Welsh Harlequin Breeding Thread - People who are breeding or want to breed their WH's talk

[Nebraskagirl]

That's great to hear! I was so excited to get my first egg I took a picture of it and emailed it to all my family and friends. I know they think I'm nuts!! My brother's 10-yr-old triplets thought it was cool, though.

Oh I know! It sounds as if I laid the egg...lol. She has laid two more and they look great. I will wait until it gets a bit warmer and then I will let her sit on them to see if she will hatch them. I am so darn excited!

 

[LightningTFarm]

I am now getting three eggs a day from my WH girls, so only one is still not laying. I think I know which one it is, but I'm not sure. I'd have to mount a game camera in their duck house to find out, I guess. Hopefully she will start laying soon and I won't have to go to all that trouble.

I have ordered some TSQ WH's from Holderread's that I hope will get here around April 1. I didn't specify TSQ on my first order, and while my drake looks fantastic I have quite some variety in the looks of my girls. So, I want to improve my flock so when I start breeding them I get the best results possible. Now I just have to get my dad to build me an incubator! I showed him some of the homemade ones on this site one night, and I bet him he had all the parts next door in his shop right that minute to make the NASA of incubators, and after thinking about it for a minute he said he figured he did. Now, we just have to get it made!

 

[Nebraskagirl]

We have some eggs in the incubator right now. There are 19 days left until hatch. I am really excited. It is great to know the sexes upon hatching too; makes it easier and I don't have to wait!

 

[LightningTFarm]

I just looked back at the post I put on here March 2, and it made me so sad. My wonderful father died on March 6, from a pulmonary embolism after having broken his leg in a car wreck on February 2. I wish he were here to help me finish all the projects we talked about and were planning, from the incubator to a plucker. He was the best dad ever, and I miss him SO much!

 

[jonhpdx]

Sorry to hear about your loss

 

[LightningTFarm]

Thanks for that. I need all the hugs I can get theses days, virtual or not!

 

[whattheduck]

More virtual hugs for LightningTFarm :-/

I was in a panic yesterday when I thought my Welsh Harlequin "Nemo" was being attacked by another duck. I ran out to the lake to find that she was in the water and mounted by one of the wild Mallards that frequents the area and came to the conclusion that she wasn't being attacked but was in the throws of love making! I startled the mallard when I ran up and Nemo didn't seemed to be hurt or phased by the incident. I'm still not sure if I saw the whole event correctly and honestly dont even know if ducks mate in the water or out of the water (or BOTH!). I'm rather naive when it comes to breeding as my ducks (Peking and Cayuga also) are for pets and eggs. I figured this day might come, my babies are growing up!!!!!!!!!

So my question is... Is a Mallard Drake able to successfully mate with a Welsh Harlequin Hen? If the answer is yes what should I do next? The ducks are cooped up every night and I can generally tell Nemo's eggs apart from the others, however should I try and provide her a separate area in the hopes that she'll go broody? Should I just try and separate her eggs and incubate them myself.

If the answer is no then I assume that her eggs are still safe to eat.

This also leads me to ask the question if a Mallard Drake is able to successfully mate with me Jumbo Peking and Cayuga hens?

 

[Nebraskagirl]

Just want to introduce Thelma and Louise to everyone on this thread. They were hatched last night at 6 p.m. and this morning at 4:30 a.m. They are strong, moving well and eating and drinking well. Here is a pic:

 

[DucksnDaffodils]

Okay I have a quick question about Welsh Harlequin ducklings. I just picked up 13 ducklings from the post office!!!!!!!!!!!!

9 WH, and 4 Ancona. I know you can tell the sex of WH pretty well by the beak color (boys have dark beak and girls light with dark bean right?) but I wanted to know about Silver and Gold phase. The hatchery I got them from had no specific gold or silver, so I assumed I would possibly get some of each. But I don't know how to tell. Could someone maybe post some pics of their Gold and Silver ducklings for reference? I have one in particular that is very brown for a WH and the two boys have (YES 2, possibly 3, boys out of 9!!!!!!!!!

) darker heads as well. There are two girls in particular that are pretty much all yellow. So, I just don't know?? Any help would be appreciated! And I will be sure to post pics as soon as I can tear myself away from their adorableness!!

Thank you in advance!

 

[WH fan]

Hi. I have been breeding WH for about 10 years. I have always let them sit on their own eggs. I have found them to be very good at incubating their eggs and quite protective mothers. I did find that if you have more than one duck laying in a nest they don't get sat on though. They just seem to only like their own eggs. The only time I really had problems was last year - I had 2 young ducks whose eggs didn't hatch. I also gave 3 newborn ducklings from one duck to a duck who already had a batch a couple of days old, so she could start laying again, and they died. I have really enjoyed all the great photos and information. All the WH look really good. Over here in NZ I am actually finding it hard to find some that haven't come from mine - I have been populating the country with them for years, lol. Very rare when I started. Thank you.