Welsh Harlequin

[rayray983]

Okay I'll look for it

 

[chickkrzi]

I just got some Welsh Harlequins a few months ago ( 1 Drake 3 ducks). Have been getting quite a few eggs from the girls. Wasn't really sure if the eggs where fertile so i put 4 in with my Rhode Island Red eggs in my incubator. Seeing I'm new to having WH ducks or for that matter ducks in general. I didnt know what time of year they might go broody. So once i found my ducks where fertile, started working on some type of plan. Im a big fan of letting mom do all the work hatching the eggs. So I went to there nest every day and marked each egg with the date (with pencil on the air sack end) and place them back in the nest. And when i got about 14-15 eggs I then would remove the eggs with the oldest date trying to keep around 14 eggs in the nest. I'm thinking I done this for 3 weeks before one became broody. At last count she had 15 duck eggs, and she might have a few sexlink eggs as well (they like using her nest) and 2 golf balls that my chicken kept kicking out of there nesting boxes. So now i have a few questions for my expert WH owners.
1) if I pull her off her nest in 7 days to candle the eggs is there a chance she'll give up the nest?
2) Do I need to keep the others (duck, chickens) away for the duration of incubation?
3) If so would it be ok if i move her and her nest to the breeding pin where i could isolate her from the others? I've done this with hens (chickens) before with a great deal of success.
4) Before when i would have a broody hen i would feed her chick starter / grow during her time on the nest until the chicks where about 5 weeks old. Does this apply to broody ducks as well?

 

[bobby33]

I'm so sorry to hear you lost both WindDancer

 

[rayray983]

I just got some Welsh Harlequins a few months ago ( 1 Drake 3 ducks). Have been getting quite a few eggs from the girls. Wasn't really sure if the eggs where fertile so i put 4 in with my Rhode Island Red eggs in my incubator. Seeing I'm new to having WH ducks or for that matter ducks in general. I didnt know what time of year they might go broody. So once i found my ducks where fertile, started working on some type of plan. Im a big fan of letting mom do all the work hatching the eggs. So I went to there nest every day and marked each egg with the date (with pencil on the air sack end) and place them back in the nest. And when i got about 14-15 eggs I then would remove the eggs with the oldest date trying to keep around 14 eggs in the nest. I'm thinking I done this for 3 weeks before one became broody. At last count she had 15 duck eggs, and she might have a few sexlink eggs as well (they like using her nest) and 2 golf balls that my chicken kept kicking out of there nesting boxes. So now i have a few questions for my expert WH owners.
1) if I pull her off her nest in 7 days to candle the eggs is there a chance she'll give up the nest?
2) Do I need to keep the others (duck, chickens) away for the duration of incubation?
3) If so would it be ok if i move her and her nest to the breeding pin where i could isolate her from the others? I've done this with hens (chickens) before with a great deal of success.
4) Before when i would have a broody hen i would feed her chick starter / grow during her time on the nest until the chicks where about 5 weeks old. Does this apply to broody ducks as well?

I would recommend removing the chicken eggs since they hatch a week earlier than duck eggs and she might leave the nest plus when I was younger I snuck a few chicken eggs under a duck and after they hatched it was all cute until mom got in water and called her babies needless to say drown chicks is not cute next we never seperated broody hens or ducks we left them where they were they choose a spot cause it feels safe to them and removing her on day 7 so she can eat poop and take a quick batch should be okay just candle quickly and don't disturb the nest to much

 

[rayray983]

Just put clean hay out for duck nesting area and my female wh walked in made some funky low growling noises and wagged her tail lol she did this for about 5 min I think she's very pleased with fresh hay lol

 

[Zombified]

 

[Amiga]

 

[amandamc]

Everyone please keep your fingers crossed for me!

I have an order of 10 WH ducklings shipping out next Monday. As of 5 minutes ago the temperatures on the 10 day forecast significantly dropped, as in high of 9 F low of -6 F. Back when I placed my order I was afraid of this happening, as I am always paranoid when it comes to my animals. I paid extra for not only the grogel but for them to ship them as if I ordered less (with the 60 hour heat pack, etc.)

I am honestly terrified of going to the PO next week. I hope the temperatures change again in the next week.

 

[DucksnDaffodils]

Everyone please keep your fingers crossed for me!

I have an order of 10 WH ducklings shipping out next Monday. As of 5 minutes ago the temperatures on the 10 day forecast significantly dropped, as in high of 9 F low of -6 F. Back when I placed my order I was afraid of this happening, as I am always paranoid when it comes to my animals. I paid extra for not only the grogel but for them to ship them as if I ordered less (with the 60 hour heat pack, etc.)

I am honestly terrified of going to the PO next week. I hope the temperatures change again in the next week.

Oh, hope the ducklings all come in safe!!

Just wondering for all the other WH owners out there, what your experience is with them laying. How early they start, if they continue through winter, if you give them supplemental light? I started a thread with the similar question, but thought I would ask specifically on this thread since they are Welsh Harlequins.

 

[subhanalah]

Everyone please keep your fingers crossed for me!

I have an order of 10 WH ducklings shipping out next Monday. As of 5 minutes ago the temperatures on the 10 day forecast significantly dropped, as in high of 9 F low of -6 F. Back when I placed my order I was afraid of this happening, as I am always paranoid when it comes to my animals. I paid extra for not only the grogel but for them to ship them as if I ordered less (with the 60 hour heat pack, etc.)

I am honestly terrified of going to the PO next week. I hope the temperatures change again in the next week.

I think you should contact the shipper and ask them to postpone your order until the weather is better. They would rather wait than have to ship more out because of weather complications.