Welsh Harlequin

[Wifezilla]

It really depends on what you want out of your ducks. The WH are perfect for me because I wanted a dual purpose duck with high egg production that could brood their own young and wont fly.

CityChicker, since Tweak fathered so many babies in this area, I traded him to someone up north and got a new man from a different bloodline. He is too young to mate at this point, so no more fertile eggs until next year from me. The cool part is he looks just like Tweak, but unlike Tweak he doesn't go after my toes! (And naturally we named him Cartman

)

 

[HiddenHill Heretic]

Here are pics of my Welshies. This is within the 1st week, then at about 4 weeks. Gotta love em,

 

[lakota_elder]

Can you accurately sex them by that age..... and what is the difference in the final coloring of the dark vs the lighter ducks.??

 

[Cetawin]

Harlequins can be sexed by bill color the f1rst 1-3 days, but up to a week. Darker bill = drake. At the age of HiddenHill's, they are easily sexed.

In the second picture, the two lighter ducks standing with markings and a shadowing head....drakes

 

[Javamama]

I jumped into the WH duck pool, so thought I better post a pic or 2...we have 2 drakes from Holderread's and 6 ducks from Metzer, the drakes are a month older than the ducks. We needed a 4-H project and originally wanted a pair or trio. Found out a friend had an order in at Holderreads but didn't want all 10 so she offered us the extras. Well, she only got 3 females in the group. So we took 2 males and I put in an order for females and since I wanted them all to be close in age and sexed I ended up going with Metzer. 2 of our Metzer ducks had very dark heads for awhile and I thought they might be drakes, but they are all quacking up a storm now so we're in the clear. Very pleased with all of them. The one drake is IMO, bigger than he should be and we probably won't keep him. After the fair we will sell a drake and at least 2 of the females.

These photos were from a few weeks ago. I'll get some updated ones today if it stops raining. They have really changed alot.

 

[CityChicker]

Tons of cute babies! I miss my WH.

Good luck with your new drake, Wifezilla! I hope you raise lots of babies next year. I have seen a few different people selling WH here. There have been at least a couple on CL selling them. I sold a really nice trio to a veterinarian up north as well. I can't believe it, but I can't remember whether she was in Greeley or Fort Collins. Anyway, somewhere north. LOL.

 

[percyj]

Where can I get Welshies in northwest il???

 

[Kansaseq]

Do they have their adult color at 4 mo? Will they get any darker after their first moult? I picked up one today who is mostly white. Won't have a pic until tomorrow, though.

 

[Javamama]

Updated photos - they are now 9 weeks old (drakes) and 5 weeks old (ducks)
As I mentioned in another thread - the only one I'm not sure about is the one in the front-middle of the first photo. It has a dark head, but quacks the loudest of all of them. Time will tell. One of the other females had a really dark head for awhile too.

 

[pardygwyn]

If it's making any noise at all that can be classified as "loud," it's a girl. LOL Those Metzer girls of yours are a lot darker than mine (I have one who's nearly white and I'm jealous of your pretty girls!), but I've seen plenty of young Holderreads WH gals with dark heads like that. It will go away when they get their adult feathers.