I had about 30 pure welsummer eggs in the bator and 8 welsummer rooster x brown leg horn eggs in there all due to hatch tonight. Well before I got home from work I had 9 pure welsummer eggs hatch and all of the mix eggs. I had planned to remove the white leghorn eggs and hatch them in a stryo bator so I could band the chicks and use them for egg production next year. Here is my problem....I can't really tell which ones are the welsummer leghorn crosses. I have 9 chicks that are much lighter then the rest but only 8 mixed eggs went in the bator. Can anyone tell me how I will tell these birds apart? will they have white earlobes anything that should stick out that will help me to identify? I tagged all the chicks so I know they could be a poss cross so I can keep them seperate from the pure chicks still hatching. Thanks a million to anyone who can answer )
That is a tough one, as you have intermixed two breeds whose color patterns are very similar if not identical. Once the chicks are adults, it should be possible to pick out the ones with Leghorn in them based on their build - especially their tail shape, the crosses will have noticeably longer tails. Plus the egg color should be a giveaway Not that it will be white, but it will be lighter than the purebred Welsummers'. Ear color I'm less sure about. I've intermixed birds with red and with white earlobes (unintentionally), and not always gotten consistent results. However, if any of them do develop white earlobes, that would indeed be another giveaway that they are part Leghorn. ETA: I realise the point is probably to know who is who before they all reach adulthood! Sorry, I can't think of any surefire early indicator. Best of luck! - exop
Thank you for that ) I only had one brown leghorn hen so I put her with my wellsummer roo because the eggs color is different and I could easily pick out her eggs. I figured why eat the eggs when they should make for beauitful layers. However the color pattern being so close I made a big boo boo...lol well they are banded and I will keep them and see what the outcome is when they mature.
Looks like you will just have to wait til they get older and even then it could be hard to tell since they are the same basic color. As they get older look for white earlobes and larger combs, thinner overall body like legs and such, a longer body/tail, stuff like that
