Hi, I'm looking for some White Campbell ducks. I have Khaki Campbells, and recently found out that farms in England have been successful in breeding out white ones. I cannot find anyone in the U.S. that has one, though, so before I hop a plane to scotland, I thought I'd check with all of you to see if anyone knows where to find some in the U.S.

Thanks,

-- chuck in md (woah@mission4me.com), December 19, 2001

Answers

Before you lose your heart to dull boring old white, do a google search on "Welch harlequin duck". They're GORGEOUS colours, bred in Wales but from Indian Runner stock.

-- Don Armstrong (darmst@yahoo.com.au), December 19, 2001.

I don't know of anyone who has them, Chuck. You might watch on Eggbay.com and see if any come up, though. Lots of interesting birds go through there over time.

-- Jennifer L. (Northern NYS) (jlance@nospammail.com), December 20, 2001.

We have white Campbells - or did have. I think we may only have drakes left. I believe that Dave Holderread raises them and if we are lucky and we still have a couple of females, we will be raising them too :-) BUT if you do go to Scotland please bring me back some to

-- Trisha-MN (coldguinea@netscape.net), December 20, 2001.

http://www.metzerfarms.com/egg_prod.htm

-- john smith (johnh@moscowmail.com), December 20, 2001.

Don I disagree. I've read (through my research) that the Welsh Harlequin was a color mutation of the Khaki Cambell.

Chuck, Sand Hill Preservation Center (1878 230th street, Calamun, Iowa 52729-9659) (phone# (563) 246-2299) has them in limited supply. They are also the only ones I've found to have Ancona ducks (spotted or pied color that also comes out in their eggs), sapposedly good for meat & eggs (though not as many as Campbells).

Hope this helps

animalfarms

-- animalfarms (jawjlewis@netzero.net), December 21, 2001.

Animalfarms, you're right - I was wrong - unless you allow that Indian Runners went into the makeup of Campbells. I misremembered an article I saw a couple of months ago. In fact they make the point that in conformation Welch Harlequins should be similar to the Khaki Campbells - just the colour variation, and on the web it seems to vary from country to country as to size standards. It appears the ones in the USA are a bit larger than Campbells, and able to serve as a dual-purpose breed.

One interesting point about the Welch Harlequin is that there are completelty different leg and bill colours between the sexes, which makes sexing the ducklings easy.

-- Don Armstrong (darmst@yahoo.com.au), December 21, 2001.

Holderreads also has Ancona ducks too - just for a 2nd source.

-- Trisha-MN (coldguinea@netscape.net), December 21, 2001.

Trisha: I've never heard of Holderreads. Can you give any info on them (phone #, address, etc...)?

Don: The info on the legs & bills being different colors is new to me. Thanks. It sounds like an interesting experiment to try.

animalfarms

-- animalfarms (jawjlewis@netzero.net), December 21, 2001.

Cacklehatchery.com has Welch Harlequin ducks. Metzerfarms.com has a duck they call a White Golden Layer, but it is really just a White Campbell duck by different name, and it lays more and larger eggs than Khaki Campbells. Both of these breeds are calmer and lay more eggs than Khaki Campbells.

-- Benjamin Smith (kriegrabe@hotmail.com), April 13, 2002.