Welsummer

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Welsummer
Origin Category Egg Colour Sitter
The Netherlands Softfeather Light Brown No
7 Week old Welsummer pullet, immature eye colour. Photo by Josh Larios
Welsummer Hen

The Welsummer or Welsumer is a Dutch breed of domestic chicken. It originates in the small village of Welsum, in the eastern Netherlands. It was bred at the beginning of the twentieth century from local fowls of mixed origin: Rhode Island Reds, Barnevelders, Partridge Leghorns, Cochins, and Wyandottes. In 1922–23, steps were taken to fix a standard after the birds began to show a good deal of uniformity. The eggs were originally exported for the commercial egg trade. Some stock was exported to the United Kingdom, and the breed was added to the British Standard in 1930.

Welsumer hens are good layers of attractive brown eggs, average 160. Egg size and shell texture is excellent but shape is inclined to roundness. The males are usually first-rate breeders.

The Welsummer is the only non-sitter that is respectably heavy and lays a deep brown egg. In order to maintain the egg colour it must be cultivated and preserved. They are only a fair table bird but have a juicy flesh. Cockerels are inclined to be leggy and are slow to put on breast meat.

GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS

The appearance of the Welsummer is something midway between a Leghorn and a Rock and is one of the lighter of the heavy softfeather breeds. Comb is smallish and firm set - not heavy or lopping.

Three plumage colours are listed for the Welsumer by the Entente Européenne d’Aviculture et de Cuniculture, of which only one, Red Partridge, is recognised in the Netherlands.

THE COCK

Carriage: Upright, sprightly and alert.

Head: Skull fine, head symmetrical, well-balanced - fine without coarseness

Beak: Stout, strong, short, deep

Eyes: Large, keen in expression, bright and prominent. Highly placed in skull and prominent when viewed from front or back, pupils large and regular

Comb: Single, perfectly straight and erect, medium sized, evenly serrated, the spikes broad at their base, 5 to 7 serrations. Free from any twist or defect

Face: Smooth, of fine, silky texture. Free from wrinkles or overhanging eyebrows.

Earlobes: Moderately sized, equally matched in size and shape, smooth, open, and free from folds.

Wattles: Medium, fine, silky, close together.

Neck: Fairly long, profusely covered with hackle feathers.

Body: Well built on good constitutional lines. Body of good width and depth, wide at the shoulders, with a slight narrowing to the tail; round, broad and prominent breast; back sloping to the tail; moderately long wings carried well up close to the sides; moderately full tail at an angle of 40 to 45 degrees from the line of the back. The tail forms a graceful and uniform sweep.

Legs moderately long, not too long and stilty. Shanks fine and round and free of feathers. Toes (four) long, straight, and well spread. Thighs and shanks: strong and well apart.

Handling: Compact, firm.

Plumage: Tight, silky and waxy, free from excess or coarseness, silky at abdomen and free from bagginess at thighs.

THE HEN

Welsummers are a laying fowl and as such need a body equipped for consistent egg production. The body is broad, the breast plump, the keel deep and the abdomen capacious. Long breastbone and not drooping. The pelvic bones are fine and pliable as in other laying breeds such as the Australorp. The abdomen is flexible and pliable. The skin of the hen is of fine texture and free from coarseness. Her plumage is sleek and she is a fit, keen and active fowl.

The remaining characteristics are similar to those of the cock, allowing for the natural sexual differences.

COLOURS

In colour the most common variety of Welsummer is a hen-breeding partridge or black-red, the male having no hackle striping and a breast flecked with brown. A Silver Duckwing variety is also standardised in Australia.

Shanks and feet: Yellow

Comb, Face, Lobes, Wattles: Bright red

Eyes: Orange/Red

Beak: Yellow with horn colour

Partridge Male Plumage

Head: Rich golden brown. Hackles an even and rich golden brown without any black, however underpart may show a little striping.

Back, shoulders and wing bow: Brilliant reddish-brown. Wing coverts black with green gloss; primaries inner web black, outer web brown; secondaries, outer web brown, inner web black with brown peppering.

Tail: Black with beetle green sheen; coverts, upper black, lower black edged with brown.

Breast: Black with red mottling.

Belly and thigh fluff: black and red mottled.

Undercolour: Slate-grey.

Partridge Female Plumage

The Welsummer female should be a warm stippled-brown on top with chestnut breast.

Head: golden brown.

Neck Hackle: Rich golden brown or copper, the lower feathers with black striping and golden shaft.

Breast: Rich chestnut red extending downwards.

Back and wing bow: Reddish brown, each feather with a light shaft and the webbing stippled or peppered with black to give a partridge effect.

Wing bar: Chestnut brown; primaries: inner web black, outer brown; secondaries: outer web brown, coarsely stippled with black; inner web black, slightly peppered with brown.

Belly and thighs: Brown with ashy grey shading.

Tail: Black, outer feathers pencil patterned with brown.

Undercolour: Slate-grey

Silver Duckwing Male

Head, neck and hackles: white

Breast, black with white mottling.

Back, shoulder coverts and wing bow white.

Wing: primaries: inner web black, outer web white; secondaries: outer web white, inner web black with white peppering; Coverts: black with green sheen making the wing bar. Main tail: black with green sheen; coverts, black edged with white.

Belly and thigh fluff: black with white mottling.

Silver Duckwing Female

Head: silvery white.

Hackle: silvery white with lower feathers having black striping and white shaft.

Breast, salmon red or robin red.

Back and wing bow: silvery grey, each feather peppered with black, shaft showing pale. Wing bar: silvery grey; primaries: inner web black, outer web white; secondaries: outer web white with coarse black stippling, inner web: black with a touch of white peppering. Belly and thighs: silvery grey.

Tail: black, outer feathers pencilled with white.

DEFECTS

  • White in lobes
  • Lack of size
  • Narrow body
  • Coarse or wrong comb
  • Striped hackle in male
  • All black breast in male
  • Neck too light or contrasted to saddle
  • Squirrel tail
  • Too dark or shafty tops in females
  • Female breast too pale or mealy
  • Dusky legs
  • Any deformity

Also refer to Disqualifications

WEIGHTS

Male Standard: 2.75–3.25 kg

Male Bantam: to 1300 g

Female Standard: 2.0–2.5 kg

Female Bantam: to 1000 g

SOURCES

  • Feathered World 1937.
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