I am new to ducks and have had limited exposure to them. A person down the road from me has a flock of (what appear to be) Rouens, Swedish, and Cayugas. These things are HUGE! All I knew when I ordered ducks was that if I wanted something the size of a goose, I'd get a goose. LOL So, with that in mind, I ordered a trio of Mallards. Now they are getting ready to move outside and I have duckling fever. I really want a pair of Welsh Harlequins. However I am wondering what size the adults are? I can't find much online but a weight... and I am having trouble picturing the size of a duck by weight. I couldn't tell you what my Mallards weigh. Are WHs closer to a Mallard in size, or those ginormous Rouens?
Mallards probably weigh a couple of pounds mature. Welsh Harlequins will be about 4 lbs and the big meat breeds you are talking about can be easily twice (or more) the size of the WH. So, your WH would be larger than the Mallards, but you won't confuse them with geese.
Huge. They are a large duck breed and the males are supposed to be twice the size of the females. I've never had Muscovies though... I'd expect the boys to be more like 10 lbs - larger than most Mallard derivative meat breeds. If you don't want really large ducks stick with the smaller egg laying breeds, such as Khaki Campbell's, Welsh Halequins, or some of the adorable banty ducks like Call Ducks, or Bantam Silver Appleyards, or East Indies. Those are quite little and mostly ornamental.
I have Welsh Harlequins, and they're pretty big... compared to my mallards that is. WH get upwards of 5 pounds, and mallards are 2 to 2 1/2 pounds, so less then half the size. If you like the color, but not the size, concider snowy mallards or call ducks.
A friend had a Welsh Harlequin, sweetest and prettiest thing ever! Well, after my White Campbell/Pekin of course. And I love the Calls!
Quote:Really? I was told to steer clear of runners because they were very skittish (in fact, the girl used the word "psychotic"). That was enough to warn me away from them after my very poor experience with my Silkies (who, despite being doted on several times daily as chicks, won't hardly let me near them). If I ever see silver appleyards or call ducks locally, I'm a goner. I'll come home with a dozen of them. LOL I'm just looking at breeds that I can easily order online. Thanks Grannycarol, I had no idea scovies were so large! I like them but I guess I won't be getting any.
My runners are skittish, but hardly psychotic! The first female runner I had, however, was pretty friendly. She would eat out of my hand and I could pick her up fairly easily. She didn't love it, but she was okay about it once she realized I was not going to hurt her. I will say they are REALLY amusing though. Very personable and opinionated. I enjoy mine a lot. My Pekin is very sweet and the little mix breed I have is a cutie too. I never got any of them as ducklings so maybe that would have made a difference.
Be sure its MINI Appleyards, the big ones are pretty big ducks, running 10 lbs or so (like small geese!). The minis look adorable though.
