The Welsummer Thread!!!!

[vanalpaca]

Question on the 'different lines' of Welsummers in the US

What do the different lines look like?

Barber?
Channing Grisham?
Erhard?
Hall?

Those ARE the only pure lines, right? Everything originated from them??

What are the strengths, weaknesses currently being seen/worked on with each pure line and which crosses are proving to be the most consistent?

Any one have photos of the hens/roos/ and chicks from each of these separate lines? I know that some of the breeders now just have crosses of one or two lines and are developing their own strains from them.

I will be getting in a strain of Calicowoods and another Barber line batch of chicks. I may have one or two chicks from the Grisham line but can't confirm the source of those two birds. It looks like from watching the chatter here that my larger group of chicks are a 'breeders line from Ideal Hatchery sold to another breeder, then sold to me as breeder wellies not hatchery wellies.' No complaints here, it's ask lots and lots of questions and these chicks are only 10-14 days old.

When Nate is back up to numbers he has the Hall/Grisham lines and Barber lines separately and I've located a source for the Grisham line in Tennessee. I don't know who besides Mr. Hall has just a pure line of Hall's birds.....

Thanks, everything I can learn about these Wellies is all good!

 

[shesaredroan]

PINK ........PINK!!!!!
I have 6 of your wellies hatched, still in the bator drying out.

Since my son was born on Friday 13th (36 years ago) this has always been a lucky day for me!!

 

[vanalpaca]

How lucky were you? Any girls in that batch of six hatchlings?

 

[EweSheep]

Quote:
You have stated very good questions and sometimes it is hard to tell them apart but the most experienced breeders would be able to tell the differences. If I can get some "pure" photos of side, front and combs, along with egg colors, I am sure we can figure it out.

I am sure other breeders will share their notes w hile I go and find my sources which are very very little information to go by and what their goals were when they raised their Welsummers.

 

[shesaredroan]

Quote:
Not sure yet vanalpaca.........they are still in the bator drying off....will know more when I move them to the brooder.
I'm so tickled!!!

 

[Hens and Roos]

Quote:
Not sure yet vanalpaca.........they are still in the bator drying off....will know more when I move them to the brooder.
I'm so tickled!!!

yeah! congrats on the new chickies!

 

[ksf59]

Quote:
I had a quirky blond chick from Ideal, when it grew up I couldn't really tell it from the others I got at the same time. The trait is apparently recessive and passed on to other generations because someone who bought eggs from me hatch a one as did someone who bought eggs from them.

I believe it is a recessive gene. I had some and when I crossed the roo from that hatch back to his normal colored hatch mates, I got about 5 percent white. My fisst blonde chick grew up to be one of those salmon coloer hens. When I crossed him to the salmon color hen, I got 50 perecnt whites, and when crossed to the white I got white. The roo himself was very good looking welsummer type roo, but would consider his hackle color a bit to light.That whole pen has been relegated to the layer pen, and a person who sell farm fresh eggs is picking up the whole lot tonight. They called and needed 8 to 10 layers because they can not keep up with thier growing eggs sales.. Some of thier peeps only want brown eggs, and he has some easter eggers in his mix. I need the room and am glad that they are gone. Nothing against them, but white chickens just are not my thing, and the other chickens did not like them either.

 

[faykokoWV]

Quote:
this is why I appreciate BYC so much. I feel like now I can look at pictures of birds and make a judgement call on how good the lines are. I can also ask other breeders what they know about a particular person's lines. Its very frustrating when you buy what you think are quality birds and then you find out they aren't.

Its not like chickens come with papers, but maybe they should. I've been tossing around the idea of printing out "certifications" saying that the eggs were provided by me and the specific year and breed lines of the eggs. That way when someone goes to sell hatching eggs from the birds I've sold them they have something showing exactly what lines they have.

 

[EweSheep]

What??!!!

Well, having blue blood Welsummers would not be a bad thing LOL! And with each certification, I wished you can ID them, like tattoos, or microchips on the breeding and showing Welsummers and it would clearly state who the stock were from. I know they do that for parrots. Sure it would be costly. If you are very proud of your birds, and spare no expense, you certainly can do that. I see nothing wrong with that.

From my observation, I can tell you where the origin of the feather stubs came from were the Barber birds. So are the white tips on feathers. You would have to cull them out.

Calicowoods were from Barber lines, no hatchery. I only emailed to Harry Shaw very briefly before his death and all he could tell me that they were from Barber lines but would not tell me who was the breeder's name he got them from. So that information died with Harry and we just have to take his word that those birds were from Barber lines. From what the past breeder, Mothergoose (BYC), told me that all of her stock were of Calicowoods AND Barber lines and frustrated to the fact that the chicks come out stubbed leg feathers and white tips. So she culled and culled, changed stock that does not have the traits and still come up with it in the Barber lines. She finally got out of it but the eggs she had were just downright goreous and dark terra cotta colors! I used to have some of her stock and got rid of them when they didn't meet my expectations as a standard bird while Nate's lines were so much better.

If Mr Barber got the hatching eggs from the show, he certainly had NO idea what the offsprings would be passing down. It is the luck of the draw sometimes with his birds.

Horst Greczmiel. if I remember right, got German Welsummers. (correct me if I am wrong!)
Erhard are Germans and Lowell Barbers.

I don't know enough about Channing and Hall.

Fay, get yourself some gold foil and emboss equipment to "certify" your Welsummers LOL!

 

[tazcat70]

Quote:
This explains why I have a chick with feathers on its legs. My wellies were from Shaw.