The Welsummer Thread!!!!

[Happy Chooks]

Welcome!

Is the run (20 sq feet) going to be big enough or should I expand it? I'm thinking of doubling it in size to 4x10 (40 sq ft)?
The rule of thumb is 4 square feet per bird in the coop and 10 square feet per bird in the run. This is for Large Fowl chickens, bantams are half that.

- If I do, in fact, have 2 roosters will it be a problem with just 3 hens?
2 roosters are too much for 3 hens. The hens will be overmated and stressed, which equals less eggs for you. Generally, you only need 1 rooster to 10 hens. I temporarily have 2 roosters in with 13 hens and some of the hens have bald heads. As soon as my new coop is finished, I'll be moving them around to accomodate better conditions for the hens.

- I've heard welsummer roosters are typically not mean - has that been others' experience?
Mine are nowhere near mean. My rooster is cautious, but friendly. (but not the cuddly type) I never have to worry about turning my back on him. My hens are pretty much the same, they are friendly and will eat out of my hand, but not the cuddly type. I prefer to call them independent.

 

[SFIcelandics]

Quote:
Funny thing! I have family down in OHIO and will be heading down there the 1st week of september I believe, grandpa is turning 80!

Next time you are up here, I hope you can stop by! With fall coming, and I added a bunch of new breeds, so pens are getting built, updated, birds moved around, so its been pretty busy - just mowed the whole chicken pasture yesterday and turned the donkey out on the lawn, he wasnt eating the weeds anyways!

Nate

 

[SFIcelandics]

Quote:
Your going to love them! I need to stop selling eggs so I can hatch out a bunch for me, im hoping to hatch out a bunch of them so I can go thru and pick out more nice hens to add to the flock, and some a couple new roosters. But I havent been able to keep any for myself with selling eggs and local orders for welsummers have been more this year, than last year by far! I planned on having my last hatch august 24th, but im getting 6-8 eggs per day, so i might have to do a hatch or 2 in september!

Nate

 

[pinkchick]

rfunger~
Welcome new Wellie Fan!!!!! They will steal your heart before you know it!!!


hens and roos~ Good luck with your eggs from Nate.....I'm sure you will be very happy. Nate has some WONDERFUL birds! Did you see the photos of the new babies that Ewesheep just got from him a couple pages back. They look very healthy and happy. Please keep us updated on your hatch.

 

[EweSheep]

Had a close call or warning from a predator early this morning. Not sure what it is but it was trying to dig under the crate where the mother and babies were at! Glad they were locked up TIGHT. No fence was torn off but I would be guessing it is either a cat or small dog but no pawprints can be found except for scratch marks. Cats are not much of diggers but it was in the front door, then tried to get under the crate.

Other than that, everyone is fine and no one seems to be worried about what was getting them early this morning.

The girls in the coop are doing fine, no losses or anything like that.

The eggs I get are now done and they are taking a well deserved break from laying since last part of January and hot weather really sap their energy. I had to give them some iced water. Today and tomorrow will be a little cooler and back into the heat wave again by Saturday.

 

[EweSheep]

Quote:
Welcome! We do have a Welsummer Club of North America on FB if you want to join us there! Otherwise in here would be just fine to keep in touch!

For the runs, double or tripling the size is a good idea. I've got my girls in a 4 x 7 coop, 16 foot by 8 foot run attached to it. I have had eight to 12 hens in there, all LF and BF, it was pushing a bit but mindful of how they acted.

I would prefer one roo for every five to eight girls a piece, up to 10 max. In your case, rehome the other roo.

Never had a Welsummer that is mean, you do not want to pass down to the offsprings. I'd rather have them be shy or aloof but never ever come after people or abusive to the hens.

 

[Hens and Roos]

pinkchick- we did see the cute baby pictures and my kids were even more excited for our eggs to show up! We will be putting the eggs into the incubator in a little while

and start the count down to hatch day-Aug 18th give or take a day. The hatches we have done so far all went a day early. Very nice looking eggs, it will be interesting to see how candling goes with how dark the eggs are.

We are also working on setting up a different coop arrangement-right now we have the girls only pen and the boys only pen because my DD was showing some of them at fair. We have 4 different different breeds plus some laying hens and a pair of mixed bantams(they are the odd couple). Is it better to keep them this way or should we set the new runs up by breed so that if our kids wish to hatch some eggs out next year for fair we don't have to remove birds from the established group?

 

[doublebow]

I asked a question earlier about the color of the eggs. Some seem to prefer speckles and some prefer solid. Is there a set standard?

 

[EweSheep]

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Nope, as long they are of terra cotta color, they should be fine! I'd prefer the solids.

If you get one that got any pink into it, I would cull her out.

 

[rfunger]

thanks for the responses to my Wellsummer newbie questions. So if I get rid of one rooster, would one rooster for 3 hens still be too much for the hens? Alternately, I could house the 2 roosters separately (would they get along?) or move 1 rooster and 1 hen to a separate coop. Thoughts?

Skip
Front Royal, VA