The Welsummer Thread!!!!

[Happy Chooks]

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He is? *off to go check the website*

 

[Happy Chooks]

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Haha! I need some little ladies for my Maple Syrup

He's only got a Red Sex Link and a Barred Plymouth Rock... that he shares with four other boys!

Well, I have 2 girls, but 1 definitely doesn't fit the standard, so she was removed to the layer flock. The other girl is still in with him, and I'm test hatching some eggs now to see what they produce together. But I don't think she's up to his quality, so when I hatch more wellies, she'll most likely be replaced too.

 

[Happy Chooks]

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He is? *off to go check the website*

He is!!!!!

I'm (I mean he) is honored.

 

[EweSheep]

Like I have mentioned earlier in the thread that I would like to take some of the photos and use them for the WCNA how a Welsummer should look like. Many people had no idea what they look like. And there are many variations of shades and conformation of the Welsummers. Brick shape vs Leghorn shape and all that jazz!

You should be proud of Moose!

 

[tazcat70]

Thanks Pink and happy birthday. I just turned 40 on the 29th and while I didn't feel it, the response from those younger than me made me feel much older.

Is anyone planning a road trip to Whitmore Farms? And then passing thru Kansas?

 

[faykokoWV]

These two birds are this years hatch from breeder stock

These two were from Ideal Poultry

the breeder stock look better to me, but if asked to point out why I couldn't. I wanted to know from the experts, what should I be looking for and how would you describe the differences. I should note that both sets of pictures were taken with the birds being about 9 months old.

 

[Louieandthecrew]

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Beautiful!!

 

[Lensters]

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I'm going to assume that you have a copy of the standard handy.

I'll start with the roosters...

The combs are the first thing that jump out. The breeder cockerel is short one point but is much closer to uniformly sized and nicely shaped. The wattles on the hatchery bird are too long as well. The neck is the only place where the hatchery cock wins, the breeder's bird's neck is just a touch too long. The topline of the breeder bird is smoother or "rounder" as bantam breeders would describe it. From the picture the hatchery bird looks a bit unbalanced on leg placement but I think that this is due to the picture, he is probably stepping back which is awkward for them and looks unnatural. Top tier show people would comment on the color of the legs but I don't think that it is possible to make a good comparison from pictures. For feather coloring neither has a clean transition from hackle feathers to body feathers. However, the hackle feathers on the hatchery bird has some black penciling which is a DQ. The color of the wing feathers of the hatchery bird looks brighter but I don't think that is due to genetics rather it is because the breeder bird appears to be a little less mature and also due to the camera angle.

Then the hens...

Again the combs and wattles of the hatchery bird are not uniform and are too large. The breeder bird's head is a little too large but that is her only fault that is apparent to me. The pictures are not very good for judging conformation but it appears that the tailset on the hatchery bird is too steep or high (the descriptions are interchangeable but different locales use one or the other). Feather color on the hens is my pet peeve with big hatchery Wellies. Notice how the breeder bird looks like you changed the contrast up 10 levels on the breeder bird. Welsummer hens are an oddity because you want very distinct penciling and bright yellow on the hackle feathers. Apparently the European breeders think that we have gone too far but that is what the APA SOP calls for. I would call the breeder hen show quality, which is a term I don't throw around lightly.

 

[Louieandthecrew]

Soooooo.. haha, no this isn't going anywhere

 

[EweSheep]

Faykoko, could I use your Welsummers for our WCNA for hatchery birds comparison?......those are EXCELLENT examples!

The hatchery Welsummers are pitiful......take one look and keep on looking popped in my mind. I agree with most of Lester's judging but I would wait until about a year old to see what they look like. AFter all they are very young, gangly at that stage. I have the copy of the standard in the WCNA website. Even the breeder's bird is not the most perfect, there will be a fault or two but it is minor adjustments to their offsprings. White feathers are a no no otherwise if that is all you have to work with, cull HARD. It really is NOT recommended. See if you can find another roo.

The hatchery hen looks like a brown Leghorn stature in a Welsummer inside of it. Poorly colored. Her tail set is too high, if you can see her first tail feather sitting upright. It should have a 50 degree angle. Personally I think the breeder's hen is fine, well balanced and very nice color like she should have. She is something to have in my breeding flock.

Also I am seeing yellow eyes on the hatchery birds, a no no in the standard.

What I am seeing either rounded backs or cushion backs on hatchery Welsummers or pet backyard Welsummers with lineage unknown....its getting to be more and more common and it really irks me. Looks like those cushioned backs, those people are trying to make an Orpington out of them. That is not what we want, we want something that looks like a Welsummer.

There are breeders now are going for the standard of origin, we have the Americans (breed to American Standard of Perfection), then you have the UK (breed to the UK Standard of Perfection) and then there is the Dutch/Netherland/Holland (breed to the Netherland SOP). There is nothing wrong with breeding these if one wants to keep the originality of the Welsummers as it should be while others say, why change it if it works. Each nationality would have their own breeder's lines so that is something to look into because there are a few of us are changing in a different direction to keep the lines pure or cross them to see if it works.