The Welsummer Thread!!!!

[naturespace]

- - Chick Pictures - -

Anyone want to try to guess the sex on these guys?
I thought they were all females based on the head triangle, but one is growing a lot bigger and it's comb is bigger too.
Here is an overhead of all of them. 2 weeks old.



Yellow band (we think this could be a boy)




Pink Band



Daddy's Girl (we think she's a girl



and Wellie #2

 

[EweSheep]

One with yellow band IS a boy.

The rest of them look girls!

It isn't 100% fool proof but it will give you an idea what the odds are. Wait until they get their chest feathers in, you will definately know!

 

[FlaRocky]

Hello,

I have 5 Wellie hens and one of them went broody. How common is this?

Thanks,

Maye

 

[Tailfeathers]

Wow! Didn't know there had been a shortage of roosters! Out of the 24 eggs received from Kummer Poultry, on Feb. 2nd I hatched 17 chicks. 4 roosters and 13 pullets. All doing great so far!

Larry

Larry, I'm guessing that you are the same guy that Erhard told me about yesterday at the show. I thought you'd like to know that your email to him really made his day. He was just soooooo pleased and happy about what you wrote. Erhard is a great guy and I will be putting that on his website shortly so others can read about your hatch as well.

Btw, consider yourself very blessed. The numbers don't always work out that way.

God Bless,

 

[Tailfeathers]

I will try tomorrow to get some better pictures. This will be the rooster that I am using for my flock this year. I had all of my roosters in cages in the main coop to try and avoid frost bit. His tail feathers became cage damaged but that doesn't affect his ability to breed and the feathers will grow back.

Opa, I like him. That is a VERY nice looking bird. He is obviously an older bird from the size of the saddle feathres and yet has really nice medium shaped wattles. Very nice. The comb is extremely nice as well as in just the way I like it. Not too big, not to tall, not too long, and nicely follows the head.

Two things I'd work on improving if he were mine. First is the Primaries and Secondaries on the wing. There should be much more brown in the lower part of those feathers. I don't mention Type because a snapshot in time may not give an accurate representation to his Type as a whole. But, if the bird normally carries his wings that low, then I'd work on that too. They second thing I'd work on is leg color. Again, pictures do not always do justice but his leg color looks a little light. I am seeing more and more of this in pictures these days and highlight this because I recently read that yellow leg color is a dual recessive gene that must be contributed to by both father and mother.

I tend to focus on no more than two traits at a time. Overall, I see an awful lot going for this bird and, if I had to choose, those are the two things I'd work on first.

God Bless,

 

[Happy Chooks]

- - Chick Pictures - -

Anyone want to try to guess the sex on these guys?
I thought they were all females based on the head triangle, but one is growing a lot bigger and it's comb is bigger too.
Here is an overhead of all of them. 2 weeks old.



Yellow band (we think this could be a boy)




Pink Band



Daddy's Girl (we think she's a girl



and Wellie #2

Yellow band is certainly a boy and the last one may be as well, but I'm not 100% sure on it. The two in the middle are pullets for sure.

 

[Opa]

Thanks for critiquing the bird. He hatched in late July of last year. I will try to get some more pictures posted. His leg color is a little better than the picture shows. I've not really noticed his wing position being low. I will have to take a better look at him to see if that is his normal position or just how they were in that picture. Again thanks.

 

[EweSheep]

Please do take as many pictures of him....I did like his comb, realllllly nice one you got there! I like his neck and saddle feather colors. I agree with Royce about the leg color but I know photographs dont always reveal the TRUE colors. Like the Ameraucana egg colors lOL!

I must say this roo is better than his father. AND I agree with Royce in working on those little flaws and hopefully the next generation can clean that one up without repeating the flaws or make it even more less noticable.

Thanks for critiquing the bird. He hatched in late July of last year. I will try to get some more pictures posted. His leg color is a little better than the picture shows. I've not really noticed his wing position being low. I will have to take a better look at him to see if that is his normal position or just how they were in that picture. Again thanks.

 

[Tailfeathers]

Quote:

what is the best way to tell the difference between a wellie and barnie?

I would suggest Googling or searching on here for some pics. Whether it be male or female, chick or adult, there is really no similarities. Not only is the Type much different but the coloration isn't even close - for males and females.

God Bless,

 

[Tailfeathers]

Quote:

Going to be taking another good look at our wellie chicks that were hatched in Jan this year- noticed that some of the cockeral have feather stubbs between their toes. We have them tagged based on which rooster they came from and I know which hens the younger rooster could have been out of. Thinking we might be doing some heavy duty culling as the problem with feather stubbs seems to be passed quite easily from one generation to the next.
I do find it interesting that we aren't seeing it on the pullets and hens, however everyone will be looked over good.

I would most definitely cull any birds that have any linkage to the parent(s) that is contributing to the stubs. My guess is that you have hatchery blood in there somewhere as I know the hatcheries are notorious for having chicks with stubs. That's not to slam hatcheries. Just a fact. I have seen Wellie chicks from at least four different hatcheries and the majority of chicks I looked at had stubs.

Also, while I can't back this up, I think stubs is a trait that can be latent in that in may not show up for a generation or two and then all of a sudden rear its ugly head again.

Hopefully you are linebreeding and keeping good records so you know exactly who the culprit(s) is/are or at least have a good ID'ing system to do the same.

God Bless,