Welsummers

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Skinny rooster
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Welsummers

Post by Skinny rooster » Tue Oct 24, 2017 1:10 pm

My thoughts on Welsummer chickens. For the first time ever I raised Welsummers and I have to say I really liked this breed. I had it in my head that they were some type of fancy breed however I soon realized they are a very strong breed and smart like Barred Rocks or Rhode island reds. The chicks hatched at 21days not 20 like others. It was an impressive hatch, they pretty much smashed their way out all together in a matter of hours. I found the chicks strong and active with good appetites. I would say they need a lot of space. My friend got some from me and he can free range. He said that they foraged better than any other breed he got from me in the past. They grew well for me too, the only time I ran into trouble with them was usually my fault. I highly recommend having free choice food at all times, plenty of space (large pens) and if you can't get them out, have something for them to do like vegetables to pick at and things to fly up on. Otherwise you could end up with feather picking or certain birds being picked on. I sold them before they starting laying so I have no information about laying. The roosters are beautiful at five months. The chicks were different colours but I read so many conflicting comments regarding who is male and who is female that I waited to sex them. One other caution is some of the little hens have red combs at a young age, so red comb on a baby doesn't always mean rooster. After a few weeks it gets clear between the sexes. I recommend anyone thinking about getting some to go ahead and try this breed.
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WLLady
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Re: Welsummers

Post by WLLady » Thu Oct 26, 2017 8:39 am

I've been raising welsummers for several years (many?) now, and i love the breed! The males unfortunately on my line get HUGE combs, which tend to be a bit of an issue in the winter with frostbite, but the girls are spunky and great foragers. I am a little dismayed to see that somewhere someone crossed the lines with something carrying mahogany, while it gives a nice rich red colour to the birds, it is not the desired colour in the hen's chests (want salmony, not red!) so i've been trying to weed that out as it comes up. otherwise they're great dual purpose birds, a good dressed weight for eating and mine lay probably 3-5 eggs a week for the younger birds, tapering off to 2-4 a week by 3 years of age. extra large sized eggs from my birds, although i do think SOP is large, not extra large. they also lay speckled, darker brown eggs, not as dark as marans, but darker than other brown layers. One of my favorite breeds that i have.
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:giraffe: Pet quality wheaten/blue wheaten ameraucanas, welsummers, barred rocks, light brown leghorns; Projects on the go: rhodebars, welbars

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Re: Welsummers

Post by Skinny rooster » Fri Oct 27, 2017 12:36 pm

WLLady, my hens were a dull colour, I think I have pictures on my camera and will try to put them up later. I regret not getting pictures for the online show.
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Re: Welsummers

Post by Skinny rooster » Fri Oct 27, 2017 12:44 pm

Let's see if this works?
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IMG_20170924_155250.jpg
IMG_20170924_160033.jpg
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Re: Welsummers

Post by Skinny rooster » Fri Oct 27, 2017 12:47 pm

They're 4 months old here, not sure how true to form they were but I liked them.
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WLLady
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Re: Welsummers

Post by WLLady » Fri Oct 27, 2017 4:48 pm

So these are 3 of the kids off my lines-you can see the salmon breast on the girls, and the boy is the "cornflakes" rooster....these guys were only about 16 weeks old when i sold them on, but they're pretty much the colour of the parents - which i just realized i have absolutely no photos of them!
20160924_152650.jpg
welsummer.jpg
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please pardon the bronze and red slate turkeys photobombing the pics....the bronze girl had been sitting forever on her own eggs and they never hatched, so i threw a batch of welsummer eggs under her and they hatched beautifully, hopefully they didn't grow up thinking they were turkeys....
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:giraffe: Pet quality wheaten/blue wheaten ameraucanas, welsummers, barred rocks, light brown leghorns; Projects on the go: rhodebars, welbars

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Jaye
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Re: Welsummers

Post by Jaye » Fri Oct 27, 2017 6:30 pm

OMG, beautiful!
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Re: Welsummers

Post by Skinny rooster » Fri Oct 27, 2017 11:42 pm

Sorry my barn is dark, the colors are not showing up like your birds. I like the turkeys, they are as pretty as a turkey can get! Lol
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WLLady
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Re: Welsummers

Post by WLLady » Sat Oct 28, 2017 11:40 am

Both those turkeys are royal pains in the butt they are so friendly trying to do anything around them is almost impossible!!! I do love my wellies lol they are personable as all get out and the roosters are very good to the girls, protective when they need to be. I have started to establish welbars from this line (simply put barred rock x welsummer and a bunch of selected breedings) and thats when i discovered the mahogany in there when some of my silver welbars came out with descidedly red breasts....it does really bring out the colour in the feathers of the welsummers on the backs and wings, BUT....I suspect its from crossing into a marans somewhere to draken up eggs....just not sure....anyways, another project lol. I just flipped out my welsummer boy this year for a new spunky younger boy, we shall see what/how he does in the next generation of birds....
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:giraffe: Pet quality wheaten/blue wheaten ameraucanas, welsummers, barred rocks, light brown leghorns; Projects on the go: rhodebars, welbars

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Re: Welsummers

Post by Skinny rooster » Sat Oct 28, 2017 9:05 pm

WLLady wrote:
Sat Oct 28, 2017 11:40 am
Both those turkeys are royal pains in the butt they are so friendly trying to do anything around them is almost impossible!!! I do love my wellies lol they are personable as all get out and the roosters are very good to the girls, protective when they need to be. I have started to establish welbars from this line (simply put barred rock x welsummer and a bunch of selected breedings) and thats when i discovered the mahogany in there when some of my silver welbars came out with descidedly red breasts....it does really bring out the colour in the feathers of the welsummers on the backs and wings, BUT....I suspect its from crossing into a marans somewhere to draken up eggs....just not sure....anyways, another project lol. I just flipped out my welsummer boy this year for a new spunky younger boy, we shall see what/how he does in the next generation of birds....

Are royal pains turkeys related to royal Palm turkeys? Lol
roflmbo
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