welsh harlequin size? or appleyards? UPDATED with pics!

[zzGypsy]

so I have a trio of what I'm pretty sure are welsh harlequins (dark bills on the girls), not silver appleyards as I was told when I bought them. ok, they're nice ducks and I'll keep them, just get the silver appleyards in the spring <sigh>.

here's my question... what size should WHs be, relative to rouens and cayugas? I've got what I'd consider medium sized rouens and big cayugas, and the WHs are bigger than my medium rouens but not as big as the cayugas. I had read that WHs were medium size ducks and these look to be heavy/large ducks to me. what would be typical size for WHs?

 

[dumb_cluck]

My WH are between the size of a Mallard and a Rouen. They are considered to be a medium weight duck. Mallards are batam and Rouens are large-heavy.

 

[DUCKGIRL89]

Welsh harlequins should be around 6-7 lbs acordling to the "storey's guild to raising ducks" (by dave holderread) my welshies are still babies, and are smaller then the two rouen babies that are housed with them, and they are all the same age. Maybe a pic of your welshies / silver appleyards would help?

 

[zzGypsy]

thanks for the info... sounds like these are bigger than expected for WH. I'm trying to get a decent photo - hubby has the good camera and my phone doesn't take a clear enough photo to be of much use. If I can figure out how to download photos off my video cam I'll get one uploaded.

 

[DUCKGIRL89]

Quote:
How much do yours weigh you think?

 

[DB_Tex]

Welshies are actually light weight class and only a half pound heavier than campbells, not big at all. By your description I would lean more towards them being actual appleyards. You have to consider that if you let a large meat breed forage and free range, it's going to be a little smaller than it's typical cage dwelling counterpart that only gets to sleep, eat, drink and shuffle around the cage.

 

[zzGypsy]

Quote:
I thought based on size they were appleyards - but the hens have the dark bills. I'll try to round them up in the small pen this afternoon and weigh them, that I haven't done yet. they aren't really big on being handled. when I bought these birds this summer they were already full sized but still in juve plumage. now that they've got their adult feathers they're quite beautiful, just not sure what I've got at this point.

they're definitely closer to my cayugas in size than my khakis... but there are those dark bills... hm.

 

[GrannyCarol]

What about the head color on the females? Do they have facial stripes? (Appleyards normally have a stripe on the head, WH don't). Also there does seem to be color variants in the Appleyard breed. It's also possible you ended up with crosses with something. However, I will say my Appleyards are twice the size of my Welsh Harlequin, there's no confusing them when they are together. The drakes are a similar color, the hens not so much. I hope you will be able to get pictures.

 

[zzGypsy]

ok, got photos!
the WH/SA? drake, one of the hens, and a khaki hen

the drake and his girls

back row: WH/SA? drake, rouen hen, WH/SA? hen, cayuga drake, WH/SA? hen
front row: unknown gray crested drake, khaki drake, cayuga hen

as you can see, the drake's the same size as the rouen drake, the hens are bigger than my rouen hens (which are definitely not the bigest rouens I've ever had).

the hens have the eye stripes and dark bills, the drake has a small bit of gray splash under his chin.

so.. what do y'all think? Silver appleyards or welsh harlequins?

 

[DUCKGIRL89]

Theres now way those are welshies. Looks like you DO have appleyards anyway!