welsh harlequin

[crittergarden]

I'm finding the females very pretty.
Someone told me they don't "roost".
If they don't use a roosting box, where do they lay?

 

[DUCKGIRL89]

On the ground.

I have 4 silver phase welsh. 3 girls, 1 drake. The drake and 1 hen are very nice, im think probably breeder quality. The others are pet quality.
I have some SQ eggs in my incubator, and some coming from holderread.

 

[CocoNUT]

Ok...so I've checked out Holderread's...has anyone got any experience with stock from Metzer? I'm thinking on getting some WH - not too worried about breeding for show or anything like that...just a backyard flock...but it would be nice to know the difference between the different suppliers. If anyone has any knowledge of Metzer's stock I'd appreciate hearing about it...so far as health, looks, etc of their stock.

Thanks...

 

[DUCKGIRL89]

Ok...so I've checked out Holderread's...has anyone got any experience with stock from Metzer? I'm thinking on getting some WH - not too worried about breeding for show or anything like that...just a backyard flock...but it would be nice to know the difference between the different suppliers. If anyone has any knowledge of Metzer's stock I'd appreciate hearing about it...so far as health, looks, etc of their stock.

Thanks...

I ordered 3 females, and 1 male from them. the male is a very nice drake, will be a good breeding bird, and one of the hens is beautiful! I plan on hatching lots of babies from this pair.

For a backyard flock, metzers is perfect!

 

[CocoNUT]

Thanks for the quick response! Mostly I want some decent looking birds with sweet personalities (that lay decently well!) I've also read they're not as noisey....Loretta (Blue Swedish I inherited) is QUITE the chatterbox!!! She ALMOST makes my quinea fowl seem quiet!!! lol

Thanks again!

 

[DUCKGIRL89]

Thanks for the quick response! Mostly I want some decent looking birds with sweet personalities (that lay decently well!) I've also read they're not as noisey....Loretta (Blue Swedish I inherited) is QUITE the chatterbox!!! She ALMOST makes my quinea fowl seem quiet!!! lol

Thanks again!

I hate waiting for resposes lol.

My hens are loud when i come feed them. Or when i say "Hey duckies!" its like them saying hello!

I got my first WH egg today. And of course what did i do with it?.... I put it in my incubator

............. where all the eggs go lol.

I think you will like the metzer ones for backyard pets!

 

[DB_Tex]

I ordered a couple WH from Metzer last year, and when I went to order some more this year Holderread said they wouldn't have them this year until after it gets too hot to ship to Phoenix so I ordered another 10 ducklets from Metzer again (for the hatch date less than a week out.) Metzers quality isn't as perfect for SQ but they're perfectly appealing, healthy and high performance layers. I have one female only 5 months old who has her brooding instincts firing.... she doesn't nessesarily want to sit on the eggs all day but I can't get her to leave the nest and range with the others either.

I believe Metzer breeding stock for WH began with a large quantity of Holderread birds and a few others, but the difference is Holderread culls and breeds only the best to the best to maintain and improve breed quality, and Metzer's business is to produce large quantities of ducklings of many different breeds. They do get good breeding stock, but I think they are simply too big of an operation to treat every breed they carry like a project and they only cull out non producers or non healthy birds, not color imperfections.

 

[Dances with Ducks]

I'm finding the females very pretty.
Someone told me they don't "roost".
If they don't use a roosting box, where do they lay?

Mine almost always lay in their nestbox. But they won't roost up on a perch like flying birds.

 

[DUCKGIRL89]

Mine almost always lay in their nestbox. But they won't roost up on a perch like flying birds.

Mine lay on the ground (YES! i do have a hen laying!!! WooHoo!) Right near the ancona pen...

 

[DUCKGIRL89]

Dusky, are any of yours laying? i got my first egg on monday! and another one today! And i put he first in the bator