barnevelder vs. welsumer color and # of eggs

[JLMom]

I have a few questions about egg color in Barnevelder vs. Welsumer.
Is one darker than the other? I am assuming that neither are as dark as a Marans, is that correct?

Also, is one a more prolific layer than the other? How about cold-hardiness/
(I live in Massachusetts.)

Any info would be greatly appreciated!

 

[EweSheep]

Welsummers lay a terra cotta brown egg
Barnvelders lay dark brown egg but not as dark as Welsummers and Marans.

I dont know how prolific they are but I know my Wellie girls lay well, from Feb to July, takes a molt and break and start right back into laying from end of Aug/beginning of Sept, continue to lay until late Nov, then take another break.

All breeds you mentioned are cold hardy. You can not go wrong with any of them.

 

[Tailfeathers]

Generally speaking, EweSheep is correct. However, I would add the following:

1) As with any breed, one must distinguish between birds coming from a hatchery or a breeder. I've seen hatchery Welsummers that laid an egg not all that much different than a Barred Rock.

2) It depends which Marans you are talking about. I am not a Marans breeder, and I have a hard enough time just focusing on my Ameraucanas, Welsummers and Barnevelders that I pay little to no attention as to what goes on with other breeds. Having said that, there was a guy selling some Marans chicks at the Cascade Spring show and he had some eggs in the cage with the chicks. My Welsummers lay an egg 3-4 times darker than those eggs were. My understanding is that there is a significant difference in the color of egg between the various varieties of Marans.

3) Welsummers are best known for and should lay the reddish-brown egg that Robin mentioned. Barnevelders at one time laid an egg that was darker than a Welsummer but had more of a copper tinge to it. Egg color today is not what it was and all of us who have chosen to work on the breed are including egg color as one of the things to work on and improve. The really dark Marans eggs I've seen were almost a deep chocolate color. Personally speaking, I don't find them atttractive at all and am much more drawn to the deep reddish-brown eggs of the Welsummer. But beauty is in the eye of the holder and if one is just wanting to get the darkest egg possible then Marans might be the way to go. I say "might" because if that is your goal, I would point you to the Penedesenca. Again, I'm not very knowledgeable of other breeds than my own, but I seem to recall that the Pendesenca lays an egg that is almost black.

Finally, with regard to egg production and how prolific one is over the other, there are just way too many variables to be able to accurately answer that question in general. There is a lot of debate as to whether the hatchery birds out produce breeder birds. Moreover, individual genetics has a lot to do with it. I have two Ameraucanas, for example, that are sisters. The both lay a very similar egg. One lays a bit more often and the other lays a bit more bluer egg.

Generally speaking, both Barnevelders and Welsummers are dual-purpose birds and fit well within that category.

I hope that helps.

God Bless,

 

[JLMom]

Tailfeathers and Ewesheep,
Thank you so much for your thoughtful answers.

Yes, I like the really dark egg, and the terra-cotta ones are beautiful too.
My daughter doesn't want me to get the really dark layers; she said she will be disappointed to see an egg that dark and know that it is NOT made out of chocolate!

(I also want to get a blue egg layer. Not green, only blue!

)

 

[EweSheep]

Be sure to get the REAL Amercuanas for the blue color eggs. Talk to a few of the Amercuana breeders like Cree Farms, Mike Blehm, Mike Gilbert, Tailfeathers, Pips and Peeps, Amercuana Mom and a few of the BYCers in here that has the real thing and some of them are a member of the Amercuana Club. That would be your BEST start there! If someone said they can also lay green eggs, keep looking because those are EE's. Do your homework well and ask alot of questions. If a breeder avoids you for any reason or hiding something at all, go find another.

As for Penedesencas, those lay a very dark brown egg but they are extremely flighty nervous birds and I do not recommend them for beginners or anyone that can not handle nervous birds. They would throw themselves silly against a wall at the sightest sound and oftentimes, they would kill themselves doing just that. My friend and I had shared some Penes and never again I would have them. And they are not good profilic layers either, lays somewhere between 100 to 150 eggs a year at best. There is a good breeder here in Illinois that raises them (he used to raise Welsummers that he bought some directly from Lowell Barber but sold them a few years ago) and he also raises White Emproresa which they also lays very dark brown eggs but very similar to the temperment and disposition of the Penes.

There you go, all in a nutshell unless there is someone who has Marans can speak up.

 

[Krys109uk]

Generally Welsumers lay darker eggs than Barnevelders.

I have seen Welsumer eggs, back in Britain, that were very dark indeed, darker than most Marans eggs.
There were two chaps who used to do very well in the egg shows, one of them was Rev.Lobb, I can't remember the other chap's name.

 

[amazondoc]

You can see lots of comparison pics with barnie, Wellie, Marans, an other eggs here:

http://eggheadhill.smugmug.com/gallery/8555097_XwjrK

Barnevelders in this country do NOT lay very dark eggs. But they're nice birds anyway, and mine at least are laying well throughout the summer this year.

Good Welsummers can lay eggs as dark or darker than many Marans. The best Marans can lay eggs darker than any Wellie I've seen yet. For all around birdie goodness (pretty eggs, pretty birds, good temperament, good production) IMHO it's hard to beat a Wellie.

 

[EweSheep]

 

[lostsoulhelpmejebus]

Is it possible to color sex Barnevelders or Wellsummers? I have both in the incubator and have not come across any info as of yet as to sexing the chicks. Any suggestions?

 

[amazondoc]

Quote:
In *some* lines of Wellies, you can sex them at birth by looking at their head markings -- the females will have a clear "V" on top of their heads and strong eyeliner markings, while the markings in the males will be fuzzier. But that doesn't work in all lines!