Welsummer Egg color (pic #17)

[therealsilkiechick]

i got my first egg from one of my girls today, was so excited!! this is her egg next to my pigeon egg was only thing i had to show how dark it was.

 

[monarc23]

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from the pictures of wellie eggs i've noticed a classic looking shape going, they look longer than like grocery eggs...am i just being weird thinking that or...? Thats funny the example with pigeon eggie

 

[Mahonri]

They won't get any darker.

Find a reputable breeder of Wellies that lay DARK eggs and incubate DARK eggs.

 

[Tailfeathers]

Shellie, it's nice to see you on here and it's nice to see a picture of your eggs. The birds you had at the show were very nice looking and that's the God's honest truth. I hope you'll keep me in mind when you have some chicks. I'd like to add some of your bloodlines to my birds. Oh, and I forgot, email me privately if you'd like but would you tell me where you got your birds from?

Rbamterry, I hate to be the bearer of bad news but no the eggs won't get darker as she continues to lay. Her "paint jets" might get a bit better and they won't be so splotchy at times but normally eggs will actually get lighter with age than darker.

That looks to be a young cockerel and he definitely looks to be a hatchery bird. So it's hard to say what you might get from the offspring of mating your pair. Also, if you got them both from the same hatchery you could likely be mating brother & sister which I wouldn't recommend.

With regard to hatcheries, I won't buy birds from any hatchery every again. I couldn't get any Welsummers from a breeder last year so I decided that I'd try three different hatcheries because all the Welsummers in the USA came from Lowell Barber anyway. Well, I have been sorely disappointed in what I wound up with and have had to cull 80% of the hatchery birds for one fault, DQ, or another. The Welsummers - like the Wheaten/Blue Wheaten Ameraucana - still need a lot of work but what I wound up with was ridiculous. It costs the same to feed a good bird from a breeder as it does to feed a hatchery bird, so I will only go with breeders from now on.

I started with two dozen or more Welsummers and as it is right now I won't be breeding more than 4, maybe 5, pullets two one of my cockerels. I'm still trying to decide if I want to breed my one cockerel. He's pretty nice looking but has 7 points on his comb. I'm thinking I'll go ahead and breed him to see what kind of genes he passes on for egg color.

So, the answer to your question is "Yes, it's probably because you got them from a hatchery." Now, before all the "pro-hatchery" folks start jumping up and down on me, please know and understand that I am NOT anti-hatchery. I'm just saying you can't expect to get the same results from a hatchery where the emphasis is on mass chick production and money as you would from a breeder where their emphasis is on APA SOP's and egg color. One is mass breeding on a non-selective basis and the other is limited breeding on a very selective basis. Some hatcheries don't even hatch eggs from their own breeding but buy eggs and/or chicks from others and then sell them. So how in the world could they even know what they are getting or selling?

I also breed Ameraucanas and there are some hatcheries, feed stores (who get their chicks from hatcheries) and other places that don't even know the difference between an Ameraucana and an Easter Egger. Hopefully that makes my point. There's a reason why Welsummers are showing up with odd looking combs, gray in their feet (I had one of those.), washed out shank color, mottled breast feathers, stubs (I got a bunch of those!), and a wide variation in egg color - and the reason ain't because the birds are coming from selective breeders trying to raise the best birds they can.

Finally, don't feel bad because you got hatchery birds. There's not a thing wrong with them as long as you know what you're getting. I'd venture to say that most of us on here started with hatchery birds. I sure did. (Just know that hatcheries and breeders have birds for two totally different reasons. Very few breeders make much money on their birds. I've yet to see anything above the red line.) You've got to decide why you have your birds and what you want out of them. Then go either a hatchery or breeder to get what you're after. Like I said before, personally, for me I look at it as it costs the same to feed a really nice bird from a breeder as it does a hatchery bird.

God Bless,

 

[arllcountrygirl]

Thanks - I think I will prob be parting with them. I normally buy from private breeders, but this lady had them and she bought them at the fair and then decided that she didn't want them. The egg is nothing like the rest. I would even say that it wasn't her egg, but she was the only hen in the pen

I would have to say even thou they are beautiful birds, they are sad excuses for Welsummer.

 

[L&Schickens]

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Hi Royce,
Nice to hear form you and thanks so much for the comments.

It is a mystery where I got my Wellies from. I got them from my Mother-in-Law in CA back in August. She got them from a man she met at a poultry auction. So, who knows.

Anyway, my birds just started laying and are not laying very well yet, but I will be happy to save you some eggs when when they start laying better.

 

[arllcountrygirl]

I told you it was a sad excuse for a Welsummer egg.

 

[WestKnollAmy]

I took a few photos recently of one of my Wellie eggs. The others do not lay as dark as she does.

This is with a piece of terracotta pot.......

And this is next to one of my Black Stars.........

I will certainly be breeding this girl this year. The other girls, probably not.

 

[WestKnollAmy]

Here's the roo I will be crossing the hen with come spring. I will also cross him with a few other breeds to see what color the pullets lay as opposed to what their mother hen laid in color. that way I may can tell if the roo has the "stuff" or if I need to get a different roo.

 

[L&Schickens]

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Yep, that is pretty sad alright. Bummer. But I bet they taste just as good!!