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

[Dances with Ducks]

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.

Hi DUCKGIRL! Sorry I took so long to reply, I've been offline. Not too many questions, I LOVE to talk about my ducks. I used to be on this forum a lot but got so busy with raising ducks I had to cut way back from being online. This time of year is too early to be raising ducklings in Colorado, but now that laying has started I just can't wait to get the incubators going! Seems like all I think about now is making duck breeding plans.
This year I have five Welsh Harlequin hens and just one drake. (Plus breeding pairs of four other breeds.)

• My drake came from an order of SQ from Holderreads, I got the "pick of the litter" of the drakes just because the gal that ordered them doesn't breed them, she just wanted to have the best WH and could afford to do it.
  
• The oldest girl I have whose photo was in the first link is four years old and has been my best layer up till now. I bought her from a local prize winning breeder/poultry judge. She is certainly up to standard, if not SQ.
• I have a three year old gold phase Holderread hen, not from a SQ order, but she really has unusully elegant form. I want to breed a line of silver phase WH from her now that I finally have a drake that breeds true silver with great form and color, plus she's a good layer too.
• I have one daughter I hatched from my current drake with my original four year old hen. She looks a lot like her mother.
• I also have two first year hens I hatched from that flock of SQ WH. One looks great and the other one's feet aren't darkening up enough yet so I will probably sell her this summer. I also have to make sure these new ones keep up the laying standard or I won't keep them.

You know DUCKGIRL, I think you will find two drakes with four hens will be too much, unless you raise them as trios, they may be more mellow that way. WH drakes get really really active with the girls once breeding season begins.

 

[Dances with Ducks]

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.

Oh HEY Cassidy!!

Didn't I sell you some ducklings last summer? Or was it a full grown hen and a young drake? Sorry I can't remember which, but I do remember YOU! I lost my sales records at a swap last year and everything is just a blur I got so busy.

How are you doing? And your duckies?
Do you have a nest box in the coop? I put some wooden eggs in their nest box and now all the WH have been really good about laying in there.

 

[DUCKGIRL89]

 



 
Hi DUCKGIRL!  Sorry I took so long to reply, I've been offline.  Not too many questions, I LOVE to talk about my ducks.  I used to be on this forum a lot but got so busy with raising ducks I had to cut way back from being online.  This time of year is too early to be raising ducklings in Colorado, but now that laying has started I just can't wait to get the incubators going!  Seems like all I think about now is making duck breeding plans.
This year I have five Welsh Harlequin hens and just one drake.  (Plus breeding pairs of four other breeds.)

• My drake came from an order of SQ from Holderreads, I got the "pick of the litter" of the drakes just because the gal that ordered them doesn't breed them, she just wanted to have the best WH and could afford to do it. 
• The oldest girl I have whose photo was in the first link is four years old and has been my best layer up till now.  I bought her from a local prize winning breeder/poultry judge. She is certainly up to standard, if not SQ.
• I have a three year old gold phase Holderread hen, not from a SQ order, but she really has unusully elegant form.  I want to breed a line of silver phase WH from her now that I finally have a drake that breeds true silver with great form and color, plus she's a good layer too.
• I have one daughter I hatched from my current drake with my original four year old hen.  She looks a lot like her mother.
• I also have two first year hens I hatched from that flock of SQ WH.  One looks great and the other one's feet aren't darkening up enough yet so I will probably sell her this summer.  I also have to make sure these new ones keep up the laying standard or I won't keep them.

You know DUCKGIRL, I think you will find two drakes with four hens will be too much, unless you raise them as trios, they may be more mellow that way.  WH drakes get really really active with the girls once breeding season begins. 

cool! Lots of duckies! what other breeds do you have? Im adding some silkie ducks next month. They are coming from holderreads along with my WH and a runner.

Yeah, I've been thinking of just having 1 drake and 3 or 4 hens, since I already have a rouen drake and a ancona. That would be to many drakes. Still need to think about that.

Since I'm trying to have good quality only, I think I will keep the best drake, and the best hen, or two. And then order more next year when I get a job. I want SQ only. I have a really nice drake outside, he is nicely fit, along with one hen. She has black feet, no eye stripe, long body, and has soft fawn on her back. I will try to snap a shot of her, I need to know if she is worth keeping as a breeder. I really like her.

 

[DUCKGIRL89]

https://www.backyardchickens.com/gallery/image/view/id/4950694/album/6076929


Heres my pair. I have two other hens, but they have eye stripes. Are these 2 worth keeping for breeders?

 

[sherylreno]

They look nice. The body shape is there. She looks like a Gold WH to me but her gold is'nt consistent enough so it does have me a bit baffled. I only have Silver WH's. You don't want any flashy coloring in the wings and it looks like she doesn't have any. Some shows are wanting the colored wings and that's why I call it the American Standard.

 

[DUCKGIRL89]

They look nice. The body shape is there. She looks like a Gold WH to me but her gold is'nt consistent enough so it does have me a bit baffled. I only have Silver WH's. You don't want any flashy coloring in the wings and it looks like she doesn't have any. Some shows are wanting the colored wings and that's why I call it the American Standard.

No, she is a silver. Here blue wing is just hiding. Give me a sec and I will put another pic up of her wing.

Thank you. Are they worth keeping for breeders though? They came from a hatchery, so im suprised they look so nice (metzer farms)

 

[sherylreno]

Well it's up to you really. There isn't suppose to be any flashy coloring in the hens, only the drake. But when I see them in the poultry shows they only show the ones that have the flashy colors in their wings and they are winning ribbons. That's what I mean about the American and English standards. If she is a silver then she has too much gold in her too. Mine don't have any gold anywhere on them and the older one has the flashy color in the wing.

 

[DUCKGIRL89]

Its not gold really, its called soft fawn. If it were gold there would be no black in the feathers. There would be gold in the feathers. I thought there was supposed to be fawn on her.

 

[lakota_elder]

I bought 10 top quality ducklings from show quality parents from Holderreads last year. They sent 11 and I had 5 males and 6 females. Out of that batch I picked out the best 5 (1 drake and 4 hens). All four hens have colored up with the dark bill and dark legs. All are silver and will be going to their first show on March 3 here in Florida.

You can test for fertility without opening the eggs. Use an empty toliet paper roll and place the egg on top and use a flashlight below. That will give you an indication if they are fertile or not.

I'm in Florida and breeding season has already started. I pen my ducks at night and they free range on the ranch all day. Mr. Drake is not waiting til I relase them in the am to head for the pond, he starts breeding earlier than I get up.

I just posted the sale of 6 eggs on eBay and will send out 8. I forgot that they have a sale and auction posting on this site. Will try to post here a little later.

I love my ducks and they do well with all the other critters. I have 4 white peacocks about 10 months old and 6 lionhead rabbits that I finally gave up and turned loose (one at a time over a period of 2 weeks)... and they all have stayed right around the property. They have their own area where they can come in and feed and be safe and they also eat with the ducks and peacocks.... Plus one cat and 4 horses... all of which share the property and get along...

If only people could learn to be so socialble...!!!

 

[Ravie]

This is a picture of my WH ducklet. She is all grown-up now, and her legs are nice and dark. I think she is only 2-3 weeks old here. she is still fuzzy. I think she's pretty good for a hatchery duck!