The Welsummer Thread!!!!

[EweSheep]

Hi ....... I just started reading this thread because I have a two week old Welsummer chick that I hope is a pullet. But it sounds like you need to make the distinction at a day old or wait till they are 5 weeks old? I have attached a few pictures of Ginger ... she is 2 weeks ... can any of you take a stab at determining if she is a pullet?





Definately roo!

 

[Twinklin]

Tea is about 17 weeks now. Her comb is getting larger and more red every day so I'm crossing my fingers and I have my eyes peeled for an egg. She's a feedstore Welly so I'm hoping for an early start. She's a witch with a capital B. She squawks back at me if I say anything while I'm out near her, she yells if I don't have treats, she yells if I DO have treats and it's not enough or they're not being handed out fast enough.





Tea and her best frenemy Eleanor. They are buddies until treats are involved then Ely gets greedy and pecks Tea out of the way and Tea goes from loud and bossy to scardy cat.


and a silly meme pic I made today

 

[Twinklin]

Hi ....... I just started reading this thread because I have a two week old Welsummer chick that I hope is a pullet. But it sounds like you need to make the distinction at a day old or wait till they are 5 weeks old? I have attached a few pictures of Ginger ... she is 2 weeks ... can any of you take a stab at determining if she is a pullet?

I'd agree with roo. This was my girl Tea at 2 weeks. She has a much smaller comb.

 

[memechick]

I'd agree with roo. This was my girl Tea at 2 weeks. She has a much smaller comb.

Thanks for posting this picture of your 2 week old ... now I can see the difference. This makes me so sad. I purchased 6 fertile eggs when Tulip went broody, 3 Wheaten Ameraucans and 3 Welsummers. 2 of the Welsummer eggs turned out not to be fertile. So Tulip hatched out all three blue eggs and the one Welsummer. I wanted to keep them all. I can't have roos. :-(

 

[faykokoWV]

just to clarify - just because an egg doesn't develop, it doesn't mean that it wasn't fertile- lots of factors involved including how hot the day was they were laid, how long the chicken sat on them after they were laid, storage after they were gathered, how old they were, were they shook up at all during transport.... lots of factors

 

[Anniebee]

As this is the Welsummer thread, I have to ask this question here. And will try to do so in good taste. I have a very large and beautiful Welsummer pullet ( she has not completed her moult yet - Australian winter / spring ) ... but has laid eggs right through the winter, and is still moulting. She sleeps in a bare nesting box ( kicks out all the straw or anything else I put in there ) ... and her poop is completely normal overnight.

Come morning when I let them in their run ( I have only 3 chickens ) ... she waits until she is outside and then literally ' fires' her first out-door poop for the day. Stands up, tail high in air and squirts the soft dropping plus what looks like heaps of bluish coloured water with it. One wouldn't want to be too close behind her when she does it. Can spread for a good 12 inches plus behind her. She then waggles her tail, fluffs herself up and gets on with her day. She never soils the coop in this way.

She has been doing this for almost as long as she has been mature enough to lay eggs. I am not concerned over health issues at all, as she's been so long at this caper ! and produces beautiful eggs, eats like a horse and drinks a lot of water. She is also very very big. She lays her eggs in a small straw nest that the girls have made for themselves - in front of the nesting boxes. ??

Is this normal behaviour for a Welsummer ? That's really all I want to know.

Cheers .... AB

 

[buttercup95]

Mine are breeder quality - they never start laying before 24 weeks. Most are in the 24-30 week range, though I did have to wait 11 months for one stubborn pullet to start laying.

They are not known to be a broody breed. And they are supposed to be terrible sitters and mothers. Now with that said, I have had 2 of my welsummers go broody this year. The first went broody last year as well - she is a good sitter and a fantastic mother. She is still mothering her "babies" even though they are about 11 weeks old. The 2nd welsummer pullet (she's only 7 months old when she decided to go broody) just hatched out her babies yesterday. She is very protective of them, so hopefully she will do well as a mother.

I have no idea about mine I think they're second generation hatchery chicks. My friend's not known to keep the "ugly ones" as she refers to them. Do hatchery welsummer lay sooner?

 

[Nickeyo]

So a question about welsummers, well several questions which google has decided are not worth answering. Anyways, how long does before they lay, and how broody are they?

edit- also how good are they as mothers?

Welsummers rarely go broody, there are exceptions, but the don't make brilliant mothers

 

[imtrying]

this "welsummer's rarely go broody" is....well, i'm not sure about it. it sounds like regurgitated info to me. i currently have three welsummers broody. and one just stopped. that'ss four of six - - to me, that equals broody.

i'm not sure when people say welsummers are not broody if that's based on their own personal experience or something they've read and think it's accurate.

again, i find welsummer's a broody breed.

 

[imtrying]

to add: my parents have leghorns and they have never, not once, gone broody.