The Welsummer Thread!!!!

Yes, sorry. Talking tail feathers.
I have seen this and I have seen it go away and I have also seen it stay, but I really only notice it when I am looking at them in full sunlight or muted sunlight, that brown edging catches the sun just right and gives their tail a beautiful glow.
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Kelly~

Just so you know for future inquiry.....a little brown peppering is also permissible in the wing bar (where it is lusterous, greenish black, when the wing is folded).

Don't worry about him not having any mottling in the breast...he has some in his upper thigh area right? I have noticed that the cockerels that have black chests but have this mottling in the upper thigh area produce nice females just like the cockerels that have mottling in the breast.
The females where I noticed color loss were produced from a male that was all black and did not show any mottling in the breast, chest or upper thigh.

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Good morning all. I'm actually, for the very first time, reading the APA standards for Welsummers and trying to pick my best roo for my breeding program. I have probably 10 roos but most have a lot of that red mottling in their breast or all over their sides and back end. Here is the guy I picked simply because, before I knew any better, I just thought he would handsome. I like the way his hackle color shows up/contrasts with his neck color. And, I like his comb. I have another roo that's a close second but his color is more dark, like mahogany red, and he has a few more "mottling" spots on him. My birds are from Whitmore Farms.

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Close up of head:

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Close up of tail. No white feathers in tail or wing but he does have a white fluff at base of tail.

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Robin has asked me to join the Welsummer Club and I would be honored to do so. I don't mind critiques, that's how I learn so maybe all of you who know this breed better can help me out. I can post pics later of Roo #2 (my next favorite choice). Right now I'm battling flue/pneumonia along with power outages, lost of main p.c., frozen water lines......

I am taking orders for hatching eggs and day-old chicks.

Monique
 
Well I LIKE that rooster you selected Ruth! Well done with the choices you made!

I know frostbites are hard on roos but there isn't much you can do about it. Taking pictures before the hard frost would help us judge the birds more closely and we can determined what's good and what's bad about it and whether or not you can breed it out of the flock or not. It will take time but with your goals and directions in mind, you'll get there.

Whitmore Farms is NOT a hatchery. Will does use the standards but he determines what's best for his flock even the color isn't the greatest but it will make up for anything else positive about his flock.
 
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Thanks Robin.

I don't think he has frostbite. He was freeranging with the other 100 roosters around here until I put him in a pen a couple of weeks ago so I think he just has some peck wounds. I do have some mutt roosters that sleep outside on the ground or in the open and they are getting frostbite on the tips of their comb because they refuse to go into a coop or shed or garage at night. Our 5 big outdoor dogs, including two German Shepherds and two Great Pyrenees do a great job of livestock guarding and predator control. I actually have lots and lots of chickens that sleep outside in the bushes and I worry about them in this freezing rain and weather we've been having but they seem to do o.k.

Regarding Whitmore Farms - I only ordered the Welslummers from there because I had heard he had them. At the time, APA standards weren't a concern of mine. Out of the dozen roos I ended up with, most are very red spotted. I did order a couple of Black Copper Marans from him and the one roo I ended up with has zero copper showing. He is totally black. Needless to say, he has never been used in my breeder pens - he's one of many that sleep outside. The hen was no better and she is just in my layer (eating eggs) flock.

It's funny how things change. When I got my first four chicks - it was totally on a whim. Then I added more and more breeds, simply for the different colored birds and eggs. I never thought I would ever breed or show them and wasn't concerned with APA standards. Now I find myself reading standards and breeding birds and trying to perfect the breed. If someone had told me a few years ago that someday I would be raising chickens I would have laughed till I tinkled.

Monique
 
What the UK Welsummer standards were saying that totally black chest with NO brown feathers would take it as an OEGB BBReds coloring. They wanted to make it a bit different on the American and English birds by letting a few brown feathers in it.

However the Dutch standards if I remember right, they do not like it. Solid black chests are preferred.

I have no idea on the German Welsummer standards except they like their birds darker colored. Like my German Welsummer Bantams.
 
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Very interesting - seems each country has it's own preference??? Good thing I have a roo that fits each - no two alike. (lol)
 
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Very interesting - seems each country has it's own preference??? Good thing I have a roo that fits each - no two alike. (lol)

Well you can always breed Welsummers according to their origin!
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Like Nate, he loves his Dutchies and he will follow the Dutch standards instead of the APA standards while Royce, I think would go for what the origin or breeder would be, I believe Germans? Correct me if I am wrong, Royce!
 
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Kim, yes, he's got a bit of brown in his thigh area. His chest is almost completely black, I can see a couple very faint brown spots on his chest if I stare really hard.
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Good to know that this produces good females, since that's what Moose has as well. (as far as chest/thigh coloring) Also interesting about the wing bar area, I'll have to check that out.

Thanks so much for the information. I'm a visual person, and words are sometimes hard for me to translate into a picture in my head.
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