Wellsummer ???

[CCCCCCCCHICKENS]

What does HQ stand for?

Like sourland said-hatchery quality. Sorry for the abbreviations.

 

[maxpedley]

OK. Definately then

 

[paul25]

Thank you all for your input. I hatched these chicks under one of my own hens from eggs I bought from a reputable breeder, unfortunately ii got the eggs mixed up so I wasn't sure which were barnies and which were Wellsummers. The lightness could be because I took the pic from my mobile.I wasn't aware there were different breeds of Wellsummers so I will contact the breeder and ask her. By the way what does Sop stand for. Cheers all.

 

[donrae]

Sop stands for Standard of Perfection, the breed standard for each breed.

 

[Coop Deville]

They could be "light" Wellie hens. I had a "light" Wellie hen (unfortunately, she didn't survive a raccoon strike a few months ago). I picked her as a chick from a bin labeled 'Welsummers' at the feed store (i.e., hatchery quality) because she was uniquely lighter than the others, but then I began to worry whether she was actually a Wellie or maybe even a roo because she was so different in appearance.

It turns out that some Wellie hens, especially hatchery ones, are born with a genetic variation that makes them lighter than others. In my case, my light Wellie also was smaller than her peers. Breeders don't like this coloration. For "regular" chickeners like myself it doesn't matter.

For comparison, my avatar shows my "normal" Wellie hen (the bigger one) and the one with the disfavored "light" genes (little one) as chicks. Both 100% Wellie hens, though. I'm pretty sure my light one also laid lighter-colored eggs than the "normal" Wellie (which laid the classic, dark, terra cotta-colored eggs).

There's a website that talks briefly about "light" Wellies, beginning about halfway down the page:

http://wcna.webs.com/apastandard.htm

I was so concerned about my "light" Wellie possibly not being a Wellie that I started a thread about it a few months ago. Turns out it's just this genetic variation. No need to worry unless you're a serious breeder.

 

[paul25]

Thanks all for your input. Happy New Year

 

[paul25]

Coop thanks for this info I checked out your pic and yes mine resembles the lighter one. I also looked up your link some really good info there. cheers.