Welsh Harlequin

[chickenphile]

I have some of Webfoots WH eggs in the bator now and they are due next week. I hope to get at least two females out them and a drake to get some fertilized eggs! They are such beautiful birds.

How can you tell by bill color what sex they are?

Thanks
Chris

 

[CityChicker]

I think you are right, Dally. She definitely looks like a gold phase Welsh Harlequin. She is beautiful!

 

[lakota_elder]

Quote:
I would be interested in your research.

I use to WH and loved them... I gave up my chickens cause the duck eggs were so much better and more prolific. Then I had to move. After a year on an on site job I've returned and want to get started again but cannot find a breeder in Florida.!!!

sooooo---- anyone with duck eggs, young, or mature ducks they want to sell please contact me at

spirit_dance_ranch @ msn.com

 

[kswaterfowl]

It's great to see more people getting interested in WHs. We have had them for 7 years, and absolutely love them. I want to encourage all of you to SHOW your birds. There are very few exhibited, but they deserve to be put up against all the other duck breeds at shows. They are such clean, tightly feathered birds that they are sooo easy to keep in condition for show.

I also think it's great that there isn't any difference between "show" and "production" qualities. The same bird can be your top producer, and top show bird because their standard doesn't call for extremes like so many of the other breeds (such as Rouen, Runners, Aylesbury, and Pekin).

Please take those Welsh Harlequins to shows and show them off!

Jessica

 

[Dances with Ducks]

Quote:
I would be interested in your research.

I use to WH and loved them... I gave up my chickens cause the duck eggs were so much better and more prolific. Then I had to move. After a year on an on site job I've returned and want to get started again but cannot find a breeder in Florida.!!!

sooooo---- anyone with duck eggs, young, or mature ducks they want to sell please contact me at

spirit_dance_ranch @ msn.com

I'm not too organized, but I tried to pull together what I had found out back then. I think the only breeder who keeps Gold and Silver separate is Holderread. The rest of these listed below mix the Gold and Silver together so an order of WH might be all Silver and have some recessive Gold genetics. That's all I got unless you want to start a breeding program where you reconstitute the Gold by breeding them to the Khaki Campbell. I finally figured out the Punnett squares on that, it takes at least two generations.
http://www.geocities.com/kswaterfowl/welshharlequins.html
http://www.webfootspecialty.com/For-Sale.html
http://www.sandhillpreservation.com/catalog/ducks.html
http://www.holderreadfarm.com/duckling_price_list_page/duckling_price_page.htm

 

[Wifezilla]

I have 3 WH girls coming my way

 

[lakota_elder]

I just bit the dust and ordered 10 ducklings from Holderreads... but anyone selling a trio of adults should give me a shout... spirit_dance_ranch @ msn.com Thanks

 

[JStark]

Here are mine at three weeks from Metzer Farms.

 

[Wifezilla]

CUTE!!!!

 

[OzarkCountryGirl]

It's been of my observation that what some are calling "Welsh Harlequins" may in fact other breeds entirely. Granted, it's not just about colour, but some things should be very very obvious, such as wing bar colouring. I have been to shows and seen heavier drakes with blue wing bars being entered (and winning!) as Welsh Harlequins. How can that be?

The Welsh Harlequin is not an old breed as breeds go, so the standard hasn't had all that long to get so distorted and corrupted. And the standard I'm talking about is the 1949 original from Wales...not whatever some association or club may have since chosen from their member(s) with the biggest flock or the most money.

But when you have so many people out there, including Poultry judges, with so many different ideas of what a TRUE Welsh Harlequin actually is, where does a potential new breeder go to get the correct information?