The Welsummer Thread!!!!

[EweSheep]

Quote:
Are you sure this isn't a Barnvelder? That color looks alot like them. Or a very badly colored Welsummer cockeral. Looks like he is going to be BIG by the size of his legs and feet! He just needs to grow into them LOL!

 

[EweSheep]

Quote:
Do you have pictures for comparison?

 

[VelvettFog]

Quote:
Are you sure this isn't a Barnvelder? That color looks alot like them. Or a very badly colored Welsummer cockeral. Looks like he is going to be BIG by the size of his legs and feet! He just needs to grow into them LOL!

Am I sure -- no. He's a hatchery bird, so anything is possible

 

[Opa]

Here is what good quality welsummers cockerels should look like at about 10 weeks

 

[Tailfeathers]

Opa, where did you get your "good quality" Wellies from?

God Bless,

 

[Matt A NC]

Opa, I am afraid those do not appear to be good quality welsummers. Sorry.

Matt

 

[EweSheep]

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Calicowoods

 

[EweSheep]

This roo is roughly about five months old (I think!)

I no longer have this roo anymore. Culled him out.

 

[Tailfeathers]

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Opa, would you please tell us why you say that? What specifically are you referring to when you state these are "good quality"? And why do you say they should look like that at 10 weeks? Again, is there something specific you are referring to?

I do have some specific reasons for asking. Having said that, I would add to the benefit of all who may read this that I would not be too quick to judge a bird that is only 10 weeks old. A lot can change as they mature.

God Bless,

 

[Tailfeathers]

Regarding the birds being from Calicowoods... that being the case, it doesn't really say anything. It will be 5 years next week that Harry Shaw died and his wife sold off almost all his birds shortly after his death because she just couldn't care for them. I believe all his Welsummers went and, if memory serves me correctly, they all went to Estes Hatchery.

Since those are 10 week old birds, they obviously did not come from "Calicowoods" not withstanding the fact that Calicowoods no longer exists as far as Welsummers is concerned. So, anything that Calicowoods may have had has long since been replaced by whatever a particular person has done with their subsequent breeding.

Forgive me if I get on a soapbox for a bit but this is a real pet peeve of mine. I see folks all the time touting they have this line or that line from so and so. When one probes into their birds with a few common sense questions it becomes readily apparent that they either 1) don't really know at all what they have and/or 2) don't know a thing about what the name may signify. Moreover, many - if not most - of them don't know a single thing about what the breed should be according to the SOP.

For example, let's say Joe buys some Welsummers from Betty. And Betty says they are from Barber stock. How does Betty know? Because the person she bought them from, in order to make her feel like she's getting something special, told Betty they came from Barber birds. What does the person who sold the Wellies to Betty know about Barber? Oh, nothing really. Just that she's seen the name thrown around on BYC, CL, and other websites all the time. So it must be something special, right? Now, what does Betty know about Welsummers or Barber? Well, nothing really. Just that there must be something special about them. And what does Joe know about Welsummers, Barber, Betty, or the person that Betty got her Welsummers from? You guessed it - nothing really.

Nobody stops to think to ask: 1) How long did the person who sold Betty her birds have them? What kind of breeding plan(s) did they have? Did she maintain a closed flock? What were the goals and achievements for her breeding program? How long did Betty have her birds? What about the same questions wrt Betty as with the person she bought her birds from?

Put another way, supposed someone actually got eggs or chicks directly from Harry Shaw or Lowell Barber. And then they start breeding them. I submit that after the first year there is already enough potential damage that could've been done to the breed that it simply would not be fair to go back and say you had their line of birds. And this is most absolutely, positively, certainly true after three years!

So, when folks ask me whose line of Welsummers I have, I simply say mine. I had a single source for my Welsummers but I have maintained a closed flock and a specific breeding program. I will tell them the genetic make up of my strain if they are so inclined to ask and knowledgeable enough to care but, frankly, most do not. I have not given up hope yet of still obtaining some Welsummers from a very special flock of birds and, if I do, I will be keeping that strain separate from my existing strain. I will also be creating a third strain of my own, which will be a combination of the two, just to see what the results are. And then within each strain I will have an A & B line so that I can cross them if needed to bring in hybrid vigor without going outside my flock.

But again, if asked, I will tell them that they are my own line of birds. If one wants to know the genetic difference in strains, I'll be happy to tell them. But if they don't bother to ask anything about the specifics of my breeding plans, then what difference does it really matter anyways?

God Bless,