July 15, 2012

Named after the Dutch town of Welsum, the Welsummer has only one officially recognized variety; the red partridge.

The Welsummer is a productive egg layer, however you couldn’t tell by looking at it. It is small, with hens weighing as little as 6 lbs. It lays large dark brown eggs, that are often speckled with tan. The hens get broody and this breed is hardy to cold climates.

While the hens appear relatively plain-jane, what really makes the Welsummer chickens notable is the beauty of the roosters. The Welsummer rooster has a deep rust orange body with black bars on its wings. The tail is also black with the iridescent green that is shared with the bars. Its cackle is an orange one shade brighter than the body and it has bright red wattles, earlobes, and comb. The beak and skin are yellow.

If that image is bringing you back to some fond memories of breakfast as a child, it wasn’t the eggs: This is purportedly the rooster that featured on the Kellogg’s  Corn Flakes box for years before he was turned completely green.

The Welsummer breed is known to tolerate confinement relatively well, making the roosters perfect candidates for going to fair and getting you a prize ribbon. The Welsummer rooster has historically been a formidable show bird because of its beauty and typically friendly demeanor.