Welsh Harlequin

[Gge23]

Hello everyone!
I am new to Welsh Harlequins, just hatched 5 within the last two days. One has literally just hatched within the last few hours, and I am a bit concerned that it's umbilical area hasn't closed properly, I can't tell if it's just I absorbed yolk sac or something else. I thought I would ask because you all seem to absolutely LOVE Welsh Harlequins, do I leave it in the incubator overnight (I am in the UK and it is 9:12pm here) and hope it dries up, or should I take it out and put it with its siblings and just treat it with some iodine? I am afraid this is the best picture I can get. Any help would be amazing. Thank you!

 

[bydhatch]

Hello everyone!
I am new to Welsh Harlequins, just hatched 5 within the last two days. One has literally just hatched within the last few hours, and I am a bit concerned that it's umbilical area hasn't closed properly, I can't tell if it's just I absorbed yolk sac or something else. I thought I would ask because you all seem to absolutely LOVE Welsh Harlequins, do I leave it in the incubator overnight (I am in the UK and it is 9:12pm here) and hope it dries up, or should I take it out and put it with its siblings and just treat it with some iodine? I am afraid this is the best picture I can get. Any help would be amazing. Thank you!

Hello! I am quite new to ducks as well. However, through research and stories I am pretty sure you should keep him/her warm and in a humid environment for a bit if that is the case. Hopefully someone else can come along and assist! Best of luck!

 

[Gge23]

Hello! I am quite new to ducks as well. However, through research and stories I am pretty sure you should keep him/her warm and in a humid environment for a bit if that is the case. Hopefully someone else can come along and assist! Best of luck!

So I kept it in the incubator overnight, it hasn't fluffed up much, but it's umbilical area looks a little better, not as angry.

 

[bydhatch]

So I kept it in the incubator overnight, it hasn't fluffed up much, but it's umbilical area looks a little better, not as angry.

Yay! I'm glad that looks better! It can take a while for them to fluff up. If it still looks to be red, I might put some bacitracin on it.

 

[DuckGirl77]

Last night I noticed one of my WH ducklings was sleeping face down in the midst of all the others! I can just picture her sitting there with her head slowly bobbing down until she fell asleep!

This past Tuesday, I became mama to six 2-day old female ducklings, including two Welsh Harlequins! When trying to decide what breeds to order, I did a lot of reading here on BYC's Duck Forum and this thread helped me choose WH as one of the breeds.

These two pictures were taken the day they arrived - just three days old!


I just love their little webbed feet!



And this one was taken yesterday when they were four days old.

Aww! The webbed feet are too cute!

So I kept it in the incubator overnight, it hasn't fluffed up much, but it's umbilical area looks a little better, not as angry.

How is it now?

 

[Gge23]

 

Aww! The webbed feet are too cute!

How is it now?

Hey it seems to be doing a lot better thank you. It is drying up nicely and I keep putting some iodine on it. The only other thing is it doesn't seem to be moving around much, it is quite happy to sit on its towel and let its siblings run around it, but I haven't seen it eat or drink yet. Think it may be having trouble actually standing, so tryin to get some vitamins down it. Other than that it is a very happy little duckling ^_^ I also think it may be a Pekin/Welsh Harlequin cross, as it came out of a white egg, whereas the other were blue, and it has an orange bill compared to the others having pink bills. Unfortunately, the last one appears to have died trying to get out of its shell, it was making good progress last night, but now there is no movement at all, and I can't see it breathing inside there

 

[DuckGirl77]

Hey it seems to be doing a lot better thank you. It is drying up nicely and I keep putting some iodine on it. The only other thing is it doesn't seem to be moving around much, it is quite happy to sit on its towel and let its siblings run around it, but I haven't seen it eat or drink yet. Think it may be having trouble actually standing, so tryin to get some vitamins down it. Other than that it is a very happy little duckling ^_^ I also think it may be a Pekin/Welsh Harlequin cross, as it came out of a white egg, whereas the other were blue, and it has an orange bill compared to the others having pink bills. Unfortunately, the last one appears to have died trying to get out of its shell, it was making good progress last night, but now there is no movement at all, and I can't see it breathing inside there

Good! Sorry to hear one died

 

[Gge23]

Good! Sorry to hear one died

Thank you. I thought I would be doing well to have a 100% hatch, but if it's not meant to be then it's not meant to be I thought about investigating and seeing what happened but then I decided it would probably only scare me, so I wrapped him/her up in a paper towel and sent them on their way. Poor little soldier, it tried so hard. I think a lot it was to do with me thinking they were all Welsh Harlequins, when in fact two of them were Pekin crosses, I've heard different breeds need slightly different incubating temperatures? Maybe I'm wrong, but all the Welsh Harlequins hatched first with absolutely no problems, and the two Pekin crosses struggled, obviously with one dying. I know better for next time, but I am over the moon with what I have, they're absolutely gorgeous! >_<

 

[DuckGirl77]

Thank you. I thought I would be doing well to have a 100% hatch, but if it's not meant to be then it's not meant to be

I thought about investigating and seeing what happened but then I decided it would probably only scare me, so I wrapped him/her up in a paper towel and sent them on their way. Poor little soldier, it tried so hard. I think a lot it was to do with me thinking they were all Welsh Harlequins, when in fact two of them were Pekin crosses, I've heard different breeds need slightly different incubating temperatures? Maybe I'm wrong, but all the Welsh Harlequins hatched first with absolutely no problems, and the two Pekin crosses struggled, obviously with one dying. I know better for next time, but I am over the moon with what I have, they're absolutely gorgeous! >_<

I've never had a 100% hatch, either. I think it's pretty typical to have 70 or 80%. Congrats on the others!

 

[mjamell]

I have 2 Welsh Harlequin females who are approximately 6 months old. I've seen them mating with the males for at least a month. When should they lay and is there something to look for when they're getting ready?