The Welsummer Thread!!!!

[Amy Foster]

welsummers are not production birds they should not lay every day their breed should lay around three eggs a wk the only chickens that should lay everyday are production birds which have been forced to do so by selection for that trait if you select for production only in dark laying breeds like welsummers you will lose the dark eggs that are required in the breed standard and will end up with what i have got no dark eggs!!

 

[bwalden]

Will someone post pics of correctly colored welsummer eggs

Hi Amy, here are a few pics of my Welsummer eggs. The shades do vary from bird to bird as well as the patterns. Some are speckled others are more solid. I love both. Hope this helps. Also I don't show anything right now, but I do breed and sell eggs.
Edited to add. I sell eggs when they are laying. Lol

 

[Amy Foster]

thanks love the pics trying to photograph eggs is hard but your photos are lovely! do you have pictures of your breeders?

 

[ChiChiLady]

Beautiful pictures of eggs!
I would not rule out heritage breeds being strong layers. The Ancona was used for commercial production in the 1800's. The Welsummer is not a meat bird it is an egg layer it has the light weight body type for it. I believe it would be possible over time to return the Welsummer to a good producer of dark colored eggs (4-5 eggs a week). But it would take time. the ability to hatch out larger flocks and breeding from birds that lay nice dark eggs at a higher rate. Most folks may not have the space to do a large breeding program

 

[faykokoWV]

thanks love the pics trying to photograph eggs is hard but your photos are lovely! do you have pictures of your breeders?

you should join the Welsummer Club - and check out the facebook page for the breed - lots of great pictures of quality birds there. Also, the club will be working on an egg color chart this year for members

 

[bwalden]

thanks love the pics trying to photograph eggs is hard but your photos are lovely! do you have pictures of your breeders?

Umm yeah I have a few older pics on my profile page down at the bottom under "My Flocks" album, if you are on the desktop version you can view. Most all of those pictured I do not have anymore. I have heavily culled my flock when I started breeding towards the SOP. I didn't know much at the time about tail angles, combs, leg color, etc... But after joining this thread and reading back from page one, as well as joining the WCNA and getting a copy of the standard from the APA. I will say I am learning. I by no means have a perfect flock and in fact don't know anyone who does. With selective breeding I do hope to achieve a better flock. They are coming along nicely. But I think it will take several generations to achieve an entire flock that I'm completely satisfied with. I enjoy all aspects of it. I like the challenge of setting out a list of goals for my flock and seeing those goals become reality over a period of time. I do sell a lot of my eggs. Many breeders do not. I originally didn't but decided to after sooo many people asking me if I would sell them some. And heck it pays for the feed. It is tricky shipping live embryos and there are those who sadly don't end up with good hatch rates. It's just the nature of shipping eggs through the mail. I know if I didn't have Welsummers I would want them, so I'm glad to send eggs to someone who can also share a love for the breed. There are many on this thread that have been breeding Welsummers for some time and can help you learn a lot.
I do also recommend joining the WCNA lots of useful info and history.

http://wcna.webs.com/

 

[bwalden]

you should join the Welsummer Club - and check out the facebook page for the breed - lots of great pictures of quality birds there. Also, the club will be working on an egg color chart this year for members

Looking forward to the egg color chart!!

 

[bwalden]

Beautiful pictures of eggs!
I would not rule out heritage breeds being strong layers. The Ancona was used for commercial production in the 1800's. The Welsummer is not a meat bird it is an egg layer it has the light weight body type for it. I believe it would be possible over time to return the Welsummer to a good producer of dark colored eggs (4-5 eggs a week). But it would take time. the ability to hatch out larger flocks and breeding from birds that lay nice dark eggs at a higher rate. Most folks may not have the space to do a large breeding program

I agree that egg production could be bred back into Welsummers, but personally I feel like the less per week mine lay the darker they tend to be. If a hen lays every day her eggs are not as dark as those who lay every other day or even less than that. In fact I have culled from my breeder pens a hen or two that laid eggs every day and their eggs where lighter colored. I suppose through several generations you might breed dark egg hatched roosters over hens that produce eggs every day you could darken them up. It would be nice to have the darkest eggs every day.

 

[Happy Chooks]

My wellies lay 5 eggs a week each. (except when molting) They are good layers.

Amy - I breed welsummers so my hens/pullets are from my own flock.

 

[Amy Foster]

i believe i will not be able to even start breeding mine with such low quality stock i dont believe i will be able to get a good flock the brown egg gene is recessive and if my eggs get aby lighter they will be white! think i will eat the roo and add the hens to my layer flock and try to start over i spent so much time and money on these birds i am sooooo disappointed!!