The Welsummer Thread!!!!

[Araucana Nest]

My 3 year old Welsummer "Friendly" just started laying again. She had a hard molt and was very off for a couple of months. I'll be hatching her eggs and keeping pullets for a while.

 

[gimmie birdies]

 

[Sylvester017]

How old is your "Friendly"? You said she had a hard molt? I've noticed my hens (I have other breeds, no Wellies) don't get really hard molts until about their third year. My only breeds that never seemed to have hard molts were my crested, bearded or feather-footed breeds (Silkies, Ameraucana, and Breda). My more prolific egg-laying breeds seemed to suffer harder molts in the Fall and had loss of appetites and lethargic behavior. All hens molt but the good egg layers seem to suffer more. We supplement their diet as much as they will eat and increase protein for their feather regrowth till they're back to normal.

You have beautiful Wellies and eggs!

My 3 year old Welsummer "Friendly" just started laying again. She had a hard molt and was very off for a couple of months. I'll be hatching her eggs and keeping pullets for a while.
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[Araucana Nest]

How old is your "Friendly"? You said she had a hard molt? I've noticed my hens (I have other breeds, no Wellies) don't get really hard molts until about their third year. My only breeds that never seemed to have hard molts were my crested, bearded or feather-footed breeds (Silkies, Ameraucana, and Breda). My more prolific egg-laying breeds seemed to suffer harder molts in the Fall and had loss of appetites and lethargic behavior. All hens molt but the good egg layers seem to suffer more. We supplement their diet as much as they will eat and increase protein for their feather regrowth till they're back to normal.

You have beautiful Wellies and eggs!

Thank you Friendly is three years old. This is her fourth laying season. She is one of my best non-production type hens ( my Cinnamon Queens are truly queens at laying and my Cream Legbars are also very productive). I was feeding Purina Flock Raiser adding supplement to water in addition to oyster shell and grit and kitchen veggie and fruit scraps and it went on for a solid three months. She looked awful and she looked like she felt awful. After the molt it took her another month to start laying again. I want to keep a flock of her daughters. Her eggs are large and A + in beauty like she is. Friendly is the girl at the top of the stairs.

 

[EweSheep]

Lovely eggs and beautiful chickens!

Glad to be back in here after a long break!

 

[EweSheep]

I think it went downhill when the hatcheries started selling them.
Are you part of the FB group?

Most of the old breeders ARE on FB. We have a devoted group of Welsummer folks on there. Look us up if you want to learn more about the breed. BYC isn't what it used to be and I am not on here for a long time due to PETA/HSUS/radical pet groups overtaking some of the forums. We have someone new running the club since I retired from the old club and hopefully we can gain some new members so they can get some show points and get better Welsummers.

 

[EweSheep]

An update on Welsummers. 2 new additions today with 2 more possible.

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I will of course update pictures periodically. So far they are in the brooder and doing great.

Then this chick from my Welsummer rooster and my Ameraucana hen. Or maybe the hen was one of my Wyandottes.

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Perhaps my Welsummer X Ameraucana is this one.

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My other two that are Welsummer X Wyandotte are like that one they just don't have the puffy cheeks.

The top two chicks, they don't look like Welsummers, more like Welsummer crosses or hatchery stock red layers. I know it is several years old but what do they look like now as matured adults?

 

[Araucana Nest]

Any Welsummer breeders in Florida? I’m looking for a blue cockerel.

 

[yakitori]

Hi all! Has anyone had welsummer chicks that they thought were roos turn out to be pullets? Most of my recent bantam wellie hatch does not have a pronounced V or eyeliners, and I would like to confirm the probability of those being female before I give them away.

 

[HomesteadDeb]

The two on the left are Welsummers. They are supposed to be hens but I'm not sure yet, how can you tell at this age? They are 4 weeks old in the photo.

My welly roo was already starting to show his comb by this age, but he and my one hen also grew faster than my other chicks because they were housed with Turkeys and eating higher protein. This is him now at 18 wks with his hens and turkey friends.