The Welsummer Thread!!!!

[karenls50]

Yes. You are right. Wellies are usually speckled. Mine is gorgeous. I've seen pictures of Bev Davis dark Marans eggs and a few also had speckles. My idea of crossing my wellie with my bcm would be to get darker speckled eggs.

 

[simplify]

Hey all. Tis spring and getting the hatching fever. Just waiting for a broody hen so each day I keep hatching eggs seperated so I can have a good size clutch for her. I am posting pic of my mixed roster Carl from last year hatch , my BO hen mated with my wellsummer roo and hatched a roo and a hen. The hen looked just like Carl and layed dark speckled eggs. No pics of her as I gifted her to a friend. The roo is so calm. He even gives food to the hens to eat. His feather color is bright gold and tail feathers are brown. I plan to hatch more like him this spring and wellies of course.

H

 

[ronnhill7]

I do love my chickens but my advice to you coyotewoods is that you need to get out more..........

 

[dheltzel]

This is seriously the longest thread I've ever seen in my life. I'm in my 40s and need 40 more years to read the entire thing.

So, not realizing there was a massive, record breaking thread on Welsummers, I just posted a Welsummer question in the chick forum. My question has to do with the success rate of welcoming home seven females and having them grow up to be lady hens. Well, I guess there isn't any other kind of hen.

One is ever so lighter in color in the dark patch on top of her head, and the eyeliner is a tad fainter and not as much as the others. But it was my understanding, from everything I studied, that these cute little fluff balls will indeed grow up to be hens.

I really REALLY really want a rooster. Why pass up on such a gorgeous man bird! Plus, he'll more than earn his keep as ranch security. My husband's not so keen on a rooster, but all his reasons for not getting one were just thrown in the mud when his mom told me he was attacked by a free roaming rooster in a park when he was a baby.

So I'm getting a rooster.

It seems, though, that I have all hen fluff balls, from what I've been reading, so I'm asking the feed store if they'll do an add-on rooster for the next order they're placing soon. And then it occurred to me, for some unknown reason, what if they aren't all girls? What if magic happens and one of the women birds suddenly wakes up crowing one day!

That'd be awesome, and I'm feeling a tad hopeful. The response I received to the discussion I started said that Welsummer auto sexing at the hatcheries has problems. First, auto sexing is my new vocabulary word, and second, should I just wait and see and get a rooster next spring instead?

What do you Welsummer folks think I should do? Thanks!!

P.S. Getting chickens is the most exciting thing I've ever done, and I've done a lot in my 40 something years!!!

Welsummers are not truly autosexing. Hatcheries also vent sex chicks and I've seen videos where they use the physical characterics, like the sharper "eye liner" and "V" to pre-sort the chicks, then verify with vent sexing to confirm the sex. Hatcheries routinely promise only 90% accuracy, but I expect they get a little better than that, especially with breeds that have some pattern differences. Barred rocks are another breed you can get pretty accurate with by color. So, while you might have a male in your group, chances are they are all pullets. It will be easy to tell at a young age by the comb size, especially in a group of mostly females. If by 3 or 4 weeks you can't see a chick with a significantly larger comb, you have no male.

I used to raise, hatch, and sell Welsummers and I claimed about 90% accuracy with the patterns, but the big problem was that a percentage, maybe 1/4 or 1/3, were in between. I wasn't willing to cull them as males, but instead invested time and feed to grow them out for a month until I could sex by other characteristics. All this time, I was re-creating Welbars, a truly autosexing Welsummer (technically a color called Crele), and now that that is completed, I have replaced my entire flock of Welsummers with Welbars. Sexing is now so easy and 100% accurate. I have pics and more details on my website, welbars.com

 

[simplify]

Hey coyotte,
I had same issue last summer. My local feed store told me when they were getting wellies so i waited for months for the big day. Got to the store and found they only ordered girls. I found a lady an hour away that had 4 wk old boys. I got lucky. My roo is almost a yr old and he is beautiful and calm and excellent with his hens.

 

[MeyersFamFarm]

Super excited my shipment of welsummers will be here in 4 days.. woot woot. 12 baby girls n a boy will post pics soon

 

[ronnhill7]

......o happy day, o happy day!

 

[simplify]

Nice size flock. Oh happy days.

 

[Magnolia7330]

Super excited my shipment of welsummers will be here in 4 days.. woot woot. 12 baby girls n a boy will post pics soon

My chicks will also arrive in 2-4 days! I am getting 4 chicks. A Welsummer, Australorp, Easter Egger, and Meyer Mealmaker.

 

[SOHC-FTW]