The Welsummer Thread!!!!

[imtrying]

i have a welsummer sitting on eggs right now.

 

[pickitfarm]

Do you have an older lead hen? Sometimes it is good to throw an aggressive hormone-driven teenage boy in with a much older Hen - she will teach him some manners, after beating the tar out of him...

Somehow that bad boy got out of the cage last night. The cage was in with our laying hens. My husband found him in the coop roosting with the ladies last night and left him. He thought if he got out of line with them they knew how to take care of him. He is still smaller then they are. He is back with his original crowd but DH is keeping an eye on him. He said he seems like he may be more than a handful. We will work with him to see if we can get him calmed down. He is definitely the lead cock. Of course we have a true leader of roos in The Colonel and they have not seen each other recently. I am afraid if we allowed them together, the Colonel will take care of him but not in a nice way. Colonel is a good protector of his hens and not aggressive to us, but with a cock like Cornelius, I don't know.

 

[OohLaLa]

Well there you go I had no idea. I thought they were just a really great way to keep the eggs in date order.

 

[Happy Chooks]

Welsummers are not a broody breed, but I have 1 welsummer that has been broody twice. (Last year and this year) She is an excellent mother and is currently raising 2 babies.

 

[EweSheep]

after seeing yours - I bought a skelter (or 2) of my own - I love it!!

Hey, I didn't see any when I visited your house! I bet they are wonderful. I was hoping for a USA manufactor to make some for us!

 

[faykokoWV]

Hey, I didn't see any when I visited your house! I bet they are wonderful. I was hoping for a USA manufactor to make some for us!

yeah, I just bought them after seeing Happychooks and getting jealous - bought it from Manna Pro

 

[preciouskitty]

Hey, I didn't see any when I visited your house! I bet they are wonderful. I was hoping for a USA manufactor to make some for us!

There are a few US options:

FARMCurious
http://www.farmcurious.com/red-egg-skelter/

MannaPro
http://www.mannapro.com/products/poultry/the-egg-skelter/

The UK one seems to have a nicer variety of colors to choose from (& I saw several other UK mfgs besides this one, but assumed this is the "original")
http://www.egg-skelter.co.uk/

Price diffs not huge; but didn't compare S&H.

These are cool. Never seen this before til this thread. I am new to chickens.

Think I will put on XMAS list (which means I will buy it tomorrow, tell my mom she's done with one thing for me; just like I did with my All American canner last September!)

 

[Felix1]

Has anyone had any experience with Wels from Chicken Scratch Poultry in IL?

 

[imtrying]

they have whitmore farms stock (william morrow) - - which i'm sure you know. i don't know what, and how, they have done with his line - - in fact, i was just searching the other day for people who'd purchased their welsummers. couldn't find a single one.

 

[faykokoWV]

Has anyone had any experience with Wels from Chicken Scratch Poultry in IL?

if you're unsure, my advice would be to ask lots of questions of the breeder - what are their breeder stock selection criteria, how many generations have they had the birds, what known faults are present in the birds, do they have pictures of their flock etc.