Sexing Welsh Harlequins

[Caprice_Acres]

I posted a similar thread a few weeks ago, with crappy photos taken with my cell phone camera.

Well, my duckies are a bit more grown, AND I have a fancy new camera which shows their color a LOT better now.

They will be 10 weeks old 8/2.

As for voice sexing, I still don't know what I'm listening for. These are my first 'real' ducks, having only Muscovies besides these guys. They only quack when excited/startled, and then it's just a barrage of noise, hard to tell who is making what noise and it all pretty much sounds similar.

My 'hens' :

The 'drake':

The 'trio':

Also, I remember reading that a WH is a 'silver' if it's patch of color on the wing is blue, and is a 'gold' if the patch on the wing is brownish. So, my hens are golds and the drake is a silver?

 

[CityChicker]

Yeah, I remember your birds! As I think I had said before, you definitely have two Gold and one Silver. That accounts for the majority of difference you are seeing in the birds. The two Golds obviously do not have the sex-linked bill color. It really looks to me like you have 3 hens. I would catch them one by one and see which ones quack. Of all the ducks I have ever had, my WH had the most distinct difference between male and female voices. If they quack, they are hens.

 

[Caprice_Acres]

Well, they're all noisier than my Muscovies... I was told both sexes will quack, males will be raspier...

Any link to domestic duck quacks, for assistance in voice sexing?

And yes, I have thought of the possibility that all of them are hens. That wouldn't be TERRIBLE, but I would like to have eggs to hatch next year! I think you're right about the one silver, two golds.

Anybody selling any WH hatching eggs? Late in the season but I don't mind... I've got huge brooders and a HUGE incubator.

 

[Blooming chicks]

I am NO expert--but it looks like the silver is a female. As for the golds--not real sure.

 

[Wifezilla]

That "drake" is not a drake, it is a hen. A pretty silver hen.

As for the other two... those bills look awfully orange to be hens.

I have 3 WH from a spring hatch. It is very obvious 2 are girls they are so LOUD! LOL Loudest ducks I have ever had since I sold my buff hen. The boy is so quiet he is almost silent. He does make an occasional "reep reep....reep reep" sound, but that is it.

Anybody selling any WH hatching eggs? Late in the season but I don't mind... I've got huge brooders and a HUGE incubator.

Would you like to do a test hatch for me? I think my oldest drake finally figured out that girls are for more than just looking at

 

[CityChicker]

Quote:
I am wondering why you think that? I have seen you say that before. I'm just curious. That holds true for WH that have the sex-linked bill color like all of the Holderread birds you got from us. I don't think it holds true though necessarily for the birds that do not have the correct sex-linked bill color though. Of course, they may be drakes. That is entirely possible. I have a lot of ducks though, including in that color genotype, where the hens have that bill color. I don't think that alone is an accurate way to determine sex. Of course, as I said, you could very well be right that they are drakes. I still think hens though.

Almost always in my other birds that are they same color genotype, the drakes will have dark heads even in the juvenile/eclipse plumage though. I am reluctant to say that because even that is not always accurate, but I have found it more accurate than bill color. I have fairly frequently had hens that had very dark heads in the juvenile plumage (maybe 15% or so), but pretty much all of my drakes have had dark heads as juveniles. Also, in contrast, I have never had a bird with a completely light colored head (other than the faint hooding that hens have obviously) that ended up being a drake. Not in this color anyway. Of course, that could just be by random chance or the lines I am working with. Who knows. LOL.

 

[Caprice_Acres]

Quote:
I'd like to set a dozen or more, if you have 'em. Let me know how much per dozen... Though I hate to ship because it's risky, with usually poor hatchouts, and extreme expense of shipping them.

Remind me what the RELATIVE humidity should be for duck hatching? 60-65% for incubation, 70% for hatching? Last hatch was my first ducks ever, so I could use a reminder.

 

[Cetawin]

They are beautiful but your drake is a silver female...the other two are odd for females...their bills are very orange for girls but the wings are correct.

As for listening...the girls have a very distinct LOUD "quack quack" the boys sound hoarse and raspy...generally they are not nearly as loud as females either.

Here is a video of my ducks as youngsters...you can hear the boys and the girls...the girls are the loud quackers! You can also see the two females and 4 males in the GWHs

 

[Wifezilla]

I am wondering why you think that? I have seen you say that before. I'm just curious.

Well in my defense the first time I looked at those photos I was on my hubby's crappy Windows computer and the bills looked day glow orange! LOL

Now that I am on the mac they do look more like girls.

I honestly haven't seen non sex linked WH. Even Metzer WH are easy to sex at hatching and we know they aren't being careful about their genetics. I know you mentioned there are non sex linked WH, but I must have been distracted by a bright shiny object and forgot to ask more about it.

As for dark heads, only Abby Cadabby (hen) has a really dark head, but Wendy looked a little like the 2 in the above photo...she just had way more stippling.​