Thanks so much for the advice.

[MummyToTwins]

This forum has been enormously helpful.

I think we are going to go with four Welsh Harlequin females; either very young or new ducklings so that we can handle them a lot to get them used to us.

Although I'd love to start now with some rescue ducks realistically I think we should wait till the spring. The weather here can be horrendous and I can't have four ducks inside like I did with Pete.

Thanks again and I'll be lurking till I have more questions.

Cheers!

 

[DUCKGIRL89]

Wish you were closer to me

I hatch and sex welsh harlequin ducklings.... (well I will be

)

 

[DB_Tex]

You'll enjoy them "Mummy". And to excite you even more I think folks forgot to mention how well ducks adapt to harsh winters-- they don't have exposed skin like chickens do to get frostbitten, and a fully feathered duck is incredibly weatherproof. You won't have many of the winter problems massachutsens have with their chickens.
We had a nasty cold and windy rainy couple of days (well, nasty for Phoenix) and my duckies were in heaven. I didn't pen them up because I had no way of knowing a flash flood wouldn't come through and swish the duck house and nest boxes around like bath toys so they wandered my yard free range for 48 hours straight. Splashing puddles, digging in the mud for worms, drinking rain drops straight from the sky... I just obtained a lot of drakes that were all freezer camp bound and I felt like it gave them a heavenly send off.