Haha. Congrats on no Tiddly-Winks! I rarely get that lucky. In fact, I have one little male (and no other ducklings) which is being raised with guinea keets. Too bad you're so far away, one little tiddly-wink and you can make lots of babies in the spring!
It doesn't sound like quacking yet to me, but it isn't a great example since (s)he's busy bathing. You might try to pick him up and walk away from the other ducklings. Record the sound he makes then.
Or, hang in there another week or two, and you should know. You can also vent-sex (it's very...
I listened to the second video of Jasper, and in that one, he still sounds like a boy. Also, his leg color is nothing to worry about at this stage. WH change so darn much that he might actually have good coloring later. They are born with brownish black legs, and look how much they've already...
I have birds from K&S Waterfowl and from Holderreads, too. This year is the first I've hatched out birds from those two lines and so far, bill sexing has been accurate.
In my opinion, Jasper is still too young to voice sex accurately. Where did you get him from? Sexing by bill color is no longer accurate in many Harlequins due to the fact that many of them are poorly-bred hatchery birds (not conforming to the standard) and the fact that Dave Holderread has...
I hate when these threads go quiet, so I'm going to post some pictures! =)
I would be interested to hear what any of you exhibition breeders think of these birds (if you would be so kind). I suspect all but the first girl are a bit washed-out to be show prospects. All the girls have black legs...
Hi Tahai,
I just noticed your last response to me about bill sexing Holderread birds. I will hang on to everyone for now and see what happens. I don't know how to vent sex, but am sorely tempted to try it one day. I don't want to hurt anyone though!
I am dying to catch my birds and check for...
Hello, more-experienced Welshie owners,
I have a question.
I received my ducklings from Holderread's. 4 girls and 6 boys (darnit!). When they arrived, it was clear to me that 3 girls were gold phase and all the rest were silvers. The different was very obvious.
The ducklings are now 10...
I ordered (Welsh) ducklings from Holderread's in February and they arrived today. All strong and healthy. Unfortunately, I have 6 boys and 4 girls. Not only that, but none of the boys are gold (I had my fingers crossed) and all the girls are! I am guessing he must have been using a Gold drake...
This is a picture of my WH ducklet. She is all grown-up now, and her legs are nice and dark. I think she is only 2-3 weeks old here. she is still fuzzy. I think she's pretty good for a hatchery duck!
Thanks, DuckGirl, I am happy to hear that I won't get all drakes. I am still concerned about genetic diversity and how he's keeping his lines from being too inbred or closely related.
I am wanting to start breeding quality WH ducks. I need to start small and prefer to find live (sexed) ducklings somewhere. Of course, the hatcheries seem to have a lot of very poor quality birds. If any of you ship quality ducklings, I'd love it if you send me a PM. Even if they're not sexed...