Winter care for the Welsummers

During winter months chickens need a shelter that keeps them out of the wind and that is free of drafts. It also shouldn’t be damp. Manure contains a lot of water, and in the winter, when  the coop is closed up, this can make the air unhealthy and the hens prone to respiratory illness. I keep my coops shoveled out monthly and bedded with fresh hay that I grow out in my fields. Also, good ventilation is a must – it’s best to have vents high near the roof. The wind chill comes from the north so I try to keep the roosting area away from that cold wind. Remember also that grown chickens do not need heat lamps. The reason being that it’s not good for them to go from one extreme temperature to another. They need to huddle on the roost with each other to stay warm at night.  A healthy bird has enough body fat and feathers to keep it warm on its own. If a bird has adapted to a heater it will surely suffer when the heater is gone. I like to condition my birds to tolerate the weather extremes here in Texas naturally. Welsummers also tend to be cold-hardy anyways. If you have a rooster with a large comb be sure to slather on some vaseline if you know the temperature is going to drop. When your chickens know that you love and respect them, they will want to be with you as well as enjoying themselves on their own. 

Six Principles of Breeding

Carefully selected breeding pen of Welsummers

1. The breeder should know the purpose of the breeding and the standard to which the birds are to be bred. It may be for size, weight, egg production, meat quality or combination of these factors. For example, poorly bred hens are often voracious feeders, but because they are not bred for egg production, they do not lay correspondingly large number of eggs. The efficiency of conversion of feed into the eggs is an inherited trait and can only be reproduced in the succeeding generations by careful selection and breeding.

2. Breeding should be done from parents which conform as closely as possible to their breed in standard of perfection.

3. In selection and mating, all the birds which do not possess the desired standards should be culled.

4. For a successful breeding, selection must be practiced continuously and carefully, from the hatching to maturity.

5. Environment plays an important part in breeding. So a favorable condition should be created in respect of housing, feeding, sanitation and general care.

6. Pedigree breeding is an important practice wherein efficiency of matings can be measured and the selection and mating operations modified to ensure improvement. This is only possible with well-established plans that require a lot of expertise, accurate mating and breeding rewards.