The Welsummer Thread!!!!

[Nwchickma]

My Welsummer laid her first egg yesterday! The texture was a little weird, almost chalky and it had white spots all over it but it was HUGE and was normal on the inside.

This was today's egg, it's bigger than the Sussex eggs and those girls have been laying for months!

 

[rebrascora]

Wow that is a very large egg, especially for a first one!

My pullets are starting off with small eggs and slowly getting larger.

I have two marans and a welsummer. The Marans started laying a few weeks ago and they are slightly plummy coloured dark brown eggs with speckles and they are very round shaped. I cannot say for certain that both marans are laying as I don't think I have had 2 dark brown eggs a day until recently when a completely different dark brown torpedo shaped egg has turned up. It has a very shiny surface and is a more orangey brown like toffee (whereas the marans eggs I was getting are more pinky brown) but again with speckles. I'm trying to decide if this is my wellie egg or if it is the other marans. I've not seen the wellie in the nest boxes but then I haven't been there as much recently. She is certainly looking in peak condition and appears pretty well full grown.... I didn't realise they were such big birds!

Anyone with both marans and wellies recognise my description of pinkish or plummy brown and orangey brown for the marans and wellies respectively. I appreciate that the shape is probably more individual to the hen than the breed, so the torpedo shape of the egg that has just started appearing is probably irrelevant apart from it indicating that it was laid by a different hen.

Thanks for any input.

 

[sarahandbray]

I may be wrong since my Welsummers aren't laying yet, but from what I've read, people describe a typical Welsummer egg as "terra cotta color with speckles."
Maybe that's the one you've mentioned? My girls don't spend a long time in the nesting boxes, so I'm sure I could miss that!!

 

[rebrascora]

Hi Sarah and thanks for that.

Now you mention it, I remember reading that and terracotta is certainly an orangey brown.
I got 2 dark brown eggs today, one was definitely a Marans' and the other was the same orangey brown high gloss egg but it was round like the Maran's and no real speckles, whereas the one the other day was really long and slim with quite dramatic speckles. I only have the one Welsummer in that hen house, so it can only be her or the other Marans.

I don't know if it makes a difference that one Marans is black copper and the other is a very attractive blue copper and that would account for the two colours of brown egg so that both eggs today were Marans but the speckled torpedo the other day was the Wellie's first attempt. Or, after that first odd one, she has refined her shaping and spray painting technique to produce a more conventional looking egg.

I know that I have established hens that lay a more elongated egg and even though the colour varies a little, the shape of the egg is usually pretty consistent but I also know that it takes young pullets a few weeks to find their groove, so perhaps shape will vary at this stage.

Regardless of the shape, they are both very attractive eggs and she is positively radiant. The gold tipped hackles on her neck almost sparkle when the sun catches them.... sadly that's not too often at this time of year.

How old is your Wellie and do you think you will see an egg any time soon?

 

[MandaMunky]

Hey there!!

I'm super excited to add some Welsummers to my flock this Spring, so, I'm searching around for some hatching eggs. I live in SoCal & would love to receive them early March 2015.

Any suggestions on where to start looking would be MUCH appreciated - thanks!!

 

[sarahandbray]

I am hoping to see an egg at some point this spring--I haven't read that Welsummers are some of the early ones...my flock of 36 were almost all born in the end of August, so they'll be 18 weeks on Monday. I'm expecting some of the red sex-links to start soon and maybe my Pioneer/Dixie Rainbow girls, but probably not the Black Copper Marans, Olive Eggers, Lavender Orpingtons, Barred Rocks, etc.

I "cheated" back in October and got impatient, so I purchased 4 White Leghorns and 6 Golden Comets that had just started laying. I think they're about 30 weeks old now. They are AMAZING layers! I went four days where they were 10/10 on eggs!! I would say the average is 9 eggs per day out of these totally faithful ladies. I am actually so glad I cheated because it is miserable here in upstate, NY in the late fall/winter, so it's fun having something to look forward to when I head down to do chores at the coop. I am shocked at how LONG it takes chickens to lay that first egg! (Patience is NOT one of my virtues...)

My game plan is to have a flock that is a total mix of Heritage breeds, pretty birds, production birds, show birds, multiple egg colors...you name it! I love looking at the variety of colors in the yard and the difference in personality/size. Right now, I've got a total mix of shy, curious, sweet, calm, flighty, bossy, affectionate...you name it! I never knew that chickens could be so varied and interesting! (can you tell this is my first time owning livestock?!?!)

 

[Beer can]

Hope your prepared to sell eggs. My first was 15 RIReds, way more eggs then I needed. My wellie is 28weeks and no eggs yet, but it is winter. Only have three birds laying, so far my EEgr/olive eggs bantam I think, is the most consistant, almost every day. One EEgr gives a couple eggs a week green, and one brown leghorn maybe three or four white eggs a week.Come on Wellie! Start laying!I need some brown spotted eggs, my color ratio is off!

 

[sarahandbray]

Yes, thanks! We actually have an established farm stand of 10+ years or so in front of our house on a busy county road. We sell fresh veggies, fresh cut flower bouquets, used golf balls (my parents live on a golf course with hundreds of golf balls in their back yard!), pumpkins, and now EGGS, starting this spring! People have been asking for years, so I think the 2 dozen/day we get from the chickens will be gone in a heartbeat! My in-laws next door host a big family brunch every Sunday and we go through 2.5 dozen there alone!! Eggs never make it more than 3-4 days around here before being eaten

I'm actually hoping to get a second coop set up this spring, get a nice incubator, and hatch my own red-sex link. Those ladies are my favorite layers at the moment--big, shiny, dark brown eggs!! The White Leghorns are good too, but they're not as big and they're not as confident/friendly as the Golden Comets.

 

[Beer can]

Never a shortage of people wanting fresh eggs.
I had golden comets once, pretty birds but I wasn't impressed with their laying, then they started eating eggs, OFF with their heads! Might have just been poor breeding. I think they came from Mt. Healthy hatchery,
the place I bought them also sold tetra tints and thats the only hatchery that I found that sells them.
So far my egglayingist chickens were those 15 RIReds, probably production. I swear they laid 15 eggs a day every day, but I never counted them. They came from our local feed mill. Had to put in a order 15 minimum. They don't sell them only two differnt ship dates in the spring. I don't know where they get them there was only a handfull of breeds and turkeys. I'm going to ask where this spring if they have araucuanas again cause Ive always been told hatcherys don't carry them. They listed them as rumpless and blue eggs so I think they are the real deal.

 

[Hayduke27]

Hi everyone. My first rooster was a Welly, and he was an awesome roo! At least for a while... He ended getting a bit aggressive, and found his way to the soup pot, but not before I hatched out some of his chicks! These are not pure wellies, but the welsummer in them has made them just gorgeous! I just had to show them off, because they are pretty neat. The hens are welsummer over RIR, the rooster is welsummer over EE. They are all colorful and beautifully patterned!