Sexing Welsummers

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AUChickenGal

AUChickenGal

Crowing
8 Years
Apr 15, 2016
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Middle TN
Any tips on sexing Welsummer chicks for beginners? These are my first chicks. The Welsummers were only available as straight run for my order, so I ordered three hoping to end up with at least one pullet. The only obvious difference I've noticed so far is that one is lighter than the other two. I've tried to search the threads on BYC, but I haven't been able to figure out exactly what to look for. I wasn't able to get very good photos yet, but I'll include the ones I have, just in case anyone has ideas.








I'm sure that the differences will become more obvious in time, but I'm just curious as to how soon I'll be able to know for sure what I've ended up with. :)
 
Actually with Welsummers you should be able to tell a bit earlier than 6 to 8 weeks. Females will feather in with salmon feathers on their breasts. Males will get some black feathers on their chest. Males may also feather in more slowly, though I don't know if that's an absolute.

With some lines of Welsummer supposedly you can tell from the "eyeliner" and the V on top of their head (females having the defined markings), but I don't think that holds true to general hatchery stock. I had a male that had very defined markings, and a female that had blurry markings. The chest color rule seems to hold up though.
 
Thanks!! That sounds simple enough to take note of. The light colored one is very bold and already running up to "challenge" my hand when I reach into the brooder, so I'm thinking that one might be a cockerel. It'll be interesting to see if that turns out to be true.
 
AUChickenGal said:
Any tips on sexing Welsummer chicks for beginners? These are my first chicks. The Welsummers were only available as straight run for my order, so I ordered three hoping to end up with at least one pullet. The only obvious difference I've noticed so far is that one is lighter than the other two. I've tried to search the threads on BYC, but I haven't been able to figure out exactly what to look for. I wasn't able to get very good photos yet, but I'll include the ones I have, just in case anyone has ideas.








I'm sure that the differences will become more obvious in time, but I'm just curious as to how soon I'll be able to know for sure what I've ended up with. :)
Click to expand...

I'm going to make a guess. In many lines (It does help to know your lines) the girls can be sexed at hatching. The girls have eyeliner and a darker straight line heading back from the eye, while the boys are lighter and the line may be broken. I think your top two are girls and the bottom one looks a bit paler so I'm going to say boy although it isn't written in stone as the lines are unknown.
Using the same criteria I was able to sex olive eggers I had made from welsummers immediately while those from marans took longer.
 
dekel18042 said:
I'm going to make a guess. In many lines (It does help to know your lines) the girls can be sexed at hatching. The girls have eyeliner and a darker straight line heading back from the eye, while the boys are lighter and the line may be broken. I think your top two are girls and the bottom one looks a bit paler so I'm going to say boy although it isn't written in stone as the lines are unknown.
Using the same criteria I was able to sex olive eggers I had made from welsummers immediately while those from marans took longer.
Click to expand...

Hmm. You may be on to something. The attitude of the lighter one certainly matches the theory that he(?) may be a cockerel. I'd love it if I had a 2:1 female:male ratio out of a straight run purchase. I'm pretty much never that lucky, but we'll see.
 
At one week old, all I can say for certain is that the lighter one is feathering in very differently from the darker two. If nothing else, it makes it much easier for me to tell them apart.
gig.gif






 
rosemarythyme said:
Actually with Welsummers you should be able to tell a bit earlier than 6 to 8 weeks. Females will feather in with salmon feathers on their breasts. Males will get some black feathers on their chest. Males may also feather in more slowly, though I don't know if that's an absolute.

With some lines of Welsummer supposedly you can tell from the "eyeliner" and the V on top of their head (females having the defined markings), but I don't think that holds true to general hatchery stock. I had a male that had very defined markings, and a female that had blurry markings. The chest color rule seems to hold up though.
Click to expand...

Apologies to comment on your post without a guess, AUchickengal, but hoping this can help you too as our wellsummer was one of the distinct eyeliner ladies as a chick. Looked just like the bottom one on your second set of pics. Here she is at 6 weeks... With salmon breast feathers, Is this the coloring you mean?


(third from right) I have been calling it brown, but i'm definitely not seeing any black.
 

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