Borrowing a Welsh Harlequin drake?

[Dux]

Can someone weigh in about whether this idea is a reasonable one and how they would go about making it happen? The situation: I have three female Welsh Harlequins who will turn 4 at the beginning of April. They haven't been laying much since mid-summer and I wonder if they are slowing down because of their age. I'd like to add a couple of new females in the spring so I'd still be getting at least an egg/day from the flock. The easy thing would to be to mail order two day old female Welshies from a hatchery like I did with the original flock. But one of my ducks is a really pretty silver, friendly, and a better layer than the others so I'm wondering whether it would make sense to breed just her and hope for at least 2 female hatchlings. I'm considering trying to find someone within a couple of hours drive of me (I'm in Southeast MA) with a polite Welsh Harlequin drake who would let me borrow him for a couple of weeks in the late winter/early spring. Another question: how do breeders make sure that they're only incubating eggs from the desired duck and not from her flock mates? Do they pen the single duck they want bred with the drake? Or do they let the drake in with all the females and then separate each female overnight so it's clear which egg came from which duck? Maybe I'm overthinking but I don't want to risk my sweet duck being terrorized by an overzealous male. Thanks in advance for any ideas.

 

[quackingdom]

From what I've seen, breeders who want eggs from a specific individual will pen that individual up with the male they want. I don't think it's likely that there will be any problems with the drake if it's only for a week or two.

Separating each female overnight might work too.

My ducks often choose different nests, so I just remember which duck lays in which nest, and if I want to incubate eggs from a certain duck, when I pick the egg, I'll separate it and mark it with a letter to indicate which duck it came from. If your ducks all lay in the same nest, then you might still be able to pick out the eggs from your desired duck if you hang around while she's laying and take the egg immediately.

 

[Aunt Angus]

People do that all the time with livestock - lol! Why not a duck?

My only concern would be biosecurity. I know ducks are usually heartier than chickens, but I might worry about avian flu. Two hours from me is a county that's had a recent spike in cases in both wild and domestic birds. But otherwise, I don't see why it wouldn't be ok as long as he's not too aggressive with her.

 

[Luv Ducks]

I too would worry about bringing in a disease. To me by the time you would drive that possibly couple of hours to get him, then take him back, with the price of gas and wear and tear on your vehicle you could just order two females online. I got my Mallards that way from Metzer and other than not being pinioned like I wanted, they were fine and still are. My Mallard Hen hatched out 11 babies, her first try. Nine were Drakes!!! I hope if you decide you want to hatch some out you have plans if you get a lot of drakes. Hopefully you would not. That's just my luck.

 

[indianaducks]

You could order young welshies now (get a male) and then by spring your new male welshie would likely be old enough to mate and fertilize your adult welshies eggs anyway. Then you're not trying to bring in someone else's adult drake. Or do you not want to keep a drake full time?

 

[artbykarenehaley]

You could order young welshies now (get a male) and then by spring your new male welshie would likely be old enough to mate and fertilize your adult welshies eggs anyway. Then you're not trying to bring in someone else's adult drake. Or do you not want to keep a drake full time?

I like this idea too, because the new females that come with the male will be close to ready to lay their eggs by next spring wouldn't they?

 

[indianaducks]

I like this idea too, because the new females that come with the male will be close to ready to lay their eggs by next spring wouldn't they?

Yep! And can still separate the young drake with the preferred adult duck to just hatch her eggs.

 

[artbykarenehaley]

Yep! And can still separate the young drake with the preferred adult duck to just hatch her eggs.

It's a veiled excuse for more ducks what more could one hope for?

 

[Dux]

You could order young welshies now (get a male) and then by spring your new male welshie would likely be old enough to mate and fertilize your adult welshies eggs anyway. Then you're not trying to bring in someone else's adult drake. Or do you not want to keep a drake full time?

Exactly: I don't want to keep a drake full time.

 

[indianaducks]

Exactly: I don't want to keep a drake full time.

Ahhh fair enough! Just be careful bringing in an adult duck, you don't want germs infecting your flock. And whoever owns the drake may not want their birds with your birds. I think it sounds like a great idea but I doubt I would do it with any of my drakes just for the biosecurity risk.