before I say what you dont want to hear, I suggest to breed as many you can from the best level and hard flat back male and grow them all out. Select from those. I do not know how bad the cushions are, a half inch or 1.5" bump? And my first answer would have been, sorry start over again and end that bad trend right there.
I love his very yellow legs and his coloring is amazing in my non-breeder opinion.Hi ...... I only have one Welsummer who turned out to be a Rooster. We named him Isaac. He is 22 weeks old and gets no respect from any of the girls ...... yet. They are all just pets for me .. I do not breed or show. But just for the fun of it can anyone tell me what Isaac's good traits are if any?
Myself, I consider it being a cushion, pillow, speedbump, poof or whatever, when the back line (often more toward the tail) is not flat or hollow, but rising. A banana with the inside hollow end up placed in the back is a nice concave sweep (hollow), the Welsummers do not have this is, it more straight/flat and sometimes slight sloping toward the tail. Then the tail quickly and abrupt emerges, held very high without any fluff (down) showing in that break. Back to the banana, if it is bold end up, its a bump and that is what I call a "pillow"First, I tried "googling it" to no real avail. I'm a newbie and don't understand what you mean by pillows. My girls probably have them, not show quality, but I have no rooster, so no worries. Do you mean their cute fluffy rears? Just curious if my have pillows or not.
Thanks
Excellent! Thank you. Very informative.Myself, I consider it being a cushion, pillow, speedbump, poof or whatever, when the back line (often more toward the tail) is not flat or hollow, but rising. A banana with the inside hollow end up placed in the back is a nice concave sweep (hollow), the Welsummers do not have this is, it more straight/flat and sometimes slight sloping toward the tail. Then the tail quickly and abrupt emerges, held very high without any fluff (down) showing in that break. Back to the banana, if it is bold end up, its a bump and that is what I call a "pillow" Here some pics of my buff cochins with big pillows (and should have), followed by some Welsummers that IMO have good backlines. Now keep in mind when the hen goes to sctrach the floor or is very relaxed with tail down, then she can look worse than it actually is. Always good to have a show coop style box in your barn to place them in and observe from your own comfortable height. The bird must be able to pose herself and then you can better judge her shape. There are many other breeds prone to this and for some it is a must have in sop, I do not find the Welsummers have this problem very much in general and only see it more in the German type Welsummer, they have them much more riding upward, from the beginning of the back toward to the tail. The tails are then lower set and have much less of a noticeable transition between back and tail and gives more room for a "poof" or "cushion" I hope this explains it a bit better for you granthamkk. Piet
Thank you for explaining things so clearly!! Beautiful birds!Myself, I consider it being a cushion, pillow, speedbump, poof or whatever, when the back line (often more toward the tail) is not flat or hollow, but rising. A banana with the inside hollow end up placed in the back is a nice concave sweep (hollow), the Welsummers do not have this is, it more straight/flat and sometimes slight sloping toward the tail. Then the tail quickly and abrupt emerges, held very high without any fluff (down) showing in that break. Back to the banana, if it is bold end up, its a bump and that is what I call a "pillow" Here some pics of my buff cochins with big pillows (and should have), followed by some Welsummers that IMO have good backlines. Now keep in mind when the hen goes to sctrach the floor or is very relaxed with tail down, then she can look worse than it actually is. Always good to have a show coop style box in your barn to place them in and observe from your own comfortable height. The bird must be able to pose herself and then you can better judge her shape. There are many other breeds prone to this and for some it is a must have in sop, I do not find the Welsummers have this problem very much in general and only see it more in the German type Welsummer, they have them much more riding upward, from the beginning of the back toward to the tail. The tails are then lower set and have much less of a noticeable transition between back and tail and gives more room for a "poof" or "cushion" I hope this explains it a bit better for you granthamkk. Piet
haha... I knew exactly what you were going to say for your first answer before you said it!!
I have about 30-40 pullets that I'll be selecting from this year. And I have about 8 roosters I'm holding on to until I can make a final decision. I think I've hatched about 100 Welsummers this year but I know I'll be narrowing it down pretty good for breeding stock. The problem here in the U.S. is I haven't seen any GREAT Welsummers, at least in comparison to some of your birds and the Dutch birds. We just don't have the right genetics to work with... at least from what I've seen. The body size on my hens are a little too small and they have a lot of peppering in them. I can breed a lot of numbers but I'm not sure the right thing will pop out!
