The Welsummer Thread!!!!

[imtrying]

to add (again): the one who has already hatched out chicks is a good mother. in fact, she could chill out a bit. haha.

 

[faykokoWV]

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

I would say that would be normal for most any chicken - at least not abnormal (the poo and the laying outside the nest) sometimes if you move the eggs into the nest every day, and leave them there, they get the idea. Usually if one hen decides to lay in the wrong place - the rest follow her lead lol

here's my favorite two poop charts

http://chat.allotment.org/index.php?topic=17568.0
http://www.the-chicken-chick.com/2012/02/whats-scoop-on-chicken-poop-digestive.html

 

[faykokoWV]

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.

could be your particular line was selectively bred to be broody. I would personally not keep a broody Welsummer because it would defeat the purpose - I want eggs not chicks - broody = no eggs.

I would bet that at least 4 out of 6 Welsummer breeders would reply to you that the fact that Welsummers aren't known to be broody is based on the history and purpose of the breed, not just their experience. I'm not saying they never go broody, just that most breeders would not desire this trait in their Welsummers. Because of that, they selectively breed birds that aren't broody

 

[imtrying]

i think the exact opposite. i think all breeds should be broody. how else would they survive w/o human intervention? but understand some folks want laying machines (eg..commercial leghorns). in fact, i've been thinking about transferring the two who haven't gone broody to the laying flock.

how/when did the anti-mother aspect of chicken raising begin?

but i digress. apologies for that.

perhaps i do have a line that has been selected for broodiness. certainly, that is a criteria i select for.

 

[faykokoWV]

Different breeds are bred for different purposes - Welsummers should be dual purpose - egg production and meat are their purpose - they aren't bred to be mothers because they aren't bred to survive without human intervention - they were originally bred to provide food and be food for humans. They were also bred for their egg color and plumage. A constantly broody bird would not survive long untended by humans either - they would have trouble finding enough food by foraging while sitting on a nest more than one time per year. Feral chickens (google Key West Chickens) brood and raise their own - but not more than one time per year usually. Going broody one time per year is not considered "broodiness"

 

[EweSheep]

Welsummers were NOT selected for broodiness. Past breeders didn't want that trait and selected the utility-ness of the Welsummers by meat AND eggs, not mothering chicks.

The large fowl Welsummers were mainly for egg production and meat, as well higher egg production than heavier breeds but not so much as Leghorns. Today's broody Welsummers are a hit or miss and if you want a broody one, be prepared she might set the eggs but kill the newly hatched chicks or have nothing to do with them. OR she might come out as an awesome mother. If you got the resources to keep broody Welsummers in your flock, you are entitled to it. Like Silkies, broodiness can be a real pain in the butt when you really are needing eating eggs for breakfast or your egg customers.

Personally I do not see a need for broody Welsummers in MOST cases. I want beautiful eggs and plenty of it. AND it benefits those who wants chicks.

The Welsummer Bantams, on the other hand, DO get broody but they are awful about it. Some would set and wants nothing to do with chicks while others would accept them without fail. Breeders of bantams don't take egg production as a highest priority and we all know bantams are notorious for broodiness.

Personally I would not breed Welsummers for broodiness but they do come in handy when you have a power outage and no other method could be used or chicks needing the natural source of the mother hen so we don't have to raise it ourselves. I personally like my Orpington bantam hens to do the job for me in raising the chicks.

Remember Welsummers were bred for meat and egg purposes (Utility fowl).

Same goes with my Spitzhaubens, they are not known for their broodiness and I got one that is broody, and therefore she will not be bred except to get more chicks and get her to raise them.

I personally keep two broody hens around for that purpose to raise chicks for me, save me electric and getting them to eat, clean up after them. I have to correspond the hatching dates when they start going broody and cross my fingers they will accept them.

 

[suebgbr]

I find that, even if one of mine went broody, nothing would hatch. I don't know if mine are dirty scrotes but they scratch each others eggs like mad to make room to lay theirs, even though there is tonnes of room, and poop all over the eggs. All my other breeds keep their poop away from the nest but the wellies seem to store it up ready!

 

[Nickeyo]

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.

I have read it and its from experience and I also have a neighbour that breeds them and he says that they don't, though in the end it's down to the hen and the strain, I'm fairly sure the majority are not the best broodies or mothers but some strains are more prone, but bantams are a little more prone but still are not the best in the world, do you keep LF or bantams

 

[Nickeyo]

 i think the exact opposite.  i think all breeds should be broody.  how else would they survive w/o human intervention?  but understand some folks want laying machines (eg..commercial leghorns).  in fact, i've been thinking about transferring the two who haven't gone broody to the laying flock.

how/when did the anti-mother aspect of chicken raising begin?

but i digress.  apologies for that.

perhaps i do have a line that has been selected for broodiness.  certainly, that is a criteria i select for. 

Even if the chickens were all aloud to go broody, they wouldn't survive, imagine an Orpington in the wild,it wouldn't get up high enough to perch and would get taken by a predator.

Also chickens were initially bred for egg laying and broodies do not lay, so this trait will have been bred out of them

 

[imtrying]

not one of you showed any proof of what you're talking about.

i disagree with you.

from what i've read, on the history, welsummers were created by accident. in a small town. i firmly believe there's no chance those chickens weren't expected to do a lot, if not the majority, of their living w/o human interference. it's almost absurd to think otherwise.

other than the history aspect, i have broody welsummers. the end. you can preach and scream to the heavens, but that is the reality. and, hang on, i like it.

were you holding? did you feel the earth shake?

you maybe want to sit down for this one:

erhard weihs told me, himself, his go broody too!

OMG OMG OMG

crazy, right!

do you want a picture of the three of sitting on nests right now? would this make you feel better or enrage you further?

sheesh. pure silliness.