The Welsummer Thread!!!!

[pinkchick]

Quote:
Lovely pullet Len! She looks like she will have some nice substance about her when she matures. I love her super bright feathers. How old is she... about 3 mos??
Nice photos by the way.....you see that look that little miss is giving you in the second photo.......that is the look I give my kids when they ask me for $$ or a ride.

 

[pinkchick]

Cynthia~
Congrats on the Wellies! One of each is great! Sorry about your hatch. You know next time the power goes out and your incubating, you can put a bottle of the hottest water you can in there to help out. I wrap my bators with towels or a small blanket if I can and I am home during the outage, I make sure to leave at least one vent hole open as well.

 

[pinkchick]

One of my Erhard pullets layed an egg yesterday!!! Egg color was a little lighter than I had hoped for but it was decent and who knows maybe they will darken up a little after she matures a little more. She will be 5 mos. old the beginning of next week, little early bird.

 

[Goose and Fig]

I've got my first broody wellie! Their coop is right next to the cochin house- must be contagious

I was out of town for a few days and had the neighbors taking care of the birds. I came back to another cochin sitting on all wellie eggs, and the wellie hen sitting on all EE eggs. This will be the first hatch since I took 2 roos out of the breeding program- hoping for a better boy/girl ratio this time

 

[flower]

How exciting ! Everyone's Wellies are so pretty and Broody even. POOR POOR EWE Her Girl's are very stubborn and refuse to sit for her.

ZPinkChick, I agree with your comment about Lenster's second shot of pullet. Certainly does look coy and pleading for a favor or at least some kind of attention. And congrats on your little hen's first production. Can't wait for mine to start laying. I did see one exploring the boxes.

HappyMountain's post is very funny. Maybe EWE needs to borrow a broody to teach her Girls what to do ! ha ha

Dinahmoe, I think that your rooster is very handsome !

 

[IggiMom]

Don't trust her. I have had a few broody Wellies, and inevitably they lose interest in a week or so.

I have a few Silkies and they are incredibly reliable broodies.

Just sayin...

Catherine

 

[EweSheep]

My Wellie girl is broody but wants nothing to do with Nate's chicks. The black Orp momma and her went broody roughly a week apart and stayed broody for over a month and a week before Nate's chicks came.

So to this day, she is still broody. I am going to have to do something to knock off the broodiness. I already cut out one Amercuana banty mom (second time failure as a mom, so she is never going to be caring for chicks anymore) and there is next year, we can try again if the Wellie broods again. They are not typically broody breed but once in a great while you will find one. The other Wellie girl, her sister, is NOT. And my LF Welsummer, Spring, is already four years old, never had any inking for being broody but lays an egg on top of the broodies.

My black Orp bantam girl, she is a proven mom and I trust her. This will be her second time being a mom caring for her chicks. She went broody on me twice this year. So hopefully no more broodiness for the rest of the year.

Pinkchick, is your Wellie that just laid is a bantam or LF? If it is LF, they should have been darker or terra cotta color. If it is a bantam, light brown is all they will get at this point until we work on egg color without sacificing the type, conformation and disposition of the Welsummers.

 

[EweSheep]

Quote:
Ive got one that is already a month and half along being broody LOL!

Something tells me certain lines have them. With this one, she is from the Lowell Barber lines with Calicowoods lines. I do remember a post from someone that they owned Barber females and they went broody and raised chicks successfully.

With this broody Wellie, I dont trust her yet, she rejected Nate's chicks so I am going to wait until next year when the Black Orp gets broody again, in case the Wellie rejects for the second time, the Orp momma would take them in a heartbeat. I only give the broodies two chances, either they will accept them or not. If not, they are just egg layers, nothing more or breeding hens but no raising/mothering the chicks time.

 

[pinkchick]

Ewe~ They are LF, it is a terra cotta color just a little lighter than I expected, several of the eggs I got from him were a good color and a couple were lighter, so she could have been from one of the lighter ones perhaps. I am not too terribly concerned with that, I purchased them solely to add new blood into my birds and she is a very nice bird.

 

[ruth]

Hi All - it's been a long time since I've posted on this thread but my Welsummers, from Whitmore Farm, all grew up and are laying like crazy. I've got little Welsummers running all over the farm.

I love the variety of egg color I get - varies from day to day - sometimes solid - sometimes speckled - sometimes dark - sometimes light. Everyone's favorite seem to be the speckled:

My second generation chicks - still free ranging the farm.

I've put what I think of as my "best" roo in a breeding pen with a dozen hens and I'm drowning in eggs. I've put huge batches in the bator and they all hatch so I've been selling chicks locally and have dozens of them running around here. I've listed an auction so if anyone needs Welsummers (chicks or eggs) I'd be happy to provide. I get broodies that won't get off the nest and find they, and my Marans, are my broodiest breeds.