The Welsummer Thread!!!!

[maryhysong]

Marysong, if it was me, I would have cull out the whole lot and start over again......... too many DQ and faults on all three but the second hen is better than those two, pet wise LOL!

Ewe Sheep could you please elaborate on the DQ & faults? Besides #3 having white earlobe & bad comb & #1 with a comb too big and too much black in her neck feathers. Is there something else you are seeing not mentioned yet? I would really like to learn here but am having a hard time relating what I read in the standard to what I'm seeing in front of me. They were free to me so as long as they will lay some eggs, that's ok. But I would like to learn more about what they should look like, right now I don't know a bad bird from a good one.

 

[faykokoWV]

Mary, I think your birds might be Brown Leghorns, or maybe crosses. If you google an image of a brown leghorn you'll see they look like Wellies but have bigger combs and white earlobes. What color eggs do they lay? I'm going to try and find some pictures where I can show you the difference in the neck hackles that people are referring too. Trust me, it took me a while to "see" the differences. I started with hatchery stock, and thought they looked great. It really does take looking at lots of pictures to really see what your missing.

 

[faykokoWV]

I put a picture of one of my hens above yours so you can see a little more "side by side" comparison. The first difference I circled in yellow - the comb size, notice your hen has a large comb, more typical of a rooster, vs the smaller comb
Second is the hackle feathers, circled in green, notice the demarcation where the hackles stop and the partridge pattern feathers start.On your hen, they kind of flow together. Also the pattern of the neck/hackle feathers is not defined on your hen. I circled the wattles on my hen - they are slightly larger than they should be.
The final thing, the beak color is too dark on your hen.




I'm not trying to hold my hen up as the perfect example, just wanted you to be able to see some of the difference you should be looking for in your flock. We've all been there, trying to learn. Its so helpful when people put up pictures like you did, so we can all learn from it.

So, in hopes of making you feel a little better, I'll share my "bad bird" Below is a picture of one of my first Welsummers I got from a hatchery (I no longer have these birds). Hackles are too orange and there's too much black towards the bottom of them, tail is too long, neck is too long, no difference in the coloring from the front of the neck to the chest (notice on my hen above, it starts out kind of mahogany then goes to salmon color) Her body shape is just "off". she's also missing the fluffy grey butt feathers

 

[maryhysong]

Mary, I think your birds might be Brown Leghorns, or maybe crosses. If you google an image of a brown leghorn you'll see they look like Wellies but have bigger combs and white earlobes. What color eggs do they lay? I'm going to try and find some pictures where I can show you the difference in the neck hackles that people are referring too. Trust me, it took me a while to "see" the differences. I started with hatchery stock, and thought they looked great. It really does take looking at lots of pictures to really see what your missing.

But what do leghorns look like as chicks? (nevermind; they look just like my chicks ;-0) I just hatched 4 from these girls (have no idea the mother at the moment, but was only getting 1 egg a day, they have been molting and now not laying at all). I posted pics of those chicks post #7571 But the eggs were large, speckled, light to med. brown. Several shades darker than my barred rock banties.

Thank you for the heads up; I did go through several google pages but could not find good closeups of the hens. As you can see the three hens are very different and only one has white earlobes. (One of my hatchery Buff Orpingtons has them too.) If they are BL or crossed then some breeder has pulled one over on my friend. (she gave them to me to make room so she could concentrate on her Buttercups.) Also at least one of these girls went broody and hatched a clutch of chicks this summer.

 

[maryhysong]

I put a picture of one of my hens above yours so you can see a little more "side by side" comparison. The first difference I circled in yellow - the comb size, notice your hen has a large comb, more typical of a rooster, vs the smaller comb
Second is the hackle feathers, circled in green, notice the demarcation where the hackles stop and the partridge pattern feathers start.On your hen, they kind of flow together. Also the pattern of the neck/hackle feathers is not defined on your hen. I circled the wattles on my hen - they are slightly larger than they should be.
The final thing, the beak color is too dark on your hen.




I'm not trying to hold my hen up as the perfect example, just wanted you to be able to see some of the difference you should be looking for in your flock. We've all been there, trying to learn. Its so helpful when people put up pictures like you did, so we can all learn from it.

So, in hopes of making you feel a little better, I'll share my "bad bird" Below is a picture of one of my first Welsummers I got from a hatchery (I no longer have these birds). Hackles are too orange and there's too much black towards the bottom of them, tail is too long, neck is too long, no difference in the coloring from the front of the neck to the chest (notice on my hen above, it starts out kind of mahogany then goes to salmon color) Her body shape is just "off". she's also missing the fluffy grey butt feathers

Thank you thank you thank you! That helps a lot and I really appreciate you taking the time to do this for me! (we do at least have some fluffy grey butts ;-) In comparing yours with mine, I can see where it looks like they could be crosses and for all I know that could be the case and someone pulled a fast one on my friend.

 

[faykokoWV]

Here's a picture of a brown leghorn - its easy to see how someone might confuse the two. It may be an honest mistake - they may have just been passing on their lack of knowledge. Which is why its so great to have resources like this site and the WCNA

 

[UrbanEnthusiast]

OK, now you guys have just got me curious. Here's a pic of my Salma from before the raccoon attack:




I didn't get her from a hatchery, but I think the person we bought her from probably did. I have zero interest in breeding her and love her to death no matter what, but I'm just wondering. How closely does she conform to the standard? From what I've read above, she seems to fit pretty closely other than maybe a comb too large. I think there are more pics of her on my profile if anyone cares to look.

 

[maryhysong]

Here's a picture of a brown leghorn - its easy to see how someone might confuse the two. It may be an honest mistake - they may have just been passing on their lack of knowledge. Which is why its so great to have resources like this site and the WCNA

Thank you this is very helpful and yeah I know it could have been an honest mistake on someones part.

OK, now you guys have just got me curious. Here's a pic of my Salma from before the raccoon attack:




I didn't get her from a hatchery, but I think the person we bought her from probably did. I have zero interest in breeding her and love her to death no matter what, but I'm just wondering. How closely does she conform to the standard? From what I've read above, she seems to fit pretty closely other than maybe a comb too large. I think there are more pics of her on my profile if anyone cares to look.

I have young girls out of those old hens and they greatly resemble this one, They are in juve molt right now, waiting for them to finish up.

 

[faykokoWV]

comb is a little big, legs a little pale. If you haven't checked out the WCNA page on FB, now is a great time, they are really providing a lot of pictures and feedback there.

 

[EweSheep]

Walt is doing the SOP on the our member's birds posted on there. There are some feedbacks going on in there. We are trying to get the SOP set up in the real pictures....drawings by Jacky isn't the BEST eye you can get....its too perfect and too many of us would try too hard getting there and get frustrated by comparing THAT drawing example. If we can get more pictures of the actual Welsummer, it would be good and bounce feedbacks back and forth with Walt.

Also those birds would be used for the WCNA emblem sticker....its still in the infancy stages and it will take some work getting all modified and have our members choose and pick things out of the random order. I will see about patches as well.

Goodness, we certainly have come a long ways!