The Welsummer Thread!!!!

[EweSheep]

Sue, that little bantam is an OE I would guess but definately NOT a Welsummer!

 

[Happy Chooks]

Quote:
Moose always sings with the girls too. How is your little cockerel coming along?

 

[EweSheep]

My Wellies for most part are quiet. My Black Orp hen is the talker!

 

[pinkchick]

Kelly~ He is coming along nicely. He is sadly, but thankfully, the only Wellie chick that survived a bad sweep of Cocci that spread through my 6-12 week old chicks like wild fire recently. I hate Cocci. Everyone who survived are back on their feet doing great now...but I lost several young birds that I was growing out for each of my breeding flocks.
I switched the grow out pen to a pen that does not have a covered run space and I think that was my downfall. Normally they are in the grow out pen (which is now under reconstruction/remodel...hence having to use another coop and run) that has a covered run to keep younger birds out of predatory reach and where wild birds, tree squirrels cannot come in. Tree squirrels are not normally bothersome, nor do they usually visit the coop areas, but they do run and jump from limb to limb, tree to tree above the coop areas and runs.....so you know they must be scatting along their way. No way really to keep them free of wild stuff happening by or upon them.

I will try to catch an updated photo of him.

 

[Happy Chooks]

So sorry you lost so many birds Kim. When mine are laying again (2 broodies and one on strike), if you want more eggs, just let me know. I also have several pullets growing out that should be laying by fall.

 

[Hens and Roos]

I have a wellsummer cockerel and hen.The cockerels tail goes all the way over his back to his neck!!
I also have a tiny wellsummer colour one that is the size of a pidgeon. I am not sure if she is a wellsummer or not so I thought I would post a pic anyway. She sits on our knee to watch TV and goes to sleep x

the little one in the pictures looks like my DS(10)'s light brown bantam leghorn. Is she laying yet- should lay a small white egg. Very pretty

 

[suebgbr]

Peppa, the little bantam is at least 3 years old. She does lay tiny white eggs, about half the size of my other hens eggs.

I will get some outdoor photo's of my 'real' wellies. I ran out to take pics of them when I first joined and they were already put away. We have cats in the area and a few foxes. I lost my first 4 hens to a fox so now I am extra edgy.

 

[Tailfeathers]

I had to go back to 2009 to find the picture, but I had a light wellie similar to that... this chick came from Ideal Poultry. As it grew up it ended up colored like a Welsummer... well, sort of. It was never the same quality as a breeder bird.

I will apologize in advance if someone has already addressed the above. I haven't been to the thread in awhile and have many pages to get thru to get caught up but there is something in the above that stands out as a perfect example of something I've stated before and wanted to highlight here.

Notice the OP (uh, if memory serves, Diane??), says the chicks came from "Ideal Poultry". Most folks know that Ideal is a hatchery. Now this next point is not said to bash hatcheries but simply to highlight a fact and that is that most, if not all, hatcheries buy eggs from others to hatch and then sell the chicks. Therefore, if that is being done, the hatchery absolutely can NOT know what they are buying!

Most likely the chick is not a full Welsummer and therefore, as Robin stated, should not be bred and I would also agree that the siblings probably shouldn't either for risk of infecting the gene pool with a host of unknowns.

God Bless,

 

[faykokoWV]

Royce, I had posted that to show an example of a poorly bred welsummer. I agree, birds like that shouldn't be part of a breeding program. That's exactly why I sold that whole flock and got eggs from a good breeder (Nate)
I hope that by showing a picture like that others can learn what to avoid.

I had pointed out that the chick was from Ideal because the original poster was asking what lines might throw the odd light chicks.

Just wanted to clear that up so people didn't think I still had birds that were hatchery stock. Thanks to threads like this one, I've learned a lot since 2009!!

 

[Tailfeathers]

Kelly~ He is coming along nicely. He is sadly, but thankfully, the only Wellie chick that survived a bad sweep of Cocci that spread through my 6-12 week old chicks like wild fire recently. I hate Cocci. Everyone who survived are back on their feet doing great now...but I lost several young birds that I was growing out for each of my breeding flocks.
I switched the grow out pen to a pen that does not have a covered run space and I think that was my downfall. Normally they are in the grow out pen (which is now under reconstruction/remodel...hence having to use another coop and run) that has a covered run to keep younger birds out of predatory reach and where wild birds, tree squirrels cannot come in. Tree squirrels are not normally bothersome, nor do they usually visit the coop areas, but they do run and jump from limb to limb, tree to tree above the coop areas and runs.....so you know they must be scatting along their way. No way really to keep them free of wild stuff happening by or upon them.

I will try to catch an updated photo of him.

Kim, a couple quick things I learned about Coccidiosis. And these are things I've learned from my mistakes. Trust me, in the past, I had one year where I lost a ton of chicks to Cocci.

First, anytime you bring in chicks/birds from someplace else, you risk bringing in a different strain of Cocci than your birds have. Ergo, your birds get that strain and the other birds get your strain.

Second, the biggest preventative measure I've found that can be taken is to keep the litter DRY!! As you well know, that is a task much easier said than done here in the PacNW. But moist litter is just asking for a full blown Cocci epidemic.

Third, give the chicks Rooster Booster in their water from the time they are able to drink on their own (a couple days old) until about two months old or so at least. I'm convinced the vitamins and such help the bird's immune system and fight off the Coccidiosis.

Lastly, at the FIRST sign of Coccidiosis, treat all the birds with Amprolium in their water. I recommend this over Sulmet. One may wish to do a Google search on Sulmet and read the various things said. Recent evidence seems to suggest that it can be more harmful than successful. Amprolium is the active ingredient in "Medicated" Chick Starter which, btw, I suggest using from the start. I've not talked to anyone or seen anything negative about Amprolium and according to Purina, it won't harm the adult birds or show up in the eggs either if ingested.

Hope that helps and God Bless,