The Welsummer Thread!!!!

[faykokoWV]

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Glad to hear you're on a better path now!!

 

[tazcat70]

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That is wonderful news! Congrats!

 

[vanalpaca]

And the picture of your Calicowoods hen which you said was special to you is ????

Yep, now I'm going to Chickenstock, too.

Looks like I will have mostly barber/calicowoods line bird and hoping this next hatch goes well this coming week. Harold has some Whitmore birds which should help balance out the flock as well. The wing feathering on my current two batches of chicks 6 from Michael in TN and 2 for Amanda in AL are distinctly different and I don't think it is a boy girl thing, I think it is a line thing.

I have eggs in the bator from Iowa and from North Carolina for next weeks hatch of Wellies.

Will have to get the camera out and see if I can get a shot that shows it well on the current brooder chicks.

My TSC pullets are missing all their buddies. They have too much room now in the basement and are all standing there waiting for me at the entrance/door when they hear me coming down to check on them. They have food and water aplenty so I guess they are just missing the rest of the crowd.

Got 15 eating eggs out from under that broody hen and she has the 7 fertile eggs left that she is supposed to be brooding. She's doing good work. I only got pecked a little and it doesn't hurt anymore. Her chicks should pop on Sunday (Wellies from Shane) Wanted to make sure I had the incubator backed up and still get some wellies to hatch out!! Shane's were Grisham/Hall and a Calicowoods and were crossed with a rooster from a Kansas breeder that worked with his birds. So it is all interesting to see what I will get and how they compare to everything else.

I'm really keen on Opa's chicks and Harold's eggs!

Happy here!
Bonnie

 

[rsquared]

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Bonnie, sounds like you are going full tilt w/ the Wellies....you go girl. Just a quick word learned from a very bad experience here, back in my early chicken days, make sure you have the fertile,hatching eggs under your broody marked with a Sharpie!!! IMHO

Hard lesson very well learned here Yes, you will have folks who say no sharpies, but under a hot sweaty hen the pencil markings rub off. The rest of this story I'm sure you can surmise.

 

[faykokoWV]

Ugh, picturing frying up some eggs for breakfast and cracking an embryo into the pan

 

[vanalpaca]

No problem, they are WELLLIE EGGS that are fertile and even the barneveldar doesn't lay them that dark or spotted or LARGE. The barnie hen actually lays a distinctly rounded egg and it is hard to tell which end is supposed to be the pointy end. The Lt Sussex hens lay a light brown egg. So no way would I eat the Fertile Wellie Eggs as they are the darkest ones in that area.

I also candled all the barnie eggs just to make sure (Convenient light bulb!)

I did mark them with a green marker and pencil and the marker has mostly worn off under that sweaty hen. Most of the eggs are from Iowa and the one from NC will have to be pulled Sunday and put in the bator to hatch as I'm sure by then the hen will take her chicks and leave the nest as she won't do a 'staggered hatch'. The fertile eggs look like 80% will have chicks in them, one of them was kinda cold compared to the rest, so we will see. This is what makes raising chickens so much fun!

Next time will definitely use the sharpie in BLACK! I used a green one.....

I always crack my eggs into a separate dish before adding them to whatever I am cooking. Yes, Dad's early training in the kitchen is still with me, even though it is an extra dish to wash. Sometimes you break the yolk and you are dividing whites and don't want any yolk in it, so this method works. The barnie has also been laying a bit of 'colored stuff' in her eggs as well, and I like to trim that out before using them.

 

[tazcat70]

Mine didn't get in the frying pan, but it did make it to the fridge. Poor thing. Now, I too, use sharpies.

 

[tazcat70]

Double post

 

[vanalpaca]

When in doubt, candle!!!

I got marked eggs with the hens because the Sussex was sitting at the time, but she didn't last with the move and those eggs never hatched before she got off of them. The Wyandotte is sitting much tighter and wider on those eggs and isn't off them for too long.

I was checking 6 times a day and not catching her off the nest. But those eggs are dark and kinda heavy compared to the fresh eggs.

 

[EweSheep]

Yes Bonnie, that Calicowoods hen is special to me and lays speckless (or very very tiny speckles if you have to use a microscope)