The Welsummer Thread!!!!

[Hayduke27]

Good advise. One more thing - I walk through my roosters, not around them. They yield to me, never me to them.

More great advice!

 

[maryhysong]

Since most of my Wellies have some issues (like white legs and huge combs) I ordered some hatching eggs from Erhard Weihs. They arrived yesterday.

 

[call ducks]

The egg colour is lighter than I thought they should be. I look at Europe line eggs and their egg colour matches that of a Marans.

So what is preferred in NA? The information I have read is that, there were two breeders in Europe (sorry, names and location escapes me). Both breeding for increased egg production, how ever they went different ways. One crossed to leghorns while the other carefully bred in the welsummers.

 

[Nickeyo]

That's only like a hybrid layer though isn't it? Don't they dry up after 3-4 years? And hello to a fellow Englishman :yiipchick

No, welsummers here have been bred for showing sothe layer part has been bred out of almost all strains, my hen hah been laying two yrs and hasn't let up yet, but most will reduce egg laying after 3 yrs quiet substantially, but there are the odd strain that stil have their egg laying ability

 

[Happy Chooks]

The egg colour is lighter than I thought they should be. I look at Europe line eggs and their egg colour matches that of a Marans.

So what is preferred in NA? The information I have read is that, there were two breeders in Europe (sorry, names and location escapes me). Both breeding for increased egg production, how ever they went different ways. One crossed to leghorns while the other carefully bred in the welsummers.

We prefer "terra cotta", but certainly not Marans dark. Some of those eggs are pretty light, but they will lighten as the hens get ready to molt. Then after molt, they darken up again. Marans eggs will also lighten over their lay cycle.

It's also very hard to photograph welsummer eggs. Lighting messes with the coloring big time.


These are mine, they are more red than they appear in the picture.


And these are from the same hens. Pretty close to their actual color - though all the eggs were roughly the same shade, the ones in the back look more pale.


Same eggs as above, taken outside.

 

[Weirdness555]

Wow that's a huge difference! From outside they could just be normal tinted commercial eggs

 

[call ducks]

Wow. What a difference. From the reading I have done (albeit it is a bit limited and geared to utility birds) in europe the prefer the really dark eggs. Take a look at this PDF and see the differences between European, and NA birds http://www.aviculture-europe.nl/nummers/12E05A10.pdf

 

[aggiemae]

Over 3/4 of my flock are from Murry McMurry Hatchery. I was very happy with them! One of my orders was received so fast that some of mine still had their umbilical cord attached. Being a first time chicken owner, I panicked and called them, thinking it was some kind of string. (Very dumb first time chicken owner apparently) The lady was very polite and assured me that they were fine, and then called back in a few days to make sure they had fallen off like they should! And not a single one of mine died in transit. I only lost one single bird (buff Orpington), and I think that was because my husky gave them a good chase when he got out of his fence one day. So I highly recommend Murry McMurry hatchery. There are also other threads with hatchery reviews.
Welsummers are generally calm, and like Orpingtons, sometimes tend to be toward the bottom of the pecking order because of their docility. If you are getting chicks, handle them every day, and most will more than likely be handled well and very kid friendly. (Except SSH apparently!) the farm we visited had welsummers when I was looking to add some, and they were great with my 4 & 2 year old

Even though they were handled as chicks our Wellsummers don't tend to be "friendly" at all. They don't like to be handled but on the other hand they are not at all aggressive towards people or other chickens and ,of course they are very pretty and so are their eggs.

 

[faykokoWV]

Wow. What a difference. From the reading I have done (albeit it is a bit limited and geared to utility birds) in europe the prefer the really dark eggs. Take a look at this PDF and see the differences between European, and NA birds http://www.aviculture-europe.nl/nummers/12E05A10.pdf

we in the US are at a disadvantage from Europe from the get go. We can only do some much as there was very limited stock in the US to begin with, so its always tough to compare birds here to birds there. That being said, I think most Welsummer breeders in the US want to breed both for both SOP and dark egg color. I don't think its ever fair to compare Welsummer egg color to Maran egg color though. They are two different hue families. The maran egg color is supposed to be more of a chocolate color while it is my understanding that the Welsummer is supposed to have a terracotta or reddish tint to it. The WCNA is working on a very simple "Egg Color Chart" that will show some examples of a range of egg colors from Welsummers here in the US. The egg pictures were taken and compiled by a professional photographer. If you want one in the near future - now is a perfect time to join the WCNA - its only $10 to join

 

[faykokoWV]

Has anyone purchased welsummer chicks from ideal poultry, and if so do y'all have pics of birds and eggs, I bought some two weeks ago, and have been satisfied with birds from there in the past. I know that they aren't breeding to the standard, but are the eggs dark brown? My plan is to start breeding them next spring for pure breeds, and also to help my olive eggers color. Thanks, Jared

my first Welsummers were from Ideal - one of the roos was meaner than sin and had to go - the hens were pretty - but as you noted none of the birds were anywhere near to SOP (obviously - its a hatchery so you wouldn't expect them to be) but I actually did have decent egg color from three of the hens - and one of the hens laid a really really nice egg color. If its just for a back yard flock I would say Ideal is fine