Welsummer or Danish Brown Leghorn?

[ruriksson]

I bought these chicks from Ideal and they marked each breed with dye but didn't include information about the dye and the breed. The Welsummers and the Danish Brown Leghorns are almost identical. Can someone experienced with the breeds tell from the photos below?

How long before their earlobes come in? That's the only way I can think of to tell the difference before they start laying.

Thanks for your input.


These first photos are "orange legband"









And these are photos of "green legband"

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

The first one with the larger comb is probably your leghorn. The darker ones with the green leg band look more like welsummer to me, though I'm not and expert on either breed, I have had welsummer.

 

[drumstick diva]

Ask Ideal that the color band indicated.

 

[ruriksson]

Ask Ideal  that the color band indicated.

I put the leg bands on. Ideal just randomly marked each breed's head with dye.

 

[Cel45]

I am also thinking the the first birds with the larger combs are your leghorns. It is a good idea to ask Ideal, otherwise it is a waiting game.

 

[ruriksson]

Ideal does not seem all that well organized and I'm sure they have many more chicken breeds than they do dye colors. I would also assume the individual packer would have marked them as they were picked out. They only dyed one of the two chipmunk chicks and one of the two yellow chicks. It was easy to tell which was the Buff Orpingtons and which the NH Reds as soon as the first feather came in. I don't think Ideal has a systematic chick breed identification system.

I read that ear lobes start to come in at around 8 weeks. That's just 3 more weeks with these guys.

The thing is compared to my adult Welsummer hen, the first set have more similar coloring and markings to her. But given Leghorns' typically large combs, I understand your where you're coming from. It seems to be a good differentiator.

Thanks!