The Welsummer Thread!!!!

[dheltzel]

Hi everyone! I hope I'm not interrupting this convo in a rude way, but I figured this would be the correct thread for a question about this breed.
We currently have a mixed flock of 3 that we are looking to add to. I would like a dark egg layer that lays fairly consistently with good attitude and not too broody.
We live in a residential neighborhood, so no screamers aloud as to not annoy the neighbors. Clucking, egg song, etc is fine but screaming is not.

Would the Welsummer fit well for our situation?
We already had to rehome a girl because she couldn't quit yelling at everyone and everything. (yes they get to free range when we are home).
Thanks for any insight.

I have both Wesummers and BCM's and while either would fit your requirements, Marans have more of a reputation for broodiness. Mine are still young and I have one broody Welsummer now, so my experience doesn't exactly match the reputations, but since I have 18 Welsummers and only 4 Marans, and the only hens over a year old are 3 of the Welsummers, I may see more broodiness in the Marans in the future.

I would still recommend the Welsummers the most. If you want dark eggs, seek out a breeder who can show you the eggs their stock lays. Commercial hatcheries won't do this, for good reason, you'd probably be unhappy and not buy their Welsummer chicks. My Welsummer and Marans eggs are identical, we have to mark them before they get put together, but there's no problem telling their eggs from the other breeds.

 

[BrandyJK]

Okay, thank you. The eyeliner makes it obvious, doesn't it? I'm happy about this, as I ordered Welsummers and they're coming straight run. It will be nice to know who is who right at the start. How long do they stay marked differently? Oh, that was dumb. They stay marked until they get adult plumage, right?

As long as they are pure Welsummers, it works And yes, your correct, when the fuzz goes away, so do the markings

 

[wny egger]

I lowered the heat lamp and they stopped chirping as much and are doing better except the delawares keep gettinf poop stuck to their butts. not sure what to do.

oh i am sorry i thought you were loosing full grown birds ..you want to keep the temps on chickes about 85F ..and if you are seeing a poop covered butt then they prolly have pasty butt ..you want to keep that cleaned out real well ..you should pick each bird up every day and check them for this ..a warm wet wash cloth to clean them ..i used to use a q-tip to clean them off . you can soak their bottoms in warm not hot water to help clean them up if covered in poop....

you should read as much as you can find on raising chicks..if you are not using probiotics in their water you should start them on some of that ..you can buy little packets at the tractor supply store or feed store ..if not i am pretty sure you can give them yogurt to help with loose or watery poop..probiotics also helps releave stress ..set the heat lamp up so they can get under it if they are cold or can move away from it if they get to warm..

try this link to cacklehatchery to read on raising chickas and heat lamp placement in brooder..

http://www.cacklehatchery.com/pdfs/New chick care (1).pdf

theres some good threads on here to help deal with most problums you will run into while raising chickens as well.

hope this helps ya ..good luck ..

 

[oolyboolu]

Sorry for taking so long to get back on here! 1st off.. As a learner of chicken breeds My first reaction is to feel somewhat taken advantage of. But when I look back to when I went to the local farm to pick up the eggs, her roosters looked like your pics so I felt no reason to really question beyond that. One of my babies has the exact colouring of your pullets though so now I'm all sorts of confused! :/

that bein said, I'm not in the breeder business so it's not imperative for them to be pure. I love all my peeps and hope to keep as many as possible (no Roos allowed

)

Ooly

 

[Happy Chooks]

My cockerel at the PPBA show this past weekend. I had 2 pullets with me as well, but they wouldn't cooperate for a picture. The picture was taken with my phone, so it is dark. His coloring is much lighter.

 

[aart]

My cockerel at the PPBA show this past weekend. I had 2 pullets with me as well, but they wouldn't cooperate for a picture. The picture was taken with my phone, so it is dark. His coloring is much lighter.

Thought was going mad....just saw this on the FB group!
Nice Bird!

 

[Happy Chooks]

Thank you. I have work to do on them still, but I'm very excited with this years offspring. I've seen many improvements in both males and females.

 

[MrsFitzDarcy]

I got a new camera. I thought I'd try some pictures. They are hatchery chicks, but I'm excited anyhow. I'm getting some breeder quality chicks in March or April.

Eating some live mealworms -- I am very popular.



Aren't we a little puffy?



Photo Bomb!


This little piggy ...


Two little piggies ...


Three little piggies looking for mealworms ...

 

[Frenchcuffs13]

Thanks so much dheltzel ! I know you all get this type of question alot and have many posts on this (yes, i read before I ask! ) I realize each bird is individual like us humans. The #2 hen is also picking on the ameraucna's so bad they laid their eggs in the run this morning and slept out there too. I'm hoping bringing in a more dominant hen will help with that.? We have limited room and don't want to crowd them so I'm looking to only add one girl. I don't want to re-home more birds.

 

[Happy Chooks]

Hi everyone! I hope I'm not interrupting this convo in a rude way, but I figured this would be the correct thread for a question about this breed.
We currently have a mixed flock of 3 that we are looking to add to. I would like a dark egg layer that lays fairly consistently with good attitude and not too broody.
We live in a residential neighborhood, so no screamers aloud as to not annoy the neighbors. Clucking, egg song, etc is fine but screaming is not.

Would the Welsummer fit well for our situation?
We already had to rehome a girl because she couldn't quit yelling at everyone and everything. (yes they get to free range when we are home).
Thanks for any insight.

Welsummers love their egg song, and the whole world must hear it. They are not a broody breed, but I have had a couple go broody on me - so it's no guarantee.