The Welsummer Thread!!!!

[Cloverleaf Farm]

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Wow, thanks! I got her as a freebie from a lady who didn't want chicks, and she didn't realize one of her hens had a nest under her porch! I was actually thinking of offering her for sale. She is my only Wellie, and I was going to put her into the layer coop this summer when I put the new favs into the breeder pen where she is currently. BUT, now I'm thinking I want my "layer coop" to be just Wyandottes...I dunno...I was thinking of asking pinkchick if she'd be interested in her...Kim, if you see this, let me know!

She laid the BIGGEST egg I've ever seen today! I wasn't real happy with her egg color at first, but they are getting darker, and have tons of speckles!!

 

[mediazeal]

I hatched 9 bantam welsummers today. Is the eyeliner thing a wivestale or true? I have 6 with darker eyeliner, 3 with lighter markings. Time will tell. I've got more pics if you want to see more babies.

Chick on the left has dark eyeliner, chick on the right has lighter markings. Is this an indicator of pullet on left, cockerel on right?

 

[IggiMom]

What about the eyeliner?

Catherine

 

[mediazeal]

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With welsummers, I have always heard that you can tell the sex of the chick by the darker markings and eyeliner being the girls and the lighter markings, less definate eyeliner, as the boys. I do not know if it is true.

 

[gamebirdsonly]

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Congrats on the successful hatch. here is a pic of some of their parents

 

[EweSheep]

As the original breeder of our bantam Wellies, he said the eyeliner and definate strip marks are pullets.

In my case, it was not to be.

Mark them and let us know in a couple of months!

 

[cpartist]

I will say, in my case, the eyeliner and more distinct V on the head were spot on.
I hatched 4 with eyeliner from my first incubation. I emailed pics to the breeder, he said "4 girls".
His birds were no longer laying, so I ordered eggs from another breeder. Three hatched with
eyeliner. A forth finally pipped, but at the top of the egg. Not the top side, but at the top of the wide end.
After half a day it was apparent he would never zip. He'd have to peck down, then around.
I've never "helped" a chick hatch before, but somehow I knew this was my roo. I carefully chipped away
the top of the egg, then put him in the bator to finish on his own. When I got up in the morning, I had a
happy, healthy fuzzy marked chick running around in the bator. He is my one roo.

So with 7 girls and one boy, from two different BYC breeders-the markings worked for me. It was great
knowing what I had early on, as I was able to start another batch so soon. Now they are 24 weeks/19 weeks
and close enough in size to put together.

I have heard that the sex-linked markings are only reliable in some lines, but in my case it proved out
from two different sources.

Have fun with your chicks...they are adorable

 

[cherylcohen]

She finally laid...I wrote her off as a light layer but 2 days ago and today got georgous dark egg! She's 8+ months old, silly Wilma had me fooled!

this is her first egg, don't have a picture, but todays egg was not spotted and dark as the previous days spots! woohoo

 

[cpartist]

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Go Wilma!

 

[EweSheep]

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You are lucky!

I had better luck with the LF Wellies I got from Mothergoose with the eyeliner. A few chicks were a bit fuzzy that I was not able to determine which is which.
As for the bantams, I was wrong in most count.