[Bev]

Ho ho ho

I have been thinking of adding 2 more hens to my flock of 3 Rhode Island Red x Light Sussex. Looking through my hen books I think Welsummers look really beautiful but more importantly the descriptions say they are docile, good with children etc which would suit us. Just wondered how your experiences are with them?

Also where can I get them from? I am based in Northamptonshire? I would prefer them to be vaccinated if possible?

Am I rightly advised that now is a good time to introduce them as they are asleep for such a long time during the day? Should I just pop them in the house with the others at dusk and leave them to it?

Also Buffy the Egg Slayer, who was heavily featured on the site earlier in the year has stopped laying now, I think, the last egg she produced was about the size of a blackbirds egg and had no shell and that was a few weeks ago so I think that is it. What are your thoughts - should she stay or should she go? I might ask my friend to show me how to do the deed if she is to go.

Look forward to your responces,

Bev

[Craig69]

Don't know what Wellsummers are like as i am still fairly new to keeping hens.
Just from reading posts on here & books , they say to keep them apart for a few weeks just incase any of the new birds have any illness.
Also keeping them in a seperate area,but so they can see eachother, so they can get used to eachother.
As for Buffy, what did you get her for? Eggs & meat?
I know people have different opinions but if i had her for eggs only then i would keep her & let her live out her days naturally!
It doesn't cost that much to feed her.
If it's because you want the space to replace, then why not see if someone can take her off you who isn't bothered about getting eggs from her, & has space.
 

[ehs284]

We have two Welsummers which we got from a fellow forum member not far from you. They have grown into beautiful birds, big, strong and lay medium sized very brown eggs. Despite their size they can be chased by others. Maybe this is because they were introduced after the others or maybe because they are generally a little timid - mind you, our monsters make the average human feel timid!
They are very friendly and like to chat, but are not keen on being picked up. Having said that, they will stand on your hand. Whether this makes them good for children, I don't know. We are pleased we got ours and wouldn't want to be without them.
Our experience with Black Rocks suggests that they are very good with children and don't object to being hugged by a sticky two year old. They are also superb friendly birds. HTH

[henamoured]

I have to say my welsummer is as far from child friendly as it's possible for a hen to get!
She's pretty aggressive towards the other birds and really objects to human contact. She was doing so much bullying in the spring I had to fit a beak bit .
I think with chx it's not so much breed as environment and the extent to which they've been exposed to gentle human contact.
I'd echo advice about quarantining new birds so they don't pass any illnesses to your existing flock. The stress of moving can weaken otherwise healthy new birds and isolating them will minimise extra stress of integrating with the existing birds until at least they're settled in their new surroundings.

[Helenaj]

I have a trio of Welsumers - Cockerel, two hens and they are great. The cockerel is really gentle and the girls docile, but they won't be bullied even by the Marans and can hold their own very well. Pictures really don't do them justice, they are beautiful birds. They can be very vocal though and happily spend the day squawking at everything. I would agree that they are not birds that like being handled, being content to do their own thing.
They are reliable egg layers - both mine are still laying even in this dreadful weather we've had.
If you've never introduced new birds before you must segregate them for at least a week to make sure that they are healthy. Being a newbie myself to keeping hens,earlier in the year I ignored that advice on here and ended up introducing Mycoplasma into my flock, which is a very serious, often fatal respiratory disease.
Once you are happy that your hens are healthy the best time to introduce them is at night time when they are sleeping - just place them on a perch. However, make sure that you are available to hang around in the morning when you let them out. Squabbles are going to happen whilst they re-sort their pecking order out, but you need to keep an eye out to make sure that the hens suffer no injury and are not bullied.

[TeaPots]

My welsummers were VERY friendly, the fox thought so too. I had Kelloggs, May, June, Julie, and Summer. They hated the cold though, and only laid when summer arrived, but made up for that by laying ENORMOUS, really dark,dark brown eggs. I still miss them.

I am trying to attach piccie of 'Summer'...she was head hen.

[Bev]

Awww! Thanks everyone!

OK Buffy can stay Craig69! Maybe she will start laying again in the spring who knows and I suppose we aren't short of space. She is a nice and very pretty hen and I really did not want to kill hre so your comments gave me a reason to be nice to her - thankyou.

One thought I had though is that I know that in the wild chickens live in 2's or 3's and I thought 5 chickens might seem not so natural. Maybe I should wait another year or 2 so that there is no overlap between batches of chickens?

I love your photo Teapots! I don't really need loads of eggs as they are just for us, (family of 4) really so I was thinking of helping to preserve one of the older pure breeds although I am not really looking to breed them myself yet, maybe in the future.

Thanks for the tips about seperating them, I thought I could just put them in and I haven't thought of a way to seperate them as yet but I will see what I can do.

Cheers and happy Christmas everyone! Have you got your chickens a Christmas present? Mine are having a lettuce!

Bev

[gibbo]

My first two hens where wellsummers Margo and Babs and I have found them to be very docile and friendly.  They now live with two legbars, Lucy and Lilly. They get on really well. Margo is the most tame but I handled her more than the others.  When ever i go into their pen the two wellsummers are the first to greet me and cluck away telling me what has happened that day.  If I should be cleaning the pen margo will jump up on my back!  Im looking forward the summer when I can spend more time with them without freezing!  So yes I think you should get some wellsummers, but the key to tame friendly hens whatever the breed is to handle them lots from an early age.
         

[stan deakin]

you wont go far wrong with welsummers great layers fo big brown eggs and a nice looking bird to , them are not hard to come by should pic some up easely

stan

[Maeve]

I have a very small flock of four: a Blackrock and a Wellsummer that I have had for over a year, and two Rhode Island Reds I acquired in October.  The Blackrock and the two RIRs are calm, friendly and are not in the least bit nervous of people or our Labradors.  The Wellsummer, however, despite repeated and persistent efforts on my part, has remained a nervous, skittish bird who will not come near anyone, even when there is corn on offer.  Her redeeming qualities are her beauty and the lovely slightly speckled eggs she lays.
Of course you may be lucky and acquire one that has charm as well as looks but I'm not sure the breed is noted for its easy handling.