Welsh Harlequin

[zooweemama]

My WH are pretty calm. Very pretty. They lay 4-5 eggs a week for me. Their eggs are a normal size in my opinion. About 65-70 grams on average for my 2 gals. My Pekins lay 80 gram eggs. Sometimes a teeny but larger. They are a good size to be sure but supermarket chicken eggs are larger than my WH eggs. But all my duck eggs are so far larger than my backyard chicken eggs. Altho my Easter Egger eggs are catching up to my smaller duck egg layers. (Runners for me lay the smallest of the ducks I have)

 

[Sandara]

My 2 just started laying in Nov. and I get 1-2 every day. I had to drive a 3 hour round trip to get this trio and they were sooooo worth it! Love them so much I bought a new incubator and will be hatching them out very soon.

 

[Muse7]

Hi Alabama,

Our Princess, started laying right at the beginning of her 22nd week, October 26th. She may have missed
one or two day giving an egg, but not more than that. She is working on her 6th dozen of eggs.
Mimsey started laying in her 23rd week, Nov. 11th. She lays every to every other day depending on whether
she lays a single or double yolker. She has laid 9 doubles since she started. Those are enormous eggs.
My other two girls, Brave and Patience, have laid an egg yet and are into their 30th and 31st weeks. I expect
there will be eggs starting in the Spring with those two, then we'll see how consistent they are.

Now, as to light. We add an extra hour of "external" light in the morning and about and extra 40 minutes of external light in the evening. So our gals are getting roughly 10 1/2 to 11 hours of light per day. We do not add any light to the inside of their house, but we do have a good thick bedding going (about 8 inches of straw and pine pellets, and we provide night water using an inverted bucket and chicken drink nipples).

Only a full winter season will tell whether this will be successful the whole way through. But I don't like the idea of burning the ducks out, just so I can get 5 eggs a day every day. We are very small operation, more about the quality of our food than the sale to other. Don't get me wrong, we've sold some eggs, Lord knows we couldn't eat them all.

Best,

Liz

 

[Alabama ee]

Thanks Muse7. That gives me a good idea of what to expect.

Hi Alabama,
Our Princess, started laying right at the beginning of her 22nd week, October 26th. She may have missed
one or two day giving an egg, but not more than that. She is working on her 6th dozen of eggs.
Mimsey started laying in her 23rd week, Nov. 11th. She lays every to every other day depending on whether
she lays a single or double yolker. She has laid 9 doubles since she started. Those are enormous eggs.
My other two girls, Brave and Patience, have laid an egg yet and are into their 30th and 31st weeks. I expect
there will be eggs starting in the Spring with those two, then we'll see how consistent they are.
Now, as to light. We add an extra hour of "external" light in the morning and about and extra 40 minutes of external light in the evening. So our gals are getting roughly 10 1/2 to 11 hours of light per day. We do not add any light to the inside of their house, but we do have a good thick bedding going (about 8 inches of straw and pine pellets, and we provide night water using an inverted bucket and chicken drink nipples).
Only a full winter season will tell whether this will be successful the whole way through. But I don't like the idea of burning the ducks out, just so I can get 5 eggs a day every day. We are very small operation, more about the quality of our food than the sale to other. Don't get me wrong, we've sold some eggs, Lord knows we couldn't eat them all.
Best,
Liz

 

[Alabama ee]

Thanks Sandrara. They are pretty ducks too.

My 2 just started laying in Nov. and I get 1-2 every day. I had to drive a 3 hour round trip to get this trio and they were sooooo worth it! Love them so much I bought a new incubator and will be hatching them out very soon.

 

[Alabama ee]

I just ordered 5 Welsh Harlequin ducks from Metzer. I ordered one boy and 4 girls. I should get them in Feb.! This will be fun.

 

[Sandara]

I just ordered 5 Welsh Harlequin ducks from Metzer. I ordered one boy and 4 girls. I should get them in Feb.! This will be fun.

They are fun and they grow so fast! Congrats!

 

[tbitt]

Oh, that is fun!

Please post pics when they come in. I'd love to watch them grow up! I think this is a very pretty breed!

 

[mairead]

This is my welsh harlequin with his buddies. I love him so much.

 

[pastryman]

Nice birds mairead. Do guinea fowl and ducks mix well? Is there no problems for the guinea with dirty water?
Is that a silver appleyard in the first picture? I would love some of then. But there arent any in my country.