Does anyone know their duck breeds good!?

[neener92]

I have five ducklings that hatched August 5. I bought the eggs from an ebay-er, they were all supposed to be welsh harlequin eggs but they didn't come out harlequin.
Any guesses as to what they are? My guess is 2 harlequins (mixes possibly), 2 cayugas, and one rouen (it's really small though, like a mallard).

Here is the best picture I have of all 5.



Here is a close up of one of the harlequin looking ones.
I color sexed her and the other one and decided I had a pair this is the famale?



Male harlequin.

 

[duckluv]

don't know much that would help, but realy cute ducklings!

 

[neener92]

Thank you!

 

[shelleyd2008]

Unfortunately for you, the one breed I'm not familiar with (in this case) is the harlequins. But I agree on the others, cayugas and a rouen. You can tell the difference between mallard and rouen by their eye stripe, mallards only have 1

 

[neener92]

I looked that up, about the eye striping. But it confused me cause that duckling is the smallest. Also, can cayugas have a white bib looking thingy, one of them has a white bib but the other is solid black. Thanks!

 

[shelleyd2008]

They can, though they are more often totally black. But a yellow bib as a baby will still feather out as black. Rouen ducklings are pretty tiny when they hatch, usually rouen eggs aren't as big as other ducks. But they catch up fast

Mallards are about the same size as a call duck, if you are familiar with those

ETA: The cayugas with yellow 'bibs' sometimes feather out with white in their breasts, but that usually will molt out with their first molt.

 

[neener92]

OK, thanks a bunch. We've had duckies ever since I can remember. Mostly mallard, pekin, and mutts (so, I don't know what different breeds are supposed to look like as babies). We used to have about 20 now I am down to 3 males and these little ones. The other ducks I had would make wonderful nests and set til the little ones hatched, but they could never keep any alive (I don't cage them at night, they are wild duckies that I feed ones a day), the 3 I have now I stole from the momma and raised til they were old enough to survive at the pond alone. Now they have no females to reproduce with, they are probably going on 4 years old now. I'm planning on keeping the 2 harlequins here at the house (as a breeding pair) and taking the other three to the pond. I'll more than likely end up stealing their babies and putting them in the brooder, then when they are old enough I'll take them to the pond. I was interesting in getting some call eggs, til I read they are difficult to hatch, plus they would be shipped eggs. Bummer!

I'm not familiar with calls but am with mallards. So calls and mallards are they same size? I never knew that!

 

[shelleyd2008]

Mallards are a little bigger than calls, but not by much at all. Personally I would steal the eggs and not let the mamas hatch any, I've lost many a duck that way. I'm not very familiar with calls, but I have heard they are hard to hatch as well. However, recently I've read that they shouldn't be hard to hatch, not all breeders have that problem. So if you really want calls you need to look for a breeder that has good unassisted hatch rates, ones they don't have to 'help' out of the shell. But you could always get some call ducks (adults) and breed your own, that increases your chances

ETA: You will love the cayugas, they are my favorite. Well, second favorite next to the pekins. I don't know what it is about those, but I've always loved them

 

[neener92]

Well, I guess you learn something new everyday! I usually end up finding the nests after the hens have been sitting for about a week. Plus, in the past I had no other way of incubating them (I don't have a bator, or hens sitting), but now I have lost of chickens that like to go broody. Next year I'll just steal the duck eggs and put them under chickens! When I did have all my duckies I had three make nests in the hay field, I found two of the three nests and marked them for my dad to go around when mowing, unfortunately the other hen was not seen til it was too late.

I may just get some calls! We have a local stalk market that auctions off poultry Wednesday mornings, I might go there one morning to sell some chicks and see if they have a pair of calls!

My babies hate me at the moment. Just wait until I take their auto feeder away in a few weeks and have to feed them two times a day by hand! I love how the cayuga babies have such black feet, its the cutest thing ever! I like the green sheen of the adults also, so awesome looking! Perhaps mine is a pair!

 

[neener92]

The other day I got a text from one of my friends! She was getting rid of her Jumbo Pekin ducks and wanted to know if I would take them....of course I said YES! One drake and two ducks! YAYYY!