The Welsummer Thread!!!!

[HHandbasket]

I would like to chime in here. I have a welsummer, Martha, and she is the sweetest bird in our flock.

Martha has been beset with a variety of health problems. She had something weird going on when she first came here (she was 6 weeks when we got her in May), and she was a "narcoleptic" chicken. She would just fall asleep in the middle of foraging. It was funny at first, but then she got weak and didn't eat well. We were going to cull her until a lady that works at a local feed store suggested we try giving her some antibiotics and said it could be a respiratory virus that chickens get. I bought the antibiotics, figured it was worth $4.99 to at least try to save this poor bird's life. Sure as the world she got better! A month later... fowl pox. More treatments and then some electrolytes & she got better. She has not had very good growth, is 29-30 weeks old now and still has no comb or wattles and is much smaller than the other flockmates that are the same age (different breeds, though... she's the only welsummer).

Several times, we have made the decision to cull this bird, but she's so sweet we couldn't bring ourselves to do it. And each time, she has recovered from her illnesses.

I don't know if we'll ever get eggs from her. The fowl pox was on the right side of her face & pretty much took out her right eye back in August. She eats well, gets around well, is playful and active and interactive with us and is the first one to run up to us when we come out into the yard. She clucks and is a happy bird, just is small and gangly. She eats like a pig but just doesn't get very big. We just keep her because we like her, and she's become DH's "baby". If she's ever unable to eat or walk or otherwise unable to fend for herself, we'd cull her if we had to. Maybe she'll get robust next year and be a prolific layer, but even if she doesn't, that's ok.

When we expand our flock, more wellies are definitely on our list. She has just been the sweetest, most mild-mannered bird from the very beginning, in spite of having had a lot of health challenges, which she continues to overcome and be a friendly, active member of the flock.

 

[EweSheep]

That is so sweet!

 

[pinkchick]

HH~

That is very sweet! Thousands of good karma points to you and your DH for taking such loving care of your beloved pet. Wellies are special that is for sure!!!

Welcome!

 

[SFIcelandics]

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Nate, I can just envision this scenario at your place!

I feel your pain, I feel your pain! I too am over 150 poultry and just spent some major time a couple of weeks ago moving and changing birds and pens, I hear ya!!!!! My question is after you caught one, how did you catch the other? I have gotten rather adept at the one handed chicken catch with the first one I caught up under my arm. My DH laughs like Santa Claus everytime he watches this event. Me chasing a bird with one bird tucked under my arm......DH thinks it's really funny when the area is a bit mucky after tons of rain. Somehow or another I usually end up wearing lots of that muck.

Best advice EVER!!?? Wait until they are asleep and take em off the perch and carry them to the new perch while they doze... can do 3-4 birds at once in your arms, or.... put em in a box and off you go. Never move a hen in daylight if you can help it,,,, then too, never say never

At this time of the year it dont bother me to move them at any time... I have shut all of my hens down from laying... I went from hatching 100+ eggs per week, to getting 0 eggs per week, once I start shutting them down on the laying, they usually stop within a few weeks.

I always shut them laying down for the winter, a true hen is only given so many eggs, so my theory is why have them lay in the winter up here in WI when I dont have a heated shed, and the eggs will just freeze anyways? So I give them a break from September/October thru January/February. Im going to move the Welsummers into the Brooder shed(as it stays VERY WARM with just a heat lamp) early this year, so I can get them a jump start on laying and me a jump start on hatching.

Nate

 

[flower]

Nate, Please tell me what you do when you "shut a hen down from laying". I wonder do you just keep them inside without any addition light ? I can understand why you would want to do this in the very cold weather with ice and snow. However I had never heard of anyone saying that they "shut them down".

 

[SFIcelandics]

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For the winter they do not get layer pellets, and I drop down their protein from 20% way down. they are still in the same suroundings, but just not given a high protien feed which is what they would need to lay. They are fed mostly a corn diet, for a few months, and then come january or so when I pull all the roosters and put them in their own pen, I start feeding the layer pellets to the hens again, which would put them into laying mode, and then once they start laying I start seperating the hens and put them with their correct roosters that would meet the standard.

I run everyone together for the winter, but come january or so, all of the roosters get half of the barn, and their own run, so none of the hens would be carrying sperm, and then when I am ready to start breeding they can be bred to the correct rooster in their own breeding pens. This year I think I have about 8-10 breeding pens planned, but that could go up when it comes time to start breeding and selecting who goes into what pen with which rooster(s) for breeding.

Nate

 

[Hens and Roos]

When you separate the chickens out for breeding do you have much of a problem between them once you run them all back together?

 

[SFIcelandics]

Quote:
Generally no. Once I seperate them everyone still gets along. I dont really put up with mean hens or roosters. I raise heritage breeds for a reason, and like them to be calm, and able to "mingle". If I have roosters that are rough or mean, they usually do not make the breeding cut. And right now I run everybody together. If they dont get along, they dont belong is my theory. Another thing I dont put up with are mean roosters towards people, if they attack, they get a chance or 2, then they are gone. In my opionion it is not worth breeding from those roosters, if you cant enjoy what you do, and should be able to do it without having to watch your back!

But of course you are still going to have your pecking order, and that is acceptable, as it usually goes on for a little bit, then it is over, but I never really have an issue with it, once again, why I raise the rare, calm, heritage breeds as well.

Nate

 

[Hens and Roos]

thanks for that information, I agree with you about mean chickens have no place in the flock-especially since our kids are invovled alot with the chickens for 4-H and our youngest is always wanting to hold them. Right now we did separate out the Andalusians to their own pen and have the incubator running for a test hatch, all the others are still either in the girl pen or the boy pen. The next challenge is to get the group of Partridge Cochins somewhere so we can run a test hatch with them too. All the current chcikens we have were hatched earlier this year so they are young.

 

[SFIcelandics]

Quote:
To run a test hatch or to even breed, you could put the cochins in their own are for a day or 2, and the roosters will breed the hens, and you will be given fertile eggs for quite a while. I was hatching chicks still for 4 weeks after I took the rooster out of the pen(just to see how long the hens can actually hold the sperm). And if you put the PC together once a week, that should be plenty enough for you to get fertile eggs!

Its amazing what nature has done for survival of animals.

Think about it: How often do you think that pheasants and other wild species breed? Maybe once or twice to make their clutch, as most pheasants and such are solitary animals, and do not hang out in flocks like turkeys. And they still manage to sit and hatch their eggs!