Welsh Harlequin duckling 3-hours old
I've had mixed results in my incubator this year. The eggs that I'm able to get consistently excellent hatches for are Spot, my single Ancona girl and Blush, one part of my lovely Welsh Harlequin pair. Those two girls give me an average 85% hatch rate!
Spot was in my WH breeding yard until I moved Blush and Duck Dogers into the garden last month. I added her when she hurt her leg and was trying so hard to keep up with the Runners at a fast limp. Just so happens that Blush was acting like she was getting ready to set a nest and Spot could keep Duck Dogers company for the month that she was broody. Since Spot and Blush's eggs look just alike, if I wanted to hatch WH I had to set them both. So after carefully marking their eggs when I collect them each day, I discovered that it's really easy to tell who's babies I have as soon as they hatch.
Both girls throw beautiful, healthy ducklings but Spot's kiddo's are really interesting looking. She throws Blues, Blacks, Chocolates, and Lavenders... some splash but most bibbed. One of the fun things is trying to figure out just what Spot's babies will look like when they get their feathers. Sometimes they lose their baby bibs and sometimes they don't.
On July 13th I hatched out 4 babies from a batch of Blush and Spot's eggs and this time I got colors I haven't had before: one lavender and one chocolate from Spot all with multicolored legs and feet. All of Blush's babies are yellow with orange legs and they're growing into beautiful Welsh Harlequins, however, the one in this batch is a creamier color than her usual... I'm interested to see what kind of adults I get.
I plan to keep all the WH girls to build my flock and, while I don't need them, I'm tempted to keep the chocolate and lavender from this hatch. I bet that they grow into stunning birds.
The pictures below were taken just a few hours after these babies hatched as I was moving them from the incubator to the brooder.
Spot was in my WH breeding yard until I moved Blush and Duck Dogers into the garden last month. I added her when she hurt her leg and was trying so hard to keep up with the Runners at a fast limp. Just so happens that Blush was acting like she was getting ready to set a nest and Spot could keep Duck Dogers company for the month that she was broody. Since Spot and Blush's eggs look just alike, if I wanted to hatch WH I had to set them both. So after carefully marking their eggs when I collect them each day, I discovered that it's really easy to tell who's babies I have as soon as they hatch.
Both girls throw beautiful, healthy ducklings but Spot's kiddo's are really interesting looking. She throws Blues, Blacks, Chocolates, and Lavenders... some splash but most bibbed. One of the fun things is trying to figure out just what Spot's babies will look like when they get their feathers. Sometimes they lose their baby bibs and sometimes they don't.
On July 13th I hatched out 4 babies from a batch of Blush and Spot's eggs and this time I got colors I haven't had before: one lavender and one chocolate from Spot all with multicolored legs and feet. All of Blush's babies are yellow with orange legs and they're growing into beautiful Welsh Harlequins, however, the one in this batch is a creamier color than her usual... I'm interested to see what kind of adults I get.
I plan to keep all the WH girls to build my flock and, while I don't need them, I'm tempted to keep the chocolate and lavender from this hatch. I bet that they grow into stunning birds.
The pictures below were taken just a few hours after these babies hatched as I was moving them from the incubator to the brooder.
4 babies only a few hours old and just out of the incubator
Black & White Ancona x Welsh Harlequin mix
Lavender Ancona x Welsh Harlequin mix
Chocolate Ancona x Welsh Harlequin mix
Welsh Harlequin
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