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

[hokankai]

Correction, she's in Oregon. Raven Feathers Farm? I believe she also has both varieties.

 

[hokankai]

Got a video of my girls

 

[hokankai]

Here is my starter breeding flock! 2 drakes, 7 hens (the dark marked one is for sale though, she has an eye stripe and white toenails)! I would still like one more really nice female, but I think this is a great start

 

[LightningTFarm]

Regarding the classification of Welsh Harlequins as "endangered", they are not on the government list of "endangered species", but the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy has them listed as "critical". The criteria to be listed as critical is as follows: Fewer than 500 breeding birds in the United States, with five or fewer primary breeding flocks (50 birds or more), and estimated global population less than 1,000.

The other duck breeds on their critical list are: Ancona, Aylesbury, Magpie, Saxony (which I also own), and Silver Appleyard.

Go to their website and check out their breed lists. They have a lot of very interesting information.

 

[hokankai]

I decided to make a Welsh Harlequin group on facebook . I think it'll be a great way to get in contact with other people who work with them and just show off pictures. Feel free to join!

https://www.facebook.com/groups/523661071075160/

 

[GentFarmer]

Thanks much for posting the video and pictures. As someone considering adding ducks to his homestead, it was nice seeing the WH "first hand."

 

[Zombified]

I'm not 100% sure if I'm going to keep my drake. I would like to add one more gold phase hen. Then I will have one WH drake, and four WH hens as my starting point.

 

[GentFarmer]

I'm picking up 10 ducklings from Metzer on Tuesday. I'll be keeping 6 (one drake). If anyone in the Bay Area is interested in WH, I'm happy to talk about taking some of my remainders in a few weeks.

 

[asteele01]

I have been reading about welsh harlequins and their calm friendly temperament. I am wondering if they really are as calm as I've read? I am planning to add a couple to my flock if they are truly a friendly duck. This is my first year raising ducks. I have pekins and mallards but would love some WH ducks.

 

[Zombified]

Asteele01, it really depends on how much you handle them and where you get them. I got my WHs from a breeder who didn't really do a lot of handling, so, even though I bought three-day-old ducklings, they weren't super eager to be handled. I didn't handle them overly often; often enough to spend some time with each of them and keep them healthy, but not enough to bond with them. You really have to handle them in order for them to be super human friendly.

With other animals, mine have always been curious but cautious. My Mallard was the adventurous one, so she would often be the first to investigate. Once she did, the others would slowly follow, one by one. One of my hens is always last, and tends to hide behind the others to observe quietly. My drake charges at us when we start to walk away, and if we're crouched down to feed/water them, he sometimes rams into us, but he hasn't bitten us, and he runs away as soon as we step toward him. My gold phase hen and I bonded while she was sitting on a nest, and now she's the first to come out to see what goodies I have. We aren't tremendously close, and she still won't let me touch her, but she isn't running away from me anymore. All three of our WHs will eat from our hands as long as we crouch down. I'm slowly trying to get them to come back around after a bobcat killed two of their coopmates - one of my silver phase hens, and my Mallard hen. That's actually when my drake started ramming into us. He's started to become very protective and watchful, so even though he's not show quality, I'm considering keeping him around.