Welsh Harlequin

Description

The Welsh Harlequin is a lightweight, midsized duck. It is a similar in size and attitude to the Khaki Cambell. This breed loves the Water and of all our breeds, they will spend the most time swimming, diving, and playing in their ponds. They can lay 200 to 300 eggs a year.

Use

Welsh Harlequin ducks are a beautiful, practical, lightweight breed known for their excellent egg production and calm, docile temperament. Although they haven’t been around long, they have gained attention quickly and are now a popular choice among homesteaders and backyard keepers. They are also considered one of the quieter duck breeds, and they are active birds and good foragers. Due to their exceptional laying, potential suitability for the table, ability to hatch their eggs, and excellent foraging ability, they are well-suited to homesteads and small farms. Welsh Harlequin ducks also make great pets, particularly due to their friendliness.

The birds produce a lean carcass and are active foragers, though they are sometimes more vulnerable to predators such as birds of prey due to their light colouration. The egg laying ability is highly valued as the production exhibited by some ducks rivals that of hens. The breed is prone to broodiness and a pair can easily produce young without human interference.

Showing

Weight: Drake: 2.5 – 2.7 Kg, Duck: 2.2 -2.5 Kg.

Ducks have a black bill and brown legs and feet, and their plumage is similar to a mallard but heavily frosted with white. They also lack the eye stripes of mallard ducks. Drakes are also similar to a heavily frosted Mallard with a yellow/green bill and orange legs and feet. They are streamlined with a long body, held 20-35 degrees above vertical.

There are two color varieties: Gold and Silver. Gold was the original color of the breed, but a variant had arisen by the time the breed was imported to the US. Dave Holderread, one of the most prominent duck breeders in the world, bred for this variant and named it “Silver,” and it is now the more popular color variant in the US. In the UK, meanwhile, Gold is the primary color, while Silver is mostly unknown, unrecognized, and considered “not a real Harlequin.”

Both the Silver and Gold varieties are very unique genetically. There are no other duck breeds with their exact genetic coloration and pattern. Their overall appearance is similar to a Mallard, but with heavy white “frosting.”

We only breed the Silver variety. Both sexes have a vivid blue speculum, rather than the bronze-colored speculum of the Gold. The head of a Silver drake is a much more vibrant iridescent green, similar to that of a Mallard. Silver females will have more cream or gray shading than fawn, and dark brown or black stippling rather than brown or orange. Their appearance and plumage is overall higher in contrast, as opposed to the softer colors and lack of black pigments in the Gold variety.

As day olds, sex can be determined based on bill colour with over 90% accuracy. Young drakes will have darker bills while female with have lighter with a dark spot at the tip of the bill.

The Welsh Harlequin was admitted to the American Poultry Association's Standard of Perfection in 2001.

As of 2016 the Welsh Harlequin in North America has jumped from critical to watched by the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy.

History

Created in 1949, the Welsh Harlequin is one of the newest duck breeds. In Watford, Hertfordshire, Group Captain Leslie Bonnet, a Royal Air Force officer, duck breeder, and author of the book Practical Duck-Keeping (1960), He discovered a colour mutation among his flock of Khaki Campbells and began selective breeding for the trait. In 1968, hatching eggs were imported into the United States by John Fugate from Tennessee. In 1982, he imported more adult ducks. With the help of Dave Holderred, they bred the ducks, refined conformation, and established the two color varieties.