Welsh Harlequin Observations

[CityChicker]

Well, I have had my Welsh Harlequins a week and a half now and I am in love. They are so cute! Our darn digital camera is not working so I can't take pictures yet, but hopefully that will be remedied soon. I am thinking I am going to sell 3-4 of them since I didn't want ten of one large breed anyway.

I have to say, they are not quite as personable as I was anticipating they would be (possibly because there are ten of them). I think, at this point, that a few of my other breeds were a little friendlier (like Mini Appleyards and Anconas).

Interestingly, my Silvers seem to be friendlier/calmer than the Golds. A couple of the Silver females are very friendly. The Silvers though have Aylesbury in their background, whereas pure Golds do not. Maybe that has some effect, maybe not. I am not sure how Holderread's breeds their Golds or if it is just a fluke that my Silvers are calmer.

At any rate, they are pretty adorable. I can't wait to see how they feather out and how they are once there are fewer of them.

 

[streemers]

every time i have more then 4 or 5 ducklings i have a hard time getting them to be my friend. im sure you will have more luck after you thin them out

 

[CityChicker]

Yeah, I'm sure they will be friendlier then. They almost always seem to be more outgoing with people when they are in smaller groups.

I find myself anymore constantly comparing breeds to the Mini Appleyards since they are far and away the most friendly I have ever raised. I think the WH will be right up there too, but don't seem to be quite as friendly at this point. I still love them though.

 

[Cetawin]

I know my 5 anconas are much friendlier than the 6 GWH. But, as they are in a group of 11...they have each other and do not need me for affection and companionship as they would if there were only a couple of them.

 

[CityChicker]

Thank you, Cetawin! Now I know I am not completely crazy, LOL....

I am surprised at their temperament really. They are not nearly as calm as I anticipated based on what I have read about WH. I have raised much larger groups of ducklings before and had plenty that were more friendly.

Now that I am putting them out during the day, I am seeing some *very* Runner like behavior. When they are alarmed or hear something, they stand straight up very vertical. When we approach anywhere near them, they become very terrified and climb all over each other to get away.

I really think temperament is somewhat genetic and I wonder if some is the line they came from (knowing ours are from the same line). I so wish I had some other more calm ducklings in with them right now to calm them down a bit. Of course, once they are in a smaller group and grow even more accustomed to us- they should get better.

 

[wannabfarmgirl]

Mine are probably from the same batch as yours, and I've noticed the same thing. I split the order with my mother-in-law, and she made the exact same comment regarding the colors....so, it's not just you = )

I have mine thinned down to 3 Khaki Campbells and 3 WH and they are still terrified of me

Glad to see you have yours out...due to their, errrr, lets say - STRONG odor, they spend their days out in a small pen in the grass I made them, and come in at night when the temps are in the 60s and 70s. They seem to be doing okay (daytime temps are in the 90s, but I have shade and plenty of water, etc for them).

I tried to let them swim...THEY DON'T LIKE IT??!!!!

 

[CityChicker]

Wow! It is so bizarre. Mine are extremely fearful with water too! I gave them their first bowl to swim in a couple of days ago and still only a few have gone near it. They go up to it, nose around, and something scares them and they are off screaming/running as fast as they can. I don't think I have ever had any ducklings afraid to even go in water, LOL.

We are pretty much doing the same thing as you with bringing them in at night. I have them in a small outside pen for several hours and then bring them inside in the evening. I'll probably continue with that for a couple weeks.

 

[jmc]

I must chime in about K. Campbells. I am sad to say that, at this point, 8 of our fourteen are miserable birds. Absolutely terrified of everything: food dish, water bowl. All I have to do is to put a block of wood under the water bowl and they become even more terrified of it and won't go near it.

I have 6 others that are less fearful--pretty good in fact.

But I knew this about Campbells when we decided to go with them.

But still, I am finding them a real challenge. Compared to our scovies, the difference in calmness is mind-blowing. Scovies are the best imo

And of course, the 8 psycho-Campbells are ABASOLUTALY terrified of humans.

The other six are just skittish; but they will even take lettuce right out of my mouth when I bring it over. But once the lettuce is gone--away they go!!!!

But those 8 are almost unpleasant to work with.

Get this. They are often so afraid of whatever, that they won't even come out of their coop for hours. I have to scare them out usually!!!

 

[CityChicker]

Oh, no! That is not good. Hopefully, you will like Anconas better. I wonder if that is typical for Campbells? The WH do seem so skittish to me and obviously, they are basically a color mutation of Campbell so you would think their personality would be similar.

Mine just seem to get more and more nervous. They completely panic when we get near them. Much more so than most of the other breeds I have kept. I was just reading on one of the British duck websites that WH are the most nervous breed. I can totally see that with mine.

I wonder why some places like Metzer's describe theirs as so calm. It must just be the differences in bloodlines.

 

[Wifezilla]

My WH girls are friendly, run up to me whenever they see me, eat from my hand, and if I walk up to them when they are busy in the yard, keep right on doing what they were doing while "talking" to me. I just came home from a friends and they were sleeping under the apple tree with fireworks going off all over the place.

They LOVE the pond and it is getting harder and harder to find them out of the water.

My three WH hatchery girls are friendlier than a buff/khaki I hatched out myself.

Maybe I had such great luck since I only raised 3 at a time.