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

[Dances with Ducks]

Sheryl,
She is pretty, how old is she? A mature WH hen should have black feet and legs to meet the US standard, which isn't always easy to breed for. I have two ducklings hatched from eggs out of a Holderread SQ flock and one has black feet and the other doesn't. I have raised a lot of WH ducklings whose mothers had the dark feet but a high ratio of the daughters didn't. I don't know if others have run into this much. I wonder how much the drake has to do with it.

Here is a link that shows one of my hens with the black feet (I don't know how to upload from my BYC photo album anymore since the big BYC change.) She was in a hard molt and had lost her speculum feathers but it was the best one I could find showing her feet. https://www.backyardchickens.com/gallery/image/view/id/4561722/album/6131109#

Here is another I had that sort of shows her feet, (I did figure out how to upload from my computer.) She doesn't have the best form but her color was really good, although I agree with you, its best to "build first and then paint."

 

[DUCKGIRL89]

hi dances! Havent seen you here much! How many WH do you have? Do you breed them? Do you have SQ? If im asking things you alreadyvsaid please forgive me!, im scatter brained right now lol.

 

[duck&chickencrazy]

She is just beautiful!

Sheryl,
She is pretty, how old is she? A mature WH hen should have black feet and legs to meet the US standard, which isn't always easy to breed for. I have two ducklings hatched from eggs out of a Holderread SQ flock and one has black feet and the other doesn't. I have raised a lot of WH ducklings whose mothers had the dark feet but a high ratio of the daughters didn't. I don't know if others have run into this much. I wonder how much the drake has to do with it.

Here is a link that shows one of my hens with the black feet (I don't know how to upload from my BYC photo album anymore since the big BYC change.) She was in a hard molt and had lost her speculum feathers but it was the best one I could find showing her feet. https://www.backyardchickens.com/gallery/image/view/id/4561722/album/6131109#

Here is another I had that sort of shows her feet, (I did figure out how to upload from my computer.) She doesn't have the best form but her color was really good, although I agree with you, its best to "build first and then paint."

 

[sherylreno]

The black feet is more of a problem with the silver than the gold WH's. I love your gold girl. The one you are asking about is not yet a year old. She's in a light stage right now. Her bill and feet changed color, which they will go through sometimes. I won't be able to breed it out of them. The older one has darker feet as she's getting older. The younger one should get back to dark again.

I'm not showing them at all but I want to keep their quality going.

 

[Ravie]

I am wanting to start breeding quality WH ducks. I need to start small and prefer to find live (sexed) ducklings somewhere. Of course, the hatcheries seem to have a lot of very poor quality birds. If any of you ship quality ducklings, I'd love it if you send me a PM. Even if they're not sexed.

Everyone who wants nice stock seems to start with Holderread's. I may do that as well, though they don't sell sexed birds. This brings me to two questions:

1) To those of you who have ordered from Holderread's before - did they send a nice ratio of males/females? Is it possible for me to buy 10 ducklings from him and get 10 drakes? That would make for some pretty expensive duck dinners, not to mention lost time as I'd have to order again and hope for better.

2) If Holderread's is "the best", where does he get HIS birds from? I am somewhat concerned about genetic diversity. Especially since every serious breeder seems to start out with his stock.

 

[DUCKGIRL89]

I am wanting to start breeding quality WH ducks. I need to start small and prefer to find live (sexed) ducklings somewhere. Of course, the hatcheries seem to have a lot of very poor quality birds. If any of you ship quality ducklings, I'd love it if you send me a PM. Even if they're not sexed.

Everyone who wants nice stock seems to start with Holderread's. I may do that as well, though they don't sell sexed birds. This brings me to two questions:

1) To those of you who have ordered from Holderread's before - did they send a nice ratio of males/females? Is it possible for me to buy 10 ducklings from him and get 10 drakes? That would make for some pretty expensive duck dinners, not to mention lost time as I'd have to order again and hope for better.

2) If Holderread's is "the best", where does he get HIS birds from? I am somewhat concerned about genetic diversity. Especially since every serious breeder seems to start out with his stock.

No, you will deffinetly NOT get 10 drakes. You will get a good amount of hens.

He has bred his WH for many years. And was breeding for SQ. He has been breeding them for 30+ years. He started with leslie bonnet stock I think. (which was the breeder who creatated this breed) he doesnt get his stock from anywhere besides his farm.

 

[Ravie]

Thanks, DuckGirl, I am happy to hear that I won't get all drakes. I am still concerned about genetic diversity and how he's keeping his lines from being too inbred or closely related.

No, you will deffinetly NOT get 10 drakes. You will get a good amount of hens.
He has bred his WH for many years. And was breeding for SQ. He has been breeding them for 30+ years. He started with leslie bonnet stock I think. (which was the breeder who creatated this breed) he doesnt get his stock from anywhere besides his farm.

 

[cassidy22]

I am hoping to hatch some ducklings this year. it'll be the first year my WH's lay, and I just need to make sure they layin their coop! I found one egg shortly after it was laid, and put it in my incubator, but I think it is a dud. It's still REALLY cold here. My ducks aren't really laying at all. But some of last year's layers got into a habit of laying on the edge of the pond, and many of the eggs rolled into the pond.

 

[sherylreno]

My ducks lay in the nest box every time. They lay their eggs very early morning between 4am & 5am. It works nicely with the ducks laying so early and then the chickens lay their eggs during the day.

 

[DUCKGIRL89]

Thanks, DuckGirl, I am happy to hear that I won't get all drakes. I am still concerned about genetic diversity and how he's keeping his lines from being too inbred or closely related.

 

holderread farm is a hatchery, and like most hatcherys, they have many females, and males. So its very unlikely that you will get ducks that are related. Hops this helps

Im hopeing to get 2 males, and 4 females