. (At no time did any of the ducks seem uncomfortable with their bands although sometimes they would pull on their own band or someone else's band because it was there.

 

[Tevyes Dad]

I wonder who was more surprised, you guys or her?

I'm sure it was us. She was a regular layer and although we had her lay in the house before (in a dog crate), that was the only time we ever saw her WHILE she was laying. Maybe the crazy girl shoots them out the front all the time??? Anyway I'm sure she knew what was going on even if the urge was sudden. We however just saw a duck struggling to keep balance while standing rocked back 15 degrees and thought she was maybe having a seizure.

 

[Tevyes Dad]

@PotatoWaffles Funny, I was just going to post this and your post popped up on the bottom just as I was starting to type... BTW, WH don't get their full pattern until 2 years old which Rhiannon is nearing.

A recent curiosity got me looking into the difference between Silver Phase and Gold Phase because my Rhiannon is so dark and she is from Metzer who sells only Silver Phase.

@sumi , you might confirm then add this to the top description if you wish.

Although Silver Phase are typically lighter than Gold Phase, this is not always the case. The main differences can be described by what Gold Phase does not have... Gold Phase does not have black or gray markings - they are completely within the brown - buff spectrum with white. Gold Phase does not have blue/purple speculum feathers - They are brown. Gold Phase are very rare in the USA.

Of the pictures in the OP, they are:

1 GP ducks with a SP drake in the background. @duck&chickencrazy
2 SP drake @richie1
3 Who knows cute little 'lings @Theeggboxtoo
4 SP drake @Wifezilla
5 GP duck (foreground) SP duck and drake (background) @Zombified

# 5 makes a great comparison. In that case the Silver is darker than the Gold and on the Silver, you can see the black around the speculum feathers, the tail and on the head and neck that are not on the Gold Phase.

 

[Lozuufy]

Newbie looking to purchase 1 drake and 2 WH ducks from Metzer for primarily pet/therapy animal purposes....eggs a bonus for sure, definitely will not be hatching anytime soon. Am I picking the right breed here? I'm looking for quiet, calm, able tone socialized for light handling, low stress companionship (reading to them, petting, sitting near) for a special needs population. Other breed I've looked into is Cayuga. Any thoughts would be appreciated!

Sarah

2 ducks might not be enough for 1 drake, I think the ratio is about 3-5 ducks per drake. If you just want them for pets/eggs then it might be better to just get 3 ducks, plus then you would get more eggs

. I haven't had any breeds other than WH, so can't compare them, but mine are relatively quiet with occasional "bursts" of quacking. Mine are also super friendly and don't mind being picked up, and a couple will even climb on my lap when I sit down (of course if I have food they will all climb on my lap

). Food is the best way to get them used to being handled, they will do ANYTHING for food

Also welcome to BYC!

 

[hwyaden ty]

I've just hatched 3 Welsh harlequin ducklings! They are so beautiful! I chose them because of all the good things I read both in terms of temperament and egg laying, although I can't be sure of sex yet. Mine are just pets for our back garden. X

 

[broodytood]

Good afternoon.
Just found this thread but did not have time to read through all the pages.
My DD is looking to work with WHs. She saw that they were listed as critical on the Metzer's site and chose them over the other breeds she was considering.
I was wondering if there was a reputable breeder in WA, anywhere in the radius from the OLY/TAC all the way to the Longview/ Vancouver areas.
We do know of Holderread's and will try them if we can't find a breeder a bit closer than they are.
She was hoping to start with at least 6 ducklings or a confirmed breeding trio or quad.
Thanks in advance for any help you might be able to give us.
Enjoy the day, Broody.