CSU's Welsummer SOP

[EweSheep]

I think his come looks fairly nice, not overly large - but the points are uneven. I have a question about beak color - its supposed to be dark horn shading to yellow at the tip - is this roo's proximal beak a little too light? The wattles are a good length - but is the concave appearance due to posture or is that an issue?

I agree with you on that one!

His beak isn't yellow yellow but very faint brown at the bridge of his nose. I don't know enough about bantams if that is the problem that pops up now and then.

As for his wattles, they were concaved. It was a very cold wet blistery day and he did maintain that sight concave during the late spring when it was very warm.

Lack of water? Or genetic? Or his age? He was roughly around ten months old.

 

[EweSheep]

above picture - uneven com -nice even wattles, this is a young bird, but beak color looks ok. Beak shape is good


above image - wattles are a little long _ beak is good color. Would that be considered a fold near the base of the front of the comb? The feathers over the ear are too light in color

above photo - is there too much horn coloring on the beak?

I agree above comments! Some of my hens got the "fingerlings" and uneven points. It gets worse as she gets older, around three to four years old. And I often wondered about the "bushy eyebrows" feathers between eye to comb as if they got some kind of Andy Rooney brows going on. There was something mentioned in the Batty's book that it is not desirable.

 

[faykokoWV]

yes, that those last two - look almost like they have a small crest

 

[Eissens]

Quote:
Originally Posted by faykokoWV

is there too much horn coloring on the beak?

Please do not focus extremely on the coloring of the beck, because I never have seen a Welsumer with beak colour problems. The size and the shape of the combs and wattles are more common problems and the colour of the eyes most times are too light. They must be reddish orange. Please focus on that kind of problems!

 

[Eissens]

Quote:

 

[Eissens]

The photos of faykokoWV are showing very bad combs (uneven points, twisting front of the comb, too large comb for a hen)
I am sorry for saying this, but when you are a exhibition breeder than these birds are the first ones to cull.
Maybe they are good dark brown egg layers, but they are definitely not exhinition birds.
I would say here in the Netherlands: sell them to a fancier who loves to see them in his/her backyard.

 

[Eissens]

A good initiative to start this topic.
We must not only post pictures of birds with errors (of course you can learn from them), but also pictures how we want them to be.
I know in the USA there are different large Welsumer lines: one with German blood and one with UK blood. For the bantam there is also a Dutch line.
I am sure some people mixed them.
But the SOP is the starting point/base. It doesn't matter from which country they came from, because when you are an exhibition breeder your birds had to fit to the Standard.
I will also post some pictures of Dutch birds, but they are bred to the Dutch Standard/SOP.
The Dutch Standard isn't the USA Standard, at some points we differ.
Perhaps the conclusion will be that the USA Standard should be modified, but that's another discussion.
I am looking forward to see some pictures.

 

[LisaBeth]

I'd love to have a critique on this young girl - she is approximately 5-6 months old - not knowing what I'm really supposed to be looking for, this is very much an important learning experience for me.

 

[LisaBeth]

Here are pictures of my other two girls...please critique ruthlessly

 

[faykokoWV]

The photos of faykokoWV are showing very bad combs (uneven points, twisting front of the comb, too large comb for a hen) I am sorry for saying this, but when you are a exhibition breeder than these birds are the first ones to cull. Maybe they are good dark brown egg layers, but they are definitely not exhinition birds. I would say here in the Netherlands: sell them to a fancier who loves to see them in his/her backyard.

please do not be sorry. We need harsh and fair assessments. One of the issues is the overall poor quality of birds available. Combs are kind of on the bottom of my list when there is so much else to be worked on. I hate saying that, but it seems to be the case with birds in the US. The breed has been neglected. We tried very hard to find one good representative to use for the breeders club logo and nobody had one. Its rather frustrating.

That's one of the reasons I was so glad that this thread was started though. Every breeder I asked told me to leave the comb as the bottom of the list for selection criteria. Which has bothered be, because it is one of the first things people notice about a bird