Originally developed in Wales by Mr. Leslie Bonnet; the breed was started by crossing two abnormally light colored Khaki Campbells.
Welsh Harlequins come in two varieties, or phases. Gold, the original, but now rare phase, and Silver. The main difference between the colors is that golds are more muted in color, and have bronze wing speculums instead of blue. Day-old ducklings from most strains can be sexed with 90% accuracy by bill color. Drakes hatch with greenish colored bills, while hen's bills are much lighter. After a few days, the bills change to the same color.
Welsh Harlequins are a lightweight breed. They are extremely adept at foraging, and when free ranging, can find up to 70% of their own food. One of the best laying breeds, a hen on adequate feed can lay up to 340 eggs a year. The hens are more likely to go broody than any other light breed, and make fair mothers. They are alert, but not flighty, and easily tamed.
We have breeding flocks of gold and silver. All of birds are bred according to the APA standard. Any females with yellow bills, and any birds with incorrect coloring are culled from our flock. Our Welsh Harlequins are a mixture of Holderread and Gartman breeding, but when we match birds up for our breeding pens we make no claims that they are still those bloodlines, all birds hatched here are considered our own and therefore K&S bloodlines.
WH's are one of our favorite breeds we hope to rebuild our flock and continue to enjoy this wonderful breed.
