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I agree with silk spider, a hen with a yellow bill. I have one with a mostly yellow bill and orange feet, but it's still a girl if it quacks. Drakes have hushed harsh tones. Best, Liz

People say the Runners are horrible moms too, but my Blue runner hen raised my first batch of ducklings when she was only two weeks, and I put all my new babies with her first to introduce them to the flock. She is also the only hen in my flock who tried to go broody this year. I found her...

One of my girls doesn't have a speculum color bar on her wing either. She two is a little on the Mallardish markings side. She still lays eggs pretty well. Not my best layer, but I don't think that has anything to do with the color bar being absent. Best, Liz

Those are probably Silver phase WH hens. that's what they look like. The one with the dark head is pretty light for a drake. Probably will feather out lighter and a soft kind of red/brown. Or, it will make a complete liar of me and turn dark brown or green and be a drake. Best of luck Liz :)

Depending on how old they actually are, Teenager is not a good reference, number of weeks since hatch is much easier to follow. At any rate, They could still be hens. THis looks like their first feather and they can change drastically in the next feathering. Are they quacking or peep rasping...

Looks more like two drakes and a duck. I see two curly tail feathers one on either side of the hen. Poor baby is gonna get beat up when those boys go into season. Liz

Oops, missed the part about 7 weeks. You should definitely be able to voice sex at this point. Liz

Depending on the age. Because this may not be the last feathering. but form current Bill color and head color, the one closest looks like a Drake. No curly tail feather yet, though. So.... At this point you may be able to voice sex it. If it has a harsh quiet raspy voice (Drake). If it...

If you handle your Runners while they are little (calmly) and if you raise them with your Harlequins, I have found that the runners tend to be much less skiddish. I kept hearing about how Runners were not good moms and are very flighty. My two have been handled since they were 1 day old and...

Welsh Harlequins will lay well for about 5 years, provided your not pushing them with Winter light. Then they start to slow down, but will still be decent layers for about another year or two (compared to most chickens). Life expectancy is 10 to 15 years.

I am celebrating today. I am also strongly considering changing the name of my Gold phase hen from Princes to Miracle. Yesterday I got home at about pm to find her having gone from chasing the other girls away from the food and showing off in the morning, to lying limply in a corner of the...

Nice Pic of the difference on the little girls and boys. Liz

Be careful it does not bond to you. If it does not get enough time with other ducks it can have a great deal of trouble understanding it is a duck. It really isn't a good idea to get just one duckling. At least 2 so that they can be used to your handling but can bond to each other as ducks. Liz

Good point on the feed. I went to organic mash over the summer. Last laying period I was using a pelleted natural (but not organic) all vegetable mix. It is entirely possible that there isn't enough calcium in the mix. She is not one of my free choices at the oyster grind either. Thanks...

Yes, Oyster shell is available throughout the year. Liz

I have a question for some long time duck folk. I got three WH hens from Metzer's last year. One died the first summer (kept laying soft shell eggs and one day found her with your uterus expelled, had to put her down. The other two seemed to do very well, great layers their first year. Now one...

They really are the cutest when they are that little. They become beautiful, but at that age, how can you not just want to cuddle them. Liz

You get to know the shape of each hen's eggs. I know who lays by shape now. But unless the hen's bill isn't black to the tip, she probably isn't laying. They kind of grey out from half way to the tip of bill during off season. Even my girl with a mottled bill has a black tip when she is...

My four WH hate going inside. We have had as low as single digits with wind chills in the negatives this year in PA. I have double stacked straw bales to block wind, heated buckets for water and straw down in their paddock. They fuss when I try to put them in at night. I put them in to...

Most likely. What you will really be hoping for is pair bonding, with one duck and one drake. A lot of the domesticated drakes seem to have lost their instinct to take on a single mate, as their Mallard ancestry dictates. They can be somewhat brutal to a single female if the two do not bond...