The Welsummer Thread!!!!

[faykokoWV]

Quote:
If you post a picture I bet the experts on here could tell you now if she's a Wellie or not

 

[Happy Chooks]

Hey guys, I just noticed my post wasn't very clear and it looked like the shaft coloring is a DQ. That is not the case. The color of the shaft is addressed under proper coloring - female. I edited it above to make it more clear.

 

[pinkchick]

Hi All!
Hope everyone is doing great!

Been taking a break from my Wellies this summer and probably will not be breeding them again until next year. I did keep one of Odin's boys who is now just over 6 mos. old and looking great....however his hackles and saddles are not as dark as his dads are, they are just shade lighter. I would like some feedback on him, but first I have to get a photo of him for you all to give opinions.

What would cause the hackles and saddles to lighten??? Anyone know?

 

[megshenhut]

Quote:
I say that judge doesn't know what he's talking about.

This is from the welsummer SOP:

APA Standard of the Welsummer
1998 Edition

Disqualifications

White in earlobes. (See General DQ's and Cutting for Defects in your APA SOP handbook).

and in proper coloring

Back: Reddish brown, each feather stippled with black and having distinctive lighter shaft.
​

Happy Chooks, thank you for that information. I'm glad to know that the distinctive lighter shaft is supposed to be there, especially since all my hens have that. That makes me feel way better.

As far as calling the judge on it, that isn't an option. She was brought in from out of town to judge the poultry for the 4-H kids for fair. I was just showing a wellie hen in open class to see what she thought of her since she was one of the nicest ones in my flock. Getting poultry judges for our little county fair isn't the easiest to do. This was our first year involved in fair and I was told that she was one of the best judges they had ever seen. She must just not know what a welsummer is supposed to look like.

For that matter, we went to the state fair here and there wasn't even one welsummer even being shown.​

 

[EweSheep]

Some wants darker shaft and others want the same color shafts. It was mentioned somewhere on this thread.

The down fluff feathers should be of grey color, not white or yellow. You can see them on roosters mostly at the base of their tail heads. If you got white streaks anywhere, that is a no no.

 

[fowlman01]

Quote:
I say that judge doesn't know what he's talking about.

This is from the welsummer SOP:

APA Standard of the Welsummer
1998 Edition

Disqualifications

White in earlobes. (See General DQ's and Cutting for Defects in your APA SOP handbook).

and in proper coloring

Back: Reddish brown, each feather stippled with black and having distinctive lighter shaft.
​

She did know what she was talking about. Pgs 3-34 contains some of the most important info in the SOP and no one ever reads those pages...at least not all of them. Reading all of them is essential if you are serious about conforming to the SOP. Pg 11 has the citation and it refers you to fig 48 on page 23. That works on any SOP edition from 1998 on. She was just wrong in this case, if we are talking about a female.

Edit for accuracy The female description of the Wellies allow shafting. The male does not mention it, so in that case the male would be faulted, but not the female. This is one of those difficult differences that is easily lost, since it only applies to the female.

The bottom line here is that when in doubt the judge should look at the SOP. I just learned something today and it something I will not forget! I relied on my memory of the Wellie and missed this.

Shafting is when the shaft of the feather is either lighter or darker than the webbing of the feather. It is required in some breeds and a fault in others.

Walt​

 

[Opa]

Shafting is what I would feel happened if my birds lost to what I felt was an inferior bird

 

[fowlman01]

Quote:
It sometimes happens and you know I have heard it called that.

Walt

 

[Hens and Roos]

Quote:
I say that judge doesn't know what he's talking about.

This is from the welsummer SOP:

APA Standard of the Welsummer
1998 Edition

Disqualifications

White in earlobes. (See General DQ's and Cutting for Defects in your APA SOP handbook).

and in proper coloring

Back: Reddish brown, each feather stippled with black and having distinctive lighter shaft.
​

She did know what she was talking about. Pgs 3-34 contains some of the most important info in the SOP and no one ever reads those pages...at least not all of them. Reading all of them is essential if you are serious about conforming to the SOP. Pg 11 has the citation and it refers you to fig 48 on page 23. That works on any SOP edition from 1998 on. She was just wrong in this case, if we are talking about a female.

Edit for accuracy The female description of the Wellies allow shafting. The male does not mention it, so in that case the male would be faulted, but not the female. This is one of those difficult differences that is easily lost, since it only applies to the female.

The bottom line here is that when in doubt the judge should look at the SOP. I just learned something today and it something I will not forget! I relied on my memory of the Wellie and missed this.

Shafting is when the shaft of the feather is either lighter or darker than the webbing of the feather. It is required in some breeds and a fault in others.

Walt​

We have read the front section of the SOP many times, there is alot of good information in there. In fact when DD was showing her Welsummer pullet at fair this summer and was being judged for Standard Champion, the judge went back to the SOP several times before he picked DD's pullet and it came down to the tail feathers- DD's pullet had a more complete set than the pullet in the 2nd cage.

 

[fowlman01]

Quote:
I say that judge doesn't know what he's talking about.

This is from the welsummer SOP:

APA Standard of the Welsummer
1998 Edition

Disqualifications

White in earlobes. (See General DQ's and Cutting for Defects in your APA SOP handbook).

and in proper coloring


​

She did know what she was talking about. Pgs 3-34 contains some of the most important info in the SOP and no one ever reads those pages...at least not all of them. Reading all of them is essential if you are serious about conforming to the SOP. Pg 11 has the citation and it refers you to fig 48 on page 23. That works on any SOP edition from 1998 on. She was just wrong in this case, if we are talking about a female.

Edit for accuracy The female description of the Wellies allow shafting. The male does not mention it, so in that case the male would be faulted, but not the female. This is one of those difficult differences that is easily lost, since it only applies to the female.

The bottom line here is that when in doubt the judge should look at the SOP. I just learned something today and it something I will not forget! I relied on my memory of the Wellie and missed this.

Shafting is when the shaft of the feather is either lighter or darker than the webbing of the feather. It is required in some breeds and a fault in others.

Walt

We have read the front section of the SOP many times, there is alot of good information in there. In fact when DD was showing her Welsummer pullet at fair this summer and was being judged for Standard Champion, the judge went back to the SOP several times before he picked DD's pullet and it came down to the tail feathers- DD's pullet had a more complete set than the pullet in the 2nd cage.

You seem to be in the minority, most people I run into don't read that section. Some people feel a judge should know all this by heart, but one of the requirements of judging is that the judge have a current edition of the SOP with them for reference. Not many people can retain 400 pages of info, especially in the breeds that we don't see often. You were fortunate to have a judge that was willing to look it up. Some of us judges think we know it all and we don't. We did when we passed the test, but in my case it is 30+ years later now and I just can't remember that much info for 30 years. When I first looked this up I only looked at the male color description and......well that is just not good enough in this case....but I kept looking. The trick is not to post before I'm sure........hahaha

Walt