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

[sherylreno]

Today I broke open 3 duck eggs to see if any were fertile and all 3 were not. Boy I know WH's only has 75% fertility ratio but I figured with 3 eggs there would be at least 2 of them fertile. I fully understand how odds work because I work in a Casino and it's all about the odds.

I also went out to 3 feed stores today to find my own incubator. I wanted the hova bator 1588 but all 3 stores only carried 1 incubator that was all the same except for Green's Feed who had an incubator with a fan but it still isn't anything close to the 1588. It was a lot cheaper let's hope cheap doesn't mean no good with ducklings.

So I've decided not to sell anymore eggs until I can check the fertility of the eggs. I didn't even see the white mark in the yolk on 2 of them and those were from Sierra. I thought that was very strange indeed.

 

[sherylreno]

Today I broke open 2 eggs that were laid today and they were both fertile. I'm now setting up my incubator I bought yesterday to check it all out before placing the eggs in there.

 

[sherylreno]

I have my incubator all set up waiting to set the eggs. I'm going to set them on February 19th so they'll hatch while my Son and his family are visiting from Florida. I think my 6 yo GS is going to like to see the ducklings hatch while he's here visiting us. I can't wait for this fun day to happen.

 

[HIS Paintbrush]

I had some welsh harlequins I just sold, 1 drake and 5 hens. Them ducks can lay!! In my personal opinion they are the best domesticated duck breed, very versitile. I decided to get out of ducks all together because its easier to water a cow each day than handful of ducks. the bunch I got was from Holderreads. He has some nice ducks!

 

[sherylreno]

I keep hearing about him. It's a 10 hour drive per way but I might be able to do it later on.

I'm going to hatch out mine and see what I get next month. I'm placing them into the incubator on February 19th.

 

[HIS Paintbrush]

I would just order ducklings from him. He ships them. i always got a few extra in the box. They are totally worth it. Dave has worked very hard for most of his life in standardizing and improving waterfowl. prices are fair too for the quality of birds you get

 

[sherylreno]

I've collected a dozen eggs now and washed them, marked them and have them waiting to go into the incubator in the morning once I wake up.

The incubator has been going for over a week now and everything looks great. I'll keep this thread going as everything happens.

 

[DUCKGIRL89]

I have 4 welsh harlequin, they camr from a hatchery though. I plan on selling them once I get my new ones from holderreads (put a order in for 6 top show quality babies) I want to try and get some more from him later, I really want 2 SQ trios to breed with. or I will just order some eggs from a SQ breeder to have new lines. But I think I will just get more ducklings. I really love this breed, and want to have the best quality I can get.

 

[chicken_boy_Kurt]

Thanks! Justin fits both standards. In England the female (hen) can not have any flashy coloring in their feathers such as the wing feathers. In America people show their females (hens) with the shiny wing colors that reflect the green and blue colorings. Here's a picture of the American Standard coloring, I'll have pictures of the English Standard later:



The WH's has a 90% self sexing already.

When you say they fit the American standard or English standard, do you mean color-wise, or type-wise (or both)? Type is far more important. Try to judge their type.

 

[sherylreno]

I'm just talking about color wise on the SQ. Their body types are the same for American and English standards.