The Welsummer Thread!!!!

[Lensters]

Quote:
That works until they feather out, then you have to tell by the feather color. From four to eight weeks it can be hard to tell.

 

[pinkchick]

Jenny~
WE LOOOOOVEEEEEE PICTURES!!!!!!

If it is possible to post some photos we can help you further, if not, I have some 7 week olds that I can post photos of for you in the morning.
I would say that you should be able to see a difference in their combs and wattles by now that would scream rooster, but then there is the little boy who sometimes takes his sweet time and doesn't mature as fast as the others.

~ Grandma
The eye-liner and "V" gives way to feathers by a few weeks of age at which point you should be able to tell by comb and wattle development in the little roos. Those little roosters can't hide for long!

I have babies from a few days old to 7 weeks of age right now.....tomorrow I will get photos of each age and post so we can see the stages.

 

[pinkchick]

Quote:
That works until they feather out, then you have to tell by the feather color. From four to eight weeks it can be hard to tell.

I forgot to mention that! Very important fact Len, Thank you!

Oh yeah, I also band them for identification purposes...I use little strips about 1 inch long of vet wrap and press it together leaving enough room so that it will spin freely while they grow. I also make sure to leave enough space in the vet wrap tag so that I can slip some tiny scissors in there and snip it off and replace it with a fresh one about every 10 days until I band them permanently with numbered bandettes. It works great and pretty inexpensive.

 

[TinyBirds]

Thanks!! I'll try to get some pictures tomorrow. I'm excited to find out what they are. Thanks!
Jenny

 

[pinkchick]

Camera in hand...off to take pics! This should be fun! See you all soon with lots of photos.

 

[TinyBirds]

Pics! Edited to add: The big chicken is a copper-maran (I think - hatched it but can't remember now). Also not sure if it's male or female. And there are 4 small EE in there too, which also look similar to the welsummers at this point. Not sure if I got one in a pic, but tried not to (they were more to the front of the coop luckily when I was taking photos).

 

[IggiMom]

Hey, the little girl is cute as a bug, too!

Catherine

 

[Happy Chooks]

Tinybirds......I see a couple of cockerals there. The ones with wattle growth at that age are cockerals. Hard to tell without a closer pic, but I think your marans is a cockeral too.

 

[lauralou]

The one the (adorable) little girl is holding is a pullet. No doubt about it.

The ones in the first 2 pics look like cockerels to me.

Compare them all to the one that is definitely a girl. Note the light reddish-brown of her breast, and the way that she doesn't have much going on in the comb and wattles department. Birds that have darker breasts, more comb development, and wattles... Those are your boys.

 

[pinkchick]

Sorry this has taken me longer than I expected.......was able to get 4 photos then the batteries died. They charged all day and still were dead, I think I need to break down and just purchase some new batteries.

Here are the pics I got yesterday, and my mistake these guys are 6 weeks old.
Cockeral

Pullet