The Welsummer Thread!!!!

[loobyloo88]

Such a lovely story RedPedant!

I guess I'll just play the waiting game and be prepared for roos! I was so convinced I had one of each as they look so different, but hey ho! Heres chick ones eyes again as it has these line the other doesnt....

 

[RedPedant]

When I chose to try Welsummers, part of that choice was the relative ease of sexing them when young, as my daughter gets quite upset (thankfully briefly) when chicks become cockerels as I tell her they've gone to "The Happy Boy Farm" to play with all the other noisy boy chickens. (If only.) All mine when they hatched out had very defined markings, the two stripes on their backs and very definite eye markings (didn't take photos-silly me.), literally like they'd been drawn in mascara pen. I've since been told the breeder has kept the line almost pure so the markings are very definite but that they're is a wide variation in the definition in markings, so fingers crossed for the top one. I'm in the north east of England and can recommend a good breeder who sells pullets and guaranteed fertilised eggs if that would be useful in future, I would have to check how far he delivers. There are a lot of cowboys and chancers out there now since backyard hen keeping got so popular. Good luck.

I've added a photo, this isn't one of mine but shows the eyestripe, mine were more defined on the back.

 

[JackieandChicks]

Thought I'd share - my three pullets and one roo - February hatch.


Obviously the roo - he just keeps getting bigger and bigger....



All three girls...




Hen one...



Hen two...



Hen Two and Three with Mr. Roo....

The are from Townline's first year of Welsummers. Will be interesting to see how they turn out.

 

[dheltzel]

The are from Townline's first year of Welsummers. Will be interesting to see how they turn out.

I'm interested in how dark their eggs are and how well they lay. Please keep us updated. Pics of their eggs would be great too.

 

[JackieandChicks]

They are laying now, I think - I am getting darker eggs than I normally get, and they have some speckles on them. I'll keep track but it's hard with such a mixed flock. I'm sure they are the ones laying them - I have one Wheaten Marans but she's not old enough to lay yet, but I have some other brown egg layers starting up, too.

 

[estamets]

They are laying now, I think - I am getting darker eggs than I normally get, and they have some speckles on them. I'll keep track but it's hard with such a mixed flock. I'm sure they are the ones laying them - I have one Wheaten Marans but she's not old enough to lay yet, but I have some other brown egg layers starting up, too.

They're laying now and they hatched in Feb??? Don't be teasing me. My girls hatched in March and I'm so excited for them to start laying... does this mean I could have just a month to wait?

 

[JackieandChicks]

They're laying now and they hatched in Feb??? Don't be teasing me. My girls hatched in March and I'm so excited for them to start laying... does this mean I could have just a month to wait?

Can't promise that, or that the eggs I am newly getting are from my Wellies as I have a large mixed flock. But someone else with a hen at 21 weeks in MI has gotten her first egg (Townline pullet)...

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/697050/michigan-thread-all-are-welcome/26250 Scroll down to bottom

 

[gootziecat]

I'm noticing an awfully lot of roosters that have the white fluff where the body and tail join at the back, and more often than not it looks white, not gray. Exactly what causes this and how hard is this to breed away from and correct? I have bantam Wellies, and I have yet to find a line that doesn't exhibit this fault.

 

[wny egger]

I'm noticing an awfully lot of roosters that have the white fluff where the body and tail join at the back, and more often than not it looks white, not gray. Exactly what causes this and how hard is this to breed away from and correct? I have bantam Wellies, and I have yet to find a line that doesn't exhibit this fault.

i was woundering the samething....

 

[gootziecat]

A couple of my Wellie bantams hatched this year. Love watching them grow.