Welsh harlequin duck? Help me understand!!

[Uponthemountain]

We have 2 females WH, lovely little things and lay brilliant sized eggs.

We borrowed a WH drake and incubated the egg. The baby is now 8 months but doesn't look like a WH...any ideas why not? The 'duckling' is in the middle.

Thanks.

 

[Pyxis]

Unfortunately, I don't think there's any way that's a purebred welsh harlequin, which means either your girls aren't or the drake wasn't. Your girl on the left there looks like maybe she isn't purebred, and your girl on the right might not be either. This is what a purebred female welsh harlequin looks like:

And a male:

And ducklings:

Are your girls from a hatchery? Hatcheries are notorious for not breeding to the standard and for churning out 'purebreds' that are really mixed breeds.

 

[lomine]

I agree that if the other two in the picture are what you think are WH they are not pure. The one on the right is missing markings and her wing bands. The one on the left looks like a poorly marked appleyard. Whatever the case the "duckling" is super cute.

 

[Uponthemountain]

Well that makes sense. They weren't from a hatchery but a well known breeder in our country! We were told the left duck was a gold phase and right a silver phase. The drake was from the same hatchery but he's not ours. If I remember correctly maybe his colours weren't as striking as the photos above.

Our duckling is the cutest and when she hears us talk she quacks back to join in on every conversation.

The original two have laid daily and only stopped three weeks ago when the weather turned colder, the little one hasent laid yet.

 

[ozarkluver]

Unfortunately, I don't think there's any way that's a purebred welsh harlequin, which means either your girls aren't or the drake wasn't. Your girl on the left there looks like maybe she isn't purebred, and your girl on the right might not be either. This is what a purebred female welsh harlequin looks like:

And a male:

And ducklings:

Are your girls from a hatchery? Hatcheries are notorious for not breeding to the standard and for churning out 'purebreds' that are really mixed breeds.

Where do you get your ducks from, they are beautiful?

 

[Pyxis]

]Where do you get your ducks from, they are beautiful?

Thank you! Some of those I hatched myself from my own flock but my original stock is from Holderread.