The Welsummer Thread!!!!

[EweSheep]

Yahooooooooooo! One of my bantam Wellie girl laid her first egg, it is a little darker than the egg shell she came from! I hope to get some fertile eggs out of the lot!

Let's hope for the best!

If I get enough eggs, I do not know if I want to incubate them or not because hubby does not want any chicks down the basement. maybe I need to find someone closer to me and I can pay them for the upkeep of hatching out more eggs.

Or sell them on BYC?

 

[Cloverleaf Farm]

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Congratulations!!!!!!!!!!

 

[pinkchick]

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Congratulations!!!!!!!!!!

CoNgRaTuLaTiOns!!!!!!!!!!!

Tough decision.....what to do.....what to do?!?!?!
Maybe find someone close to incubate for you and then later if you decide to incubate some or sell some go for it!

 

[pinkchick]

Eggs didn't come yesterday

so it should be today, I swear I'm not going to be able to stand it.

 

[Cloverleaf Farm]

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Kim, are you going to be growing everything out to see what you end up with before selling the culls, or might you have a couple of chicks available sometime in the near future??

 

[Lensters]

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Kim, are you going to be growing everything out to see what you end up with before selling the culls, or might you have a couple of chicks available sometime in the near future??

If Kim doesn't have extras, I have Welsummer chicks available from hens which came from her's and bargain's stock with roos from a breeder in Southern Oregon. I'm not trying to steal any of Kim's sales because I'm pretty sure she doesn't have extras after losing most of her flock to a neighbor's dog.

Len Harold

 

[chickinlickin]

Howdy you wellie lovers....

I'm a small time chicken newbie, although my brother has had them for 15 or 20 years and along with this web site, has helped me along...I've had 10 random pullets since June (BR, RIR, Delaware, blue Wyandot and BO).... and want to add 4-6 more this spring... and of course, I'm trying to figure out what I want.....and I think for my money, the Welsummer is just about the most atractive chicken out there. Can someone compare the personality of a Wellie with any of the breeds that I currently have?....I really like the BR's and Delawares that I have and wonder how a Welsummer may compare.

Also, is there a hatchery that may offer better examples than others? Or should I just stay away from hatchery chicks?....I'm in northwest Ohio, any breeders nearby?.....There is a little local hatchery that will offer Welsummers for the first time this spring. I don't know where they get their eggs, but it is only about 15 miles from here.....Is there a difference in egg production between hatchery stock and breeder stock?....

I am not interested in breeding right now, but want to experience some breeds that I'm interested in...and maybe at some point start breeding and hatching some.

Sorry for all the questions and thanks for the help...

 

[IggiMom]

Estes Hatchery is supposed to have nice Welsummers that they got from a breeder who went out of business. That is who I got my Wellies from. I have been happy with them so far.

I like the Wellsummers, but Rhode Island Reds will probably always be my favorite bird, with Buff Orpingtons running a close second. The RIR's lay more eggs and eat less.

Catherine

 

[IggiMom]

After I sent that, I thought that perhaps I wasn't as enthusiastic as I really feel about the Welsummers. I do like them, and will probably always have some, because they lay those nice dark brown and speckled eggs.

And my Welsummer Roo is, so far, very gentle.

Catherine

 

[Lensters]

No problem chickinlickin, the people on this thread love to talk about Wellies. Right now I have breeder flocks of Wellies, BRs, RIRs, RIWs, Dels, Marans and EEs. I have had BOs in the past and of course I make red sexlinks and black sexlinks for the Spring market. My favorite breed is the Wellies, the roos never give me a problem other than they like to start all the roosters in the barn crowing when anyone other than me enters the barn. The only problem I have with hens is one of them tries to preen my pant legs when I go in their pen, so she is always underfoot. The Wellies are a lot less aggressive towards other birds than most breeds, similar to my Dels and BOs, the opposite of my mean BRs and Marans. They tend to be pretty friendly towards people like Dels and RIWs, the opposite of my EEs and Marans. They aren't going to match the egg production of BRs, RIRs, RIWs, BOs or Dels but they will match the EEs and beat the Marans. I would say the prettier the egg, the longer it takes to make it but I like the Wellie eggs better than the Marans. Also every line of bird has different personalities so they will vary between different breeders and hatcheries.

I have only placed one hatchery order in my time raising chickens and that was for some RIWs. They weren't too bad but they weren't the quality that I'm going to use in my breeding program. Most big hatcheries have contract breeders for the rarer birds so you are doing the right thing by asking about people's experiences. You can good birds from some hatcheries if you do your research and spend a little money. I'd put a plug in for my birds but I'm not NPIP certified yet so I can't ship to you.

I need to finish the barn so that I can prove bio-security before I request inspection and testing.