Welsh Harlequin Ducks - Quiet? HA

[NellaBean]

Interestingly enough, after i sold all 7 runner girls.....the Welsh Harlequin are no longer ridiculously loud. They're actually quite 'normal' now. Which is good cause they were driving me craaaaaazy.

 

[Caprice_Acres]

I have 3 WH girls. After having MUSCOVY for several years, I find quacking ducks funny. My girls mostly quack when excited... when I Feed, they follow me making quieter noises. When I fill swimming bins, they RUN (as well as a duck can), happilly quacking the entire while. Same with if they find something tasty while free ranging. It's usually when they are startled that they quack SUPER loud. Other than that I enjoy their happy quacking noise.

 

[Ally Rose]

Are they really that noisy?!!! Wow I thought they were supposed to be really chill. Does anyone know of a duck breed that isnt noisy but is fairly small? i want to hatch 2 ducks this summer

I love animals and I thought it would be really fun to raise my own duckies fresh from the eggshells! I don't live in an area that ducks are...allowed LOL. So they have to be QUIET!!!! I guess size doesn't matter when they aren't loudmouths. And are buffs noisy? I really like them! THANKS!!

 

[GeorgeGarman]

I know this is an older thread, I was just so happy to hear that my WH are not the only loud ones - they sound like geese! I've had Blue Swedes and khakis and they were quiet most of the time. When my Harlequins were younger they would "honk" all hours of the day and night. Now they are two months old and mainly honk in the morning. I am hoping things will continue to calm down as they establish their pecking order.

 

[UtahWelshie]

I know older thread, but still a viable subject. My welshes also "honk" on occasions rather than quack. They love to announce when the get released in the mornings. Most of my ladies are pretty quiet. However I have one hen that is very loud. She is also the only one that goes broody on occasion. Maybe there is an connection between broody ducks and loud ducks, I don't know. She raised ducklings last year. She was extra noisy when she was brooding, announcing loudly when she did her broody food and water runs. When they hatched, her noise level went up 10 fold. She was always screaming out warnings about people or other animals getting too close to her babies. She took annoying quacking to a new level. She quieted down after the babies grew up thankfully. Not sure I want to let her do the broody thing again.

 

[asteele01]

I am interested in adding a couple Welsh Harlequin females to my flock. I think they are beautiful and have read about their calm and friendly temperament. However am having a hard time justifying spending 60 plus dollars to have 2 ducklings ship to me. I think I have decided to wait until next spring and try to find someone to split an order. There are a couple people a few hours away that have offered to supply hatching eggs, but I don't have an incubator and, I am not guaranteed females. My question is from your experience raising WH ducks, are they really as calm and friendly as I have read? I know it all depends on how they are raised, but I am mainly wanting them as pets. I would like to be able to handle them without a total freak out. I currently have an aylesbury (she is the ring leader), 3 pekins, and 2 mallards. The pekins and aylesbury are starting to come back around after a phase of "she is out to get us". The mallards have never been fans of being handled. I would like a duck that is calm and friendly and hoping the Welsh Harlequin is the answer. Any input would be great! Thanks!

 

[UtahWelshie]

Mine weren't hand raised. They were bothered by two obnoxious little boys their whole lives. I had to keep them locked up to keep them safe in the beginning. Despite all the harassment they received, they will still eat out of anybodies hand and come running right up to us when we have the feed bucket. The boys are growing up and much nicer to them now, but the ducks are still not perfectly tame because we lost their formative age to training boys not to harass them. Although, our drake fears no one. If I had spent more time with him, I have no doubt he would have been at my heels and in my lap. I don't know about the ladies.

 

[dishrag]

Quote:
I depends on where you get them. If a breeder or farm has had their ducks for a long time and they say that a certain breed is very quiet, then buy from them. Otherwise, you run more risk of getting what you don't want. I know that Metzer ships groups of assorted day-olds to different feed stores in California, so maybe you can find something like that where you don't have to pay the extra cost of heat packs.

 

[asteele01]

I think I decided to order from Metzer. I like the fact that you can order females and not just straight run. I would like to order from Holderread but then I am not guaranteed females. I could try to sex them myself and then sell the others. I will probably wait until next spring to order them. I would love them now but will be going on vacation next month and would have to wait until we got back to order any. I think it would probably be easier to sell the extras in the spring than end of summer.

 

[Adorkable]

My Welsh Harlequin ducks from Metzer farms are very calm and quiet. I have one that is sort of shy, but the others are friendly and eat out of my hand and greet me with cute little quiet squeaky sounds... I can't explain it, but I love the sound! They are wonderful duckies.