The Welsummer Thread!!!!

[SFIcelandics]

Quote:
I agree - I like the spcekled ones as well! They are great!!! I find that more hens lay the solid, but I keep all of the speckled ones in the breeding pen, in hopes of producing more speckled egg layers!

Nate

 

[SFIcelandics]

Quote:
I prefer the matte as well - the marans eggs have the shinyness - I think the matte finish is more of a wellie characteristic than anything else!

 

[pinkchick]

Quote:
I prefer the matte as well - the marans eggs have the shinyness - I think the matte finish is more of a wellie characteristic than anything else!

Agreed! Marans tend to have more of the shinier glossier egg vs the matte, but some Marans do lay matte eggs. I prefer the matte finish and heavily speckled eggs in the Welsummers but do keep both smooth and speckled layers in the breeding pen. I do have a couple of girls that put on a satiny matte finish, if that makes any sense and they are a bit shinier than a matte but are not glossy.

I think in general for Welsummers and their eggs is the great variations that we can get between both the smooth and speckled. This, in my opinion, adds to the overall Welsummer charm. You just don't get the true terra cotta colored eggs in any other breed, some Marans may lay a lighter colored egg such as a 4 on the Marans egg color chart....BUT......the Marans russet red eggs and tone are completely different than the rich terra cotta hue of the Welsummer, the two must be completely different in my opinion. To add to that, even the Barnevelder egg should be a completely different color than that of both Marans and Welsummers as all three breeds are considered "dark egg laying breeds."
The Barnevelder egg should have a rich coppery tinge and can be either smooth or speckled as well but they IMO should not be as heavily speckled as we can get from a Welsummer, I may be speaking prematurely as my experience with Barnevelders is limited and has just started this year after a year of research on them, I have yet to be gifted with an egg from my pullet to judge the 3 dark egg breeds eggs side by side. I can tell you that the Johan Barnevelder eggs that I had shipped in closely resembled a Welsummer egg of mine but sitting side by side the two had completely different hues to them. The pure Barnevelder egg was not as dark as the Welsummer egg and had a lighter tone to it. Ohhhh....I'm making myself crazy talking about the Barnie eggs, I must stop. *if only she would lay an egg......if only she would lay an egg*

 

[pinkchick]

Robin~ When I have filled requests for eggs, I will send you some eggs from all three breeds for you to compare and look at side by side. I think when considering an egg color chart for Welsummers it is important to stay away from any tones of the other breeds. Just my 2 cents.

 

[Happy Chooks]

Quote:
My girl quit laying (she's starting her molt late), but I've got 4 eggs in my bator for the New Years hatch. If you would like, I can send you the shells after they hatch. (in a box of course, so they don't get smashed) They look like the paint splater speckles you were talking about.

 

[Happy Chooks]

I too like the matte finish. To me, the Marans have the glossy finish. And Kim, I agree with you, the Marans colors (even a light one) have a different tone to them.

I also like the speckles. Non speckled is fine too, but those speckled eggs just call to me.

 

[EweSheep]

Pinkchick, I will be glad to take some for comparison! Happy Chooks, I'd prefer whole or blown out eggs so I can use them for the photography. Unless I can do like a square template like paint samples of all kinds of Welsummer eggs and which lines came from, etc. I am sure hubby would look at me kind of weird if I do collect little squares for my book LOL! I have to figure out how to perserve them.

What I have now are the Penes eggs which I set back and used to have a Black French Marans egg (I iwll have to look for her egg) which hers was a milk chocolate but it was not as dark as todays....it was about seven years ago when I had her and then sold her.

The Penes eggs are no where like the Marans eggs. It is very dark, somewhat of a reddish copper hue to it. Can't explain the true color of it but once I do get that color sorted out, its going to be neat!

I'm glad you all like speckles but for me, I'm sticking with my favorite, the smooth LOL!

I once had a Barnvelder bantam which she laid a light washy copper colored egg, very tinted in look. Lovely bird but soooooo spazzy! Bought her from a breeder in Maine. Sold her with my Marans hen.

 

[chicknerd]

Freeloaders no more!! Got my first Welsummer egg yesterday!!!! Lots of speckles and darker than the other browns, but not too dark. I wish I could show you all, but DH ate it already. I found the shell in the compost tin this morning.

Yeah!

 

[EweSheep]

Quote:

 

[Happy Chooks]

Quote:
Congrats!