The Welsummer Thread!!!!

[SidChick]

Where is your location?
Did they fight, cuts and blood?
Could be frostbite anywhere there was water/fluid(like blood from fighting) on tissue.

We live in Kansas. It has been below freezing lately. Indoors, they are heated, so only when they venture out should they be affected. Last night I shut the door to outside completely, so they will only be indoors from now on. Very sad. I have a hard time imagining the two boys fighting. They are buddies. I can't say what they do when I'm not looking though. They would not be wet from water, as they drink from a hanging bucket with nipples. No dipping the wattles. If they were wet from blood, then maybe they got frostbitten. I've not owned chickens before this flock. It's all new. There are twelve that have all been raised together. Am I right to assume then that the black appearance is not simply scabbing, and it's likely frostbite? Will the wattles fall off??? Do they regrow?? My daughter plans to show this boy in 4-H next summer..

 

[Ameraucana5]

I used to have a wellie roo, but I made the fatal mistake of giving him potato skins

. So he sadly died.

 

[aart]

Quote: Hmmm....well, nipples(both vertical and horizontal) can create drips that can hit the wattles.
It's hard to tell if it's scabs, dried drops of blood, or frostbite.

Trying to wash it off might tell if it's just blood.....
.....BUT.....
messing with frostbitten tissue is not a good idea, it could cause infection.
So I would suggest you just leave it be and observe.

Deep frostbite, that turns black, means dead tissue that will eventually fall off and no it will not grow back. My Wellie cockbird has lost the tips of his comb and chunks of wattle, it was very black, and swollen for a few days, I watched it closely for infection but it healed up fine all by itself after a month or two.

How big is your coop in feet by feet?
Closing them up might not be a great idea unless you have adequate ventilation.
Having 2 males can cause an environment of competition and fights and injury......
.....as well as over-bred females.

 

[SidChick]

Hmmm....well, nipples(both vertical and horizontal) can create drips that can hit the wattles.
It's hard to tell if it's scabs, dried drops of blood, or frostbite.

Trying to wash it off might tell if it's just blood.....
.....BUT.....
messing with frostbitten tissue is not a good idea, it could cause infection.
So I would suggest you just leave it be and observe.

Deep frostbite, that turns black, means dead tissue that will eventually fall off and no it will not grow back. My Wellie cockbird has lost the tips of his comb and chunks of wattle, it was very black, and swollen for a few days, I watched it closely for infection but it healed up fine all by itself after a month or two.

How big is your coop in feet by feet?
Closing them up might not be a great idea unless you have adequate ventilation.
Having 2 males can cause an environment of competition and fights and injury......
.....as well as over-bred females.

The room is not "tight." It is attached to the big shed and has a sliding door on one end that lets air pass. The other side is essentially a doggie door that the birds pass through. The room is approximately 40' x 10'. The flock is blocked off to 100sq.ft. The flock has 10 pullets and two cockerels, born late July 2016. So far, no egg laying. In Spring, we will move them to a very large outdoor pen with several smaller coops. That's when I plan on separating them. I do worry about my two little Polish girls. The boys are very big for them. We will have a pen for the Polish alone eventually. Everybody has gotten along wonderfully, but if my boys are starting to fight, i will need to do something different very soon. With people the entire flock is friendly. Sleeping on our laps, flying to our arms/backs, etc. Nobody is skiddish. The boys walk around outside with the kids all the time, and always follow each other. They don't like to be apart. We've never seen any aggression. My daughter holds her boy and totes him around. He naps on her. The kids run around them and they watch, but don't run or get flighty or mad. Mostly they just peck the ground. That's why it's hard for me to imagine them fighting. Natural as they get older I guess. The outside area right now has about 2" slits. Do you think it's possible a raccoon or cat could have reached through and grabbed them? I'm searching for anything not to believe they fought each other...

Ps. They are started on antibiotics. These are pets, not for meat.

 

[Sylvester017]

I am not a Wellie owner, nor do I know about frostbite or comb/wattle conditions, but is it possible to be a form of Fowl Pox which seems to be brought on in damp climate conditions? Perhaps a search under Emergencies section of BYC will offer some help? @casportpony has written many helpful injury/disease posts and treatments which might be of help in the future for some of us when symptoms of one kind or another appear in our flocks.

 

[Henerz101]

My 19 week olders

 

[kadavis08]

How is he doing? Did you figure out what it was?

 

[WrenRowan]

I am new to keeping chickens, and we decided to get chicks to raise but wanted to make sure we didn't end up with any roo's, so we decided to go with sexed Welsummer. I picked up 5 chicks a week ago, they are now 2 weeks old. Three of them have tail feathers, the other two do not. They were auto sexed upon hatch based on eye liner and the deep V in the heads. The lady we got them from is a hobby breeder and very familiar with her birds. I'm wondering if its possible I have 3 pullets and 2 cockerels based on the tail feathers aline or if they just develop at different paces. I've included a picture of the two in question.
I'm thinking I have all pullets, and these girls are late bloomers... hoping anyways.

 

[SeattleSelkie]

I'm thinking I have all pullets, and these girls are late bloomers... hoping anyways.

Hmmm, I think you will just have to wait to be sure, but I bet they are pullets. Tail growth can be very individual, and not an indicator of sex.

To be honest, these seem to have markings different than the Welsummer lines I am familiar with. The spots on the head and the very wide, dark eye stripe is very different from my birds. I might guess that the breeder has hatchery stock in her line.....but that is just my opinion worth nothing more than that.

You should be able to tell sex by a month, when the cockerel's comb will start to be bigger than the pullets and he will start to get more black feathers in his chest.

 

[ronnhill7]

Merry Christmas to all my Welsummer friends; I enjoy and appreciate all the discussions and photos; thank you.
Have a happy New year and may all your dreams come true!
-ron