Are Welsummers the worst layers, or what??

[sheeshshe]

I got ours last march, they didn't lay until the very end of summer, the last to lay. Then they didn't lay as regularly as the other breeds. Then 2 months later they started molted and molted nearly all winter and now that they're done, everyone else is laying except for them. I'm considering getting rid of them they never lay!!!

 

[Malissa]

Wow. I have 1 Welsummer hen (the 2nd turned out to be a rooster). She was the 2nd last to start laying of our 5 hens. They were hatched early last May and she may have started laying in December. One of my EE's was the final one to lay and it's probably been just under a month now since she is laying. Grun (our Welsummer) has the loudest egg song and she was always very shy and skittish. Since she started laying, she seems to be more tolerant of humans. Both of our Barred Rocks lay daily. The EE's and the Welsummer lay for maybe 2 or 3 days in a row and then skip a day. We call it 'taking a day off'. They are not supposed to be as frequent of layers as the BR's are, so I did not expect to see an egg every day from them or the EE's. I also noticed that the Welsummer lays very late in the day. One day, I came home from work about 3:45 pm and heard the 'song'. Went out and found a warm egg from her! I though most of them laid before noon so that came as a surpise. I guess time will tell when she will start to molt, but so far, she has been doing well and I do enjoy finding her pretty eggs and listening to her rough scratchy clucks. She has a neat little voice.

Malissa
Fleetwood PA

My Blog: mothercluckerhomegrown.blogspot.com

 

[Happy Chooks]

I usually get 5 eggs a week per hen in peak season.

 

[sheeshshe]

what on earth is wrong with mine? did I get duds? LOL