Welsh Harlequin

[pardygwyn]

Wow, Dances with Ducks, the light gold duck in your last photo looks exactly like the first duck I ever had! She was my pet and constant companion when I was very young... and also a complete mutt from the local lake.

Loved her to bits.

 

[Dances with Ducks]

Sounds like you found a treasure at that lake pardygwyn! How long did you have her?
I'm not sure which duck of mine you are talking about, there are three WH in the last photo I posted, plus three ducks of other breeds. The one that is the most light gold in that pic is actually a Khaki Campbell. She was really bleached out well into a Colorado summer and just before a molt. Since Khaki Campbells and WH are just one color gene different from each other and have identical body type it would be easy to mistake her for a WH. I have seen photos of some WH that have a lot of that gold color, in fact I think they are usually gold factor WH. Although not all gold WH do have such a pronounced gold color, I just bought a beautiful gold hen that at least so far is mostly white.

 

[pardygwyn]

Only had her three years, some high school student broke my heart when I was 11 by killing her. ): I bred her children for years afterwards, but none were ever quite so special. Now I'm getting ready to start with ducks for the first time since then with some WHs! Just got done ordering some from Metzer - winters in NW Washington are so mild, it's better to have their growing done so they can start laying fairly early the next year.

That explains why she doesn't look like a buff duck... and yep, it's the khaki I'm talking about.

All of the lake ducks in my hometown of Sitka were a Khaki/Mallard/sometimes Pekin mishmash. I'm not sure why my duck was so prone to bleaching out - it's almost never sunny in SE Alaska - but she'd start the year out brown with faint facial stripes and end it as a blondie.

 

[rainplace]

Oh oh oh... I get to say it!

pardygwyn

 

[Dances with Ducks]

Oh Yes!!

So glad to greet another Welsh Harlequin fan!!
Wow, there are feral domestics ducks just living wild in Alaska? And to think we worry about how they will get through the winter!

Sorry to hear what happened to your sweet duck friend, that must have been terrible!

 

[pardygwyn]

Thanks for the welcomes! I actually tried to get some WHs through hatching eggs a couple years ago, but of the two that survived shipping, only one hatched. I gave him to a friend so he'd have buddies that weren't chickens. lol After that I tried to put in an order with the Ruffled Duck right before they disappeared... gave up until now.

They weren't really wild, there was this lake in the middle of Sitka with a semi-feral population of ducks, geese and swans that people dumped all of their moldy bread on. The ducks were doing really well the year I picked up Squeak, but a few years later they did a culling. Whoever was responsible didn't take the ratio of males to females into consideration and the male ducks finished the eradication the next spring. XP I still remember the grumpy pinioned trumpeter swans, though! It was like having a gang in town - if you were headed down Lake St. and saw them, you ran like heck and hoped they didn't catch up. LOL

 

[Cetawin]

Quote:
Mine lay an egg every day since they started laying regularly about 4 weeks ago. The are sweet, quirky and into everything...love em. I have the Goldens and could not be happier.

Edit...you wanted pictures

This is Lilly

This is Nibblets

This is one of my four drakes, Draccus

 

[lakota_elder]

Quote:
Pinioned..... I've heard the word used and believe it to mean they have been rendered incapable of flying... What is done to the bird and at what age.??? Mine are just at the age they are starting to fly very short spaces and I have a lake about 900 ft away... don't want to lose my ducks to the gater in the lake...

 

[pardygwyn]

Cute overload! I love WH hens!!

Lakota_elder, pinioning is removing the wingtips. It's done when the birds are tiny and is permanent. Wing clipping, on the other hand, is just cutting off the primary feathers on one side with scissors. You have to do it over each time they moult and grow new feathers, but IMO it's the way to go.

 

[goosedragon]

Quote:
Pinioned..... I've heard the word used and believe it to mean they have been rendered incapable of flying... What is done to the bird and at what age.??? Mine are just at the age they are starting to fly very short spaces and I have a lake about 900 ft away... don't want to lose my ducks to the gater in the lake...

Pinioned- usually the tendon going to the last bone at the wing tip is cut at the joint. They are unable to extend the wing tip which is required for flight. This is best done when they are very young, just dry out of the incubator when it is a very minor operation.
You don't mention what yours are, Your best choice is to clip the flight feathers in one wing. If they are banhams up to the size of and including mallards you will have to repeat after every molt to keep them on the ground, heavier ducks without the exercise that flying provides usually become too heavy to fly by the time that the feathers are replaced. Muscovy hens are an exception since they are fairly heavy and continue to fly, most muscovy males become too heavy to fly.