TRADITIONAL BREEDS TRADITIONAL WAYS

Wednesday 25 May 2011

Welsummer - New Blood line


8 little chicks ....the start of my new blood line. (click on image to enlarge)

These eight little chicks are the end result of the two broodies who sat together throughout their incubation.

The hatch went well, each hen having 4 chicks.

Feeling a little guilty, as the hens had been so close, I decided for practical reasons it would make sense for just one of the hens to rear all the young. So one hen was chosen and the other returned to the flock. The chosen hen has taken to motherhood well, the other is still broody, despite being moved and placed in amongst strange hens...she is determined!

The chicks are Partridge Welsummer, hopefully from good parent stock. I will choose a couple of the best pullets to start a new blood line with a Gold Duckwing Welsummer cockerel I kept back from last year's hatch. ( son of my present breeding cock ).

5 comments:

  1. plans all coming together :)

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  2. Hopefully :-) If I had to choose just one breed it would be the Welsummers. Eggs in their first year are now weighing in at 70/75+ g

    From the 6 birds I'm getting no less than 4/5 a day more often than not 6. The colour is good and the birds lovely.

    Sale pitch over ;-)

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  3. What would happen with a partridge welsummer cockerel and gold duckwing hens? Would the chicks be sex linked?

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  4. So far I haven't bred the Welsummers in that combination but beleive the outcome i.e 50% Gold to 50% Partridge chicks would be the same.

    I don't believe the chicks would be sex linked.

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  5. Hiya,

    Well from experimenting with a partridge cockerel and a silver duckwing hen, every single chick was male -amazing! So absolutely no chance of sex linage (gold on silver) with Welsummers apparantly, or pullets for that matter!

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