Welsh Harlaquins

[Everose]

I still feel like they're drakes but the voice would be a better indicator.

 

[Everose]

Wuza is pictured below behind his two hens.

i miss him with all my heart

 

[Smiles-N-Sunshine]

Sorry for your loss of Wuza, Everose. Handsome guy there. :'(

It appears that variations in bill color are common in this breed, as well as the silver/gold feathering? Mine are from Metzer and I can definitely see some differences between the 13 of them. (Which is nice because when I raised Khaki Campbells before, they may as well have been clones for all I could tell.)

In the photo, the two 11-week-old drakes are centered but there aren't drastic differences between them and the hens, until they "laryngitis quack" as I like to call it. So I'm as curious as everyone about the sex(es) of the OP's pair.

I imagine there's a "Standard of Perfection" written out that describes the ideal Welsh Harlequin, but I had quite enough of that nonsense when I raised show rabbits.

Cheers!

 

[Everose]

Sorry for your loss of Wuza, Everose. Handsome guy there. :'(

Thank you

And yes there is a standard of perfection (your ducks would be a good example), I raise show rabbits but the welsh harlequin standard actually feels much easier to meet! The ducks in your picture look pretty fantastic so it wouldn't be hard to achieve, a good foundation makes all the difference.

The big issue I've had is bill color, black for the girls and green for the boys, black is the juvenile bill color until drakes reach adulthood and get a very bright yellowy green colored bill. Yellow billed ducks can produce black billed girls which makes it easy to breed out of your stock, that is why I kept Honey (the hen in the middle/front) her offspring would just need to be culled heavy.

I actually plan on having two flushes, one will just be my non breed standard girls and I'll just eat or sell their unfertilized eggs, the other will be my best layers and standard of perfection girls with only the best drake possible for fertilized eggs. It'll be a lot of work but I LOVE ducks, and if you love what you do you'll never work a day in your life!

 

[ibarbidahl]

That feathering pattern on the lower back really screams girl...but I've never seen such a dark head or light bills. I wonder if they are mixed with muscovy? Based on the last video you should be hearing more quacking now....How about another video? ;-) (we like pictures and videos LOL)

 

[Newfowler1]

Beautiful Welshies! I do love mine.