The Welsummer Thread!!!!

[pinkchick]

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Nice Boy!!!!!!

 

[Happy Chooks]

A handsome boy you have there Opa!

 

[Wildflower_VA]

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Hi!

I've had Wellies for 4 years now and not had a broody Wellie until this year....fact, 2 of them went broody this year. The first one I let sit on some eggs but she was not too diligent about sitting, so I gave her some 3 week old chicks that I had, she did great raising them. I no sooner put her back in the Welsummer pen and her sister went broody. I didn't have the patience to try the second broody out for size so I stuck her in with a juvenile pen full of 3 mos old birds....all fixed, no more broody.

One of the reasons that I was attracted to Wellies was because they weren't suppose to be prone to going broody, I let the one try it to see if she would be a good mom and she was but I don't want to breed this trait forward so I will break any of them from it if they do it again.

This is bad news to me. I am homesteading the old-fashioned way, and don't want to get caught up in incubating eggs. I want a mama hen that does what comes naturally to hatch and raise chicks. To me, preserving the rare heritage breeds of birds includes allowing them to breed like they did back in the day. To me, breeding out any natural traits and instincts is what the hatcheries do and the reason the true rare breeds are now in danger of becoming extinct.

I know the breeder that I am getting my chicks from uses an incubator, so I am a little concerned that broodiness has been bred out of his stock. I will be encouraging broodiness in my hens.

 

[havinfun]

thought welsumer were breed not to be broody
that is why i got them
that an the egg color

have a ? have wellies from 4 different breeds
and i see some have white legs
i thought they were supose to have yellow legs
do i cull all white legs and just breed the yellow leg

and one line i got the moms have spurs
so do i not breed from these
i am trying to breed to standard

thanks in advance for the help

 

[topknot19]

Thanks for the rplies about broody wellies!

So, it does appear to be unusual to have all three of mine exhibiting broodiness at once. My family is due to vacation soon, so I am going to try to break the broody hens. Failing that, I will let them have a few eggs to start while we are gone.

Cheers, Topknot19

 

[Opa]

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If broodiness is an important trait then I would suggest that you not bother with Welsummers. I've never had one go broody.
Birds that are considered rare heritage breeds aren't that way because of hatcheries breeding the broodiness out of them. Market influence is the driving factor for the decline of many breeds. Many breeds never were broody. The individuals that established the breed did so by selecting only the birds that had the characteristics they wanted, often didn't want a bird that would lose egg production during to broodiness. It to generations to fix the traits they were looking for in a bird and to reverse the lack of broodiness well take many many generations as well.

A large percentage of the so called heritage breeds were developed using incubators. If there is a breed that you really like but is not known for broodiness then I would suggest getting a couple of hens of a breed that is extremely prone to being broody as use them as surrogate mothers.

 

[Hens and Roos]

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If broodiness is an important trait then I would suggest that you not bother with Welsummers. I've never had one go broody.
Birds that are considered rare heritage breeds aren't that way because of hatcheries breeding the broodiness out of them. Market influence is the driving factor for the decline of many breeds. Many breeds never were broody. The individuals that established the breed did so by selecting only the birds that had the characteristics they wanted, often didn't want a bird that would lose egg production during to broodiness. It to generations to fix the traits they were looking for in a bird and to reverse the lack of broodiness well take many many generations as well.

A large percentage of the so called heritage breeds were developed using incubators. If there is a breed that you really like but is not known for broodiness then I would suggest getting a couple of hens of a breed that is extremely prone to being broody as use them as surrogate mothers.

We have some Partridge Bantam Cochins that are always trying to sit on eggs and are suppose to be good broodies from what we have heard- they don't lay alot of eggs each week either but are DS(9)'s for 4-H. Our Welsummer girls have no interest in sitting and are very good layers.

BTW- Opa very nice rooster you posted.

 

[EweSheep]

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Havinfun, Wellies are not known to be of a broody breed, however there ARE exceptions that they CAN brood but terrible mothers. I think we see that often that they would brood but kill their chicks or rejected them totally.

White legs should NOT be in the breed. However if the Wellie HAD yellow legs and by the time she started laying, she should be of bleachy yellow because of the nutrients being pulled away from her body to produce eggs. My Calicowoods hen looked like she had white legs by the pictures but bleachy yellow. She did have a medium yellow as a youngster. If the chick remained to have white legs thru their lives, time to cull it to the Olive Egger project or eat them yourselves.

Spurs are getting common in the older females. I've got one that is 4 and half years old, got some spur nubs. The rest of my Wellies do not.

Nice pic of your Roo, Opa. Could you show us the side view of his head to see what kind of comb he got? I don't know if it has been frost bitten or "weird beefy" combs.....he is sure handsome tho!

 

[NCSprout]

okay, I wanted to post a few picks of my roo for a little critique. He is a little over a year old from Grisham lines via a BYC member.
any and all feedback is appreciated.

 

[vanalpaca]

No feather stubs on legs--GOOD

Needs a few red/brown feathers on the chest? Up to 20% is better?

Like the shorter looking wattles...

He's a pretty roo. But I am new and don't know.

How old is he and how big is he?

(I now have a Calicowoods chick in the brooder plus two from the downline and I heard cheeping under the broody hen!!!) So maybe I'll have 4 new wellie chicks. These would be Shane's birds!)

Cheers all, lockdown is driving me nuts. Ambient house temps are 80%, bator is up to 85%.

Any advice on timing for setting eggs for successful staggered hatches. Every 3 days is too close apart. Are you getting
more success hatching by setting eggs like 5 days or 7 days apart? I have a larger 'bator coming in and don't want to be losing chicks from opening the bator to get chicks out and shrinkwrapping every one else.