Help!my welsh harlequin a are brown

[Aaliwelshharlequin]

Hi I am really confused about my welsh harlequin babies…they should be pure,I raised their mothers from day 1 and they’re pure and their father appeared to be pure too
The white ones appear to be male(correct me if I’m wrong)
But the others are all brown!

 

[Salixx]

I don’t know the answer to your question but I’m sure someone will be along to help. Some more info may help.

I do know age affects plumage - how old are they?

Do you have pictures of mom and dad? Do you have pictures of the white ones you think are male?

 

[ibarbidahl]

I'd love to see pictures of the parents.
These are crossbred. Even If you truly believe the female was a pure welsh - the father may have been khaki or any other cross with welsh, and you would end up with a drake that looked pretty welsh- but offspring that revert to the wild feather pattern.
And, yes the one lighter colored in the picture is a drake.

 

[Aaliwelshharlequin]

I'd love to see pictures of the parents.
These are crossbred. Even If you truly believe the female was a pure welsh - the father may have been khaki or any other cross with welsh, and you would end up with a drake that looked pretty welsh- but offspring that revert to the wild feather pattern.
And, yes the one lighter colored in the picture is a drake.

Ok thank you for replying

And there’s the dad on the left

 

[Aaliwelshharlequin]

I'd love to see pictures of the parents.
These are crossbred. Even If you truly believe the female was a pure welsh - the father may have been khaki or any other cross with welsh, and you would end up with a drake that looked pretty welsh- but offspring that revert to the wild feather pattern.
And, yes the one lighter colored in the picture is a drake.

I posted some pictures above and thank you for the clarification

 

[ibarbidahl]

Still I think the drake is your culprit. He does look fairly typical of a bedraggled WH - and he's in eclipse here so this is the phase that's easier to tell. Unfortunately with some crosses it's very difficult to tell what the base is. ie...a white layer will nearly always throw white offspring, but those offspring may carry a different color gene and pass it to their young, etc.
But, keep in mind if they free range all day that a wild (mallard) could stop by for a visit... that could also happen. You don't have any other ducks, right? I've had that coloration happen from a few different crossbreeds - even one that according to the calculator was going to give me 75% snowy and 25% runner pattern. (I was working on a new line of harlequin runners at the time, but since abandoned the project and stuck to Show Quality WH)

Ps- your females are really quite light so it's odd they are throwing such dark ducklings. Sorry to say, but If you are breeding to sell you'll need to replace that drake. At least you can still sell this years ducklings as "egg layers" Just not as a specific breed.

 

[Aaliwelshharlequin]

Still I think the drake is your culprit. He does look fairly typical of a bedraggled WH - and he's in eclipse here so this is the phase that's easier to tell. Unfortunately with some crosses it's very difficult to tell what the base is. ie...a white layer will nearly always throw white offspring, but those offspring may carry a different color gene and pass it to their young, etc.
But, keep in mind if they free range all day that a wild (mallard) could stop by for a visit... that could also happen. You don't have any other ducks, right? I've had that coloration happen from a few different crossbreeds - even one that according to the calculator was going to give me 75% snowy and 25% runner pattern. (I was working on a new line of harlequin runners at the time, but since abandoned the project and stuck to Show Quality WH)

Ps- your females are really quite light so it's odd they are throwing such dark ducklings. Sorry to say, but If you are breeding to sell you'll need to replace that drake. At least you can still sell this years ducklings as "egg layers" Just not as a specific breed.

Thank you and no I don’t have any other breeds I’ve been trying to focus on welsh harlequin(free range though) …that’s unfortunate my breeding quality females got attacked by a coyote, I was hoping to raise these guys to continue line.the odd thing about them is that they were feather sexable from day one so I might keep a couple in my other coop as a project