The Welsummer Thread!!!!

[littledel]

Does anyone have any pics of their wellies at about 5-6 weeks of age. I am having a time with some of mine. Some are easy to tell the roos from the pullets. Roos are dark chested, with large combs and waddles, pullets are more brown chested, with small combs. But I have some that are brown chested like my pullets, but with fairly large combs. I don't know what they are. So, if any of you have pics of thier chicks from 4-6 weeks of age, I would really appreciated it.

 

[Hens and Roos]

Here are a couple pictures of the 2 babies that we hatched out from the eggs HappyMtn sent us- they are about 4 weeks old now and not sure what they are.

Chick 1:


Chick 2:

 

[havi]

Quote:
Chick #1 looks like a girl. I would think the comb would be redder by now. Chick #2 I can really see the comb, so Im not sure.

 

[SFIcelandics]

Quote:
I have noticed(on my bantams at least). Sometimes the ones with the bigger combs, are roosters, and feather in with a brown chest, but where the left and right side meet(the middle, i guess, lol) the will start to feather in with black. And in the long run, I havent seen a difference when they are adults.

Nate

 

[Farmer Dori]

Hi! I am brand new to the forum as I am the proud new mama of four one-month-old chicks, 2 of them Welsummers. They are my first chickens (though I've been raising quail awhile). My issue is this: Wellie #1 (LuLu) is twice the size of all the other birds, while Wellie #2 (Jill Zarin) is half the size. Everyone is telling me that LuLu is a roo, but I think it might just be becasue she's so BIG. She already has a bright red comb and developing wattles. She is the first one to have feathered out completely, and it looks like her chest feathers are brown, like everything else but her head. Jill Zarin, on the other hand, only seems to have wing feathers, still has her stripes and is otherwize still a fuzz ball. Do I just have to wait it out? SHould I be worried about Jill Zarin's development? Thanks!

 

[Happy Chooks]

Farmer Dori.......Welcome! It does sound like you may have a rooster there. They feather in differently, so they are pretty easy to tell male from female. If you post a picture, we could tell you for sure.

Just to give you an example, here's a picture at 4 weeks of a cockeral in the front and a pullet in the back of the picture. See how their chest coloring is different? Not to mention comb size.

 

[Farmer Dori]

Thanks! Unfortunately, you may be right. I'm not allowed to have roosters in the city, but I'll wait until LuLu is a nuisance before I figure out what to do with him. If my other Wellie is a pullet, I may try to get some hatching eggs before LuLu's date with doom. I'll also try to post pics.

 

[McSpin]

Quote:
Yours look like pullets. Here is a photo of young birds showing the obvious difference in feathering.

 

[littledel]

At what age can I expect my wellies to start laying. I plan to keep all my pullets, unless one just lays ugly eggs and does not show well, and about 4 of my 8 roos. I will cull down the roos to only 2 later on when they get older. My wellies are about 6-8 weeks old now and looking really nice. I love how they will just walk up to you and you can pick them up and they seem to enjoy the attention.

 

[Hens and Roos]

McSpin and new2chooks- thanks for the pictures showing the difference, this is the first time that we are raising this breed and it's nice to see what each bird should look like.