Baby Harlequins arrived this morning !

[rockyspringsfarm]

I've been away from the computer but sure appreciated hearing from all of you that have ordered from Holderreads and seeing your pictures....what beautiful birds ! Harlequins and all !

I have spent several hours just watching these little scamps....so busy !!! They've discovered the "duck" feed and make like little pigs. They are eating lettuce bits out of my hand and one particular little drake (dark bill) is very forward about it....They have such personalities ! I will be doing business with these folks again. They were so kind and helpful. Excellent communication.

My camera picked this time to die !! So, I have to go find another one before I can make some pictures but I will get them soon.

 

[Amiga]

Oh, they are so lovely!

 

[love_a_duck]

Quote:
okay wifezilla,

you are right, she is gorgeous! she is the queen beauty of allllll duckdom!
i think i am in love.

that pose, those eyes, perfect bill.
yes, one day, i too will own some ducks.
and maybe the i will have the most (or almost) beautiful duck in alllll the world.

beth

 

[bock]

https://www.backyardchickens.com/img/smilies/big_smile.png[/IMG] But I am not so sure about the bill color thing. I ordered 10 ducks from Metzer Farms (all supposed to be females) and my one Welsh Harlequin turned out to be a drake, all of the other breeds were all females.

I am still a bit bummed.

 

[OmaBird]

One thing I notice about my Welsh Harlequin compared to my other breeds of the same age is the Welsh Harlequin are the best at catching flies and bugs. They would rather catch flies than eat anything else. Has anyone else noticed this?

 

[Wifezilla]

Oh heck yeah. I have a 5 day old duckling that hunts them. MAN is she fast! She's the cute little fuzz ball on the left with the lettuce she stole from her big sister.

My runner was also a good fly hunter.

 

[Sweetfolly]

Quote:
Last year, one of my Mallard ducklings was a CRAZY mosquito hunter - you'd think mosquitoes would be too small to merit the effort, but from about 2 days old he was zipping around catching them!

 

[bock]

My Mallard was like that too!

 

[rockyspringsfarm]

According to what I have read...with Holderread's particular strain of Welsh Harlequin they can be sexed by bill color pretty accurately at a day old.....drakes with dark bills and ducks with pinkish light bills. Taking that into consideration with these, the pink billed ones have a more feminine look and way of doing about them while the dark billed ones are larger, more masculine looking and more forward acting....Anyway, be that as it may.....I think, according to the bill color, that there are 5 females and 6 males.....Time will tell us if that is correct and then we will know....

These are already zeroing in on any fly that happens to come their way....they do their best to get it. Everybody gets in on the chase !

It's such a pleasure to see the baby pictures !! Plus that "tub full of ducks" picture from Cetawin is wonderful...takes very little to make a duck happy ! And, Wifezilla, I agree...your beautiful lady is fine !