Breeding with a welsummer rooster

[littletonlee]

I have a welsummer rooster and a mixed flock of hens. They include salmon faverolles, Easter eggers, welsummer, Delaware and white Plymouth rocks. I mainly want different looking bird but not sacrifice egg laying bc that is what it is all about. My question is would the offspring be good layers? And what would they look like?

 

[ChickenCanoe]

The Welsummer hen will produce chicks that look like welsummers. The other chicks will be a hodgepodge of colors. Likely most would be good layers and even some good dual purpose meat birds.

 

[Mrs. K]

A good rooster, can really improve your future birds. Do check the standards, and get the best rooster you can. If what you really want is good egg laying, don't use a dual purpose rooster, but rather use an egg laying breed.

 

[littletonlee]

A good rooster, can really improve your future birds. Do check the standards, and get the best rooster you can. If what you really want is good egg laying, don't use a dual purpose rooster, but rather use an egg laying breed.

What breed would have have in mind?

 

[Mrs. K]

well, I am changing things up. 13 years ago, I went with dual purpose. I liked the idea, just not the meat so much. Since then, I tried the meat birds, and they work for me.

So I began to think, what I really want is a egg laying flock. I want eggs, more of them, more consistently. I am going to add brown leghorns to my flock of layers, I will always keep a few dual purpose birds like the BO or BA, but the majority will be more egg layers such as production reds, or leghorns.... but I am sure there are other breeds out there.

I am basically starting over, after a terrible wreck. So if you do some research on egg layers, I would be interested in what you find. I can't get chicks till March here, so still in the thinking stage.

Mrs K

 

[ChickenCanoe]

What breed would have have in mind?

You might want to try something in the Mediterranean class. I'm thinking Leghorn, Minorca, Spanish or Catalana.
Leghorns lay the most eggs but Mnorcas lay lots of huge eggs.

 

[littletonlee]

I have been researching and I think I will add some leghorns in and cross with a BA. Produces a smaller frame hen than the BA but said to calm leghorn gene but a awesome layer.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

I know the word flighty is used to describe many of the Mediterranean class chickens but I prefer the term wary. That makes them a bit skittish but that means they are more predator aware than calm breeds.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I find strain to be more important than breed. Don't get me wrong, breeds have tendencies and often that's all you have to go by. But if someone is breeding any breed for good egg laying, that flock is likely to lay a lot better than one that is not being bred for laying, even if they are the same breed. Also these breed tendencies are an average. Some are much better than others so you have to have enough for averages to mean anything. Recently I saw a post where someone's Silkie hen was laying two eggs a week, not great. Someone else had a Silkie that was laying five eggs a week. Quite a bit of difference. Based on that how many eggs would you expect from your Silkie, if you had one? I don't have a clue, I'd have to see what she leaves in the nest to figure that out.

Roosters don't lay eggs so you can't see for yourself what genetics he is providing for egg laying. If you know how his mother and grandmothers laid you'd have a pretty good idea what he is contributing but how many of us know anything about that unless we have been breeding them ourselves? Welsummers are dual purpose and are supposed to be fair egg layers, not necessarily great.

As far as your hens go, which ones are laying the best? Those are the ones that are most likely to pass good egg laying genetics on to their daughters. I like to go by what I see more than what is supposed to happen.

If you breed him with:

Salmon faverolles - not totally sure what they will look like. Since he has gold and she has silver the pullets will have red where the boys have white or yellow. You should be able to see the difference in the down at hatch, which means they are red sex links. Should have some black feathers. with red or white/yellow.

Easter egger - Who knows? EE's are not a breed, they have no requirements as to color, pattern, or anything else. They are often of mixed genetics so may not be consistent.

welsummer - A welsummer

Delaware - Clearly a red sex link. Boys will be very similar-looking to the hen and will be barred. Hens will be red and not barred.

White Plymouth rocks - This is an "I don't know". There are two ways to make a solid white hen. Dominant White turns feathers that would normally be black to white. If she is based on dominant white you will get white chicks. Recessive White is a recessive gene. If it pairs up it makes everything white. But if only one gene is Recessive White it has no effect. She could be anything hiding under that white. When you cross her to the Welsummer there is no telling what you will get.

You said you wanted a multicolor flock. In general, if you get a black or white rooster they tend to have dominant genetics and their chicks will be colored like them. If you get a red or buff rooster, those genetics are typically less dominant and the hens have a lot to say about what the chicks will look like. If you get a leghorn, you might not want a white one.

 

[ChickenCanoe]