I have been going though various hatcheries and deciding which breeds to buy, and I came across the beautiful Welsumers. I was wondering if any of you have them and what are they like? Cold hardy? calm? flighty?
sherry
bend in the high desert
oregon
USA
3775 Posts
Posted - Oct 15 2011 : 8:12:24 PM
yes they are here. we get to -10 and they do great. they are very pretty. as far as noise the quiet ones are sexlinks in my opinion. i have a welsumer rooster. he is very beautiful. happy days sherrye
the learn as we go silk purse farm farm girl #1014
Thank you so much Sherry! I am refurbishing an old horse trailer as a moveable coop am looking for the more cold tolerant types, because I live out in the rolling Palouse which is pretty much treeless in most places and the wind can really drive the snow deep and it's been getting colder in the winters lately. When I'm done fixing up the coop it'll be wind and storm tight and they'll have nice deep nest boxes, but I didn't want a chicken that just couldn't handle cold.
sherry
bend in the high desert
oregon
USA
3775 Posts
Posted - Oct 18 2011 : 07:01:08 AM
the horse trailer is a good idea. we used a irrigation trailer. it had shelves in it. we turned those into nest boxes. our girls like their new digs. happy days sherrye
the learn as we go silk purse farm farm girl #1014
love the welsummers but do watch for the purple black combs when it gets cold.....Increase the dried corn so they have to burn off the sugar & it warms them up.....my welsummer roo did fine up here in Massachusetts but I did increase the corn & watched his comb color......some days I had to leave them in the coop because the combs were purple & I didn't want them out in the cold to get frostbite....Michele'
I've read that if you coat their combs with Vaseline this protects them from the cold, but I don't know how true this is. I'm going to try and insulate the trailer some to keep it warmer in winter and cooler in summer and if all else fails, I'll put a little ceramic heater out their for them. It's worth it for the fresh eggs, meat and the company of chickens
Are Welsumer's Winter hardy?
Posted - Oct 15 2011 : 08:39:22 AM
