Welsummer

I only have one Welsummer girl who I bought as a 8 month old pullet this winter, but I fell in love with her and her eggs and will be hatching more later this spring. She is neither overly friendly or overly skittish. She's calm when you are around but doesn't like to be picked up. She lays beautiful extra large sized eggs that are dark brown and speckled. She isn't the most prolific layer, laying about 4 eggs a week (but it's still early spring with snow on the ground so maybe that will pick up shortly). She gets along nicely with the rest of the flock and adjusted quickly when I moved her to my flock. She even kept laying right through the period I had her quarantined. All in all, she was a great addition to my flock.

I have had several Welsummers over the last 3 years. We free range our chickens. Welsummers are most likely to be taken by predators. They are beautiful and blend in with surroundings, but get too involved in foraging and predator can over take them. They lay beautiful eggs on a regular basis. Hens are ornery to other chickens and people if bothered on the nest. Roosters are aggressive and one rooster I tried to keep was a gorgeous guy, but got very mean and even attacked me with spurs when I was feeding-not provoked. Needless to say, he didn't last long. I will not have another Welsummer rooster and will be cycling out my hens eventually to another breed. They are all weather tolerant. I loved these chickens at first because of their color and eggs, but the rooster ruined me on them. There are a lot of other birds out their with better temperaments.

i'm looking to get a welsummer they look great so wish me luck

We have one Wellie named Pepper. She is quite comical. I will talk t her and she will cluck back. We call her Dr. Pepper for a nick-name. Love her, defiantly getting more next time.

Welsummers are awesome birds. I have found them to be friendly, beautiful, chickens. They lay pretty well and have awesomely coloured eggs.

I would recommend them to anybody.
Good luck!

In a group of 5 hens. To Rhode Island Red mixes, and 2 Cuckoo Marans. Introduced with the Marans when the roosters removed and Silkies add to coop. Welsummer at the bottom of the pecking order, often the hen left behind. When she gets separated from flock she gets quite vocal attempting to locate the ladies. Hardy and very active. Does not like being handled. Less afraid of the Newfoundland who could spend hours watching the birds.

I admit I didn't know much about Welsummer's when I got my chick from the clearence brooder of the feedstore. Here in the Pacific Nothwest, they don't seem to be as popular of a breed as Marans. Since I have had her for a year and a half, I can say she is definatly my favourite bird. My Welsummer is so friendly, anybody can pick her up and carry her like a baby. She does well with other chickens and who doesn't love those dark brown speckeled eggs. She is very pretty and just as naughty. She's often far too smart for her own good which means I have to take extra care to keep her out of my garden/vegatble basket. Cherry Tomato's have become her favourite. Though she doesn't get broody in the tradition sense, last night she slept in the nest box with my broody Maran. She even allowed the newly hatched chicks to sleep under her wing during the night. Her egg production is pretty good for not being a production breed. Unfortunatly, she starts molting in early September. This means egg production will be very spotty in October through November and will cease thorought December and January. When in peak laying season, she can easily compete with my Barred Rock when it comes to egg production. In my flock, she is the head chicken. She definately lets me know when a chicken is hogging the preferred nesting box - which my broody Maran does often.

My Welsummers are very good layers of beautifully speckled eggs. They have a gorgeous pattern to their feathers. My 2 girls - Ms. Crabby & Houdini are not the friendliest of the flock though. Ms. Crabby earned her name by being bossy and somewhat aggressive to her flock sisters initially. She is now 2 years old and has mellowed to the point where she will now allow me to touch her. Houdini was of a similar disposition, but not as pronounced. I would have Welsummers again simply because of the consistently high egg output. If I want friendly, cuddly chickens, these would not be it.

What's the difference between this and a Brown Leghorn?

I just can't say enough about how wonderful our Rooster was! Very sweet with the ladies, and very protective.
He would give me and the kids a wide birth, and was very respectful! We love our eggs, they are beautiful. We have had some
chicks, but had to put the fertilized eggs under our Blk Austrolop. I have never had one welsummer hen go broody yet! I have had one aggressive hen,
which is not common for this breed.
Great breed, and would recommend for anyone, with space for them to roam and forage. They do not like to be contained!

She is very calm and is neither on top of the pecking order or on the bottom. She likes to forage yet seems content in the run. As a chick, all she wanted was to be held- she would fly over the brooder wall, land on my lap and sleep. Now a young pullet, she doesn't mind being held, but no longer seeks me out. I look forward to her dark brown eggs. Good experience thus far.

Our Welsummers have not begun laying yet but we find they are very smart. On their first time outside they found the perfect spot in the pen to take dust baths and all 14 partook of the ritual. Once we let them outside for the first time over a month ago, they loved it and come out voluntarily each day. Our Marans. which are a few weeks older are not as friendly and much more flighty. Look forward to getting eggs since they are typically brown with dark speckles. Looking for another line so we can breed these and have a sustainable flock. We have 4 roos which 3 will be sold. We have picked our Cornelius already...biggest of the cockrels and very much liked by the pullets.

I love my welsummer hen stella. she was my first chicken and she is the best. she lays well, and she is soo freindly. (probably because she was raised by a class of kindergardeners) she forages well, and i had her free range all summer and she didnt need any feed although i did give her seeds and such every once in a while because she was eating things on my property all day. she is also a survivor. she was sharing the coop with four pullets when one night a raccoon dug under the wire. all four pullets were eaten, but stella, the survivor-survived. she also survived 3 nights in the deep woods of connecticut surrounded by a group of foxes. she his in a tree and we finally found her after shooing away a bunch of foxes. she is amazing. I don't know if i got lucky with her, but if she is the average welsummer, get a flock of them.

Love our Wellsummer Penny. She's about in the middle of the scale for friendliness: will eat out of my hand but does not like being picked up. Not aggressive with other hens, nor is she picked on. She goes broody once a year, and this year we slipped some fertile eggs under her. She's a great forager too, and eats all my slugs and snails. Good looking bird, but the best part are her lovely dark brown eggs!

Our Welsummer was an addition to an established flock and at first was picked on a lot. But now she's right at home. She is the least friendly of our birds (along with the Faverolle) and will escape into the front yard if given a chance, but lays GORGEOUS eggs. They are a dark red/brown with lovely speckles. I recommend this breed if you'd like to have some egg color variety, although it doesn't make the friendliest pet.

My Welsummer Hen is very friendly and is a very good layer of dark brown with speckled eggs. She also does very well in shows. She has won Best Welsummer out of Washington State and she is not even a breeder!

Mine 2 have been very reliable layers of lovely dark brown speckled eggs.

These are wonderful birds that are more sutible for free range of large areas (they don't mind confinment and the hens get along with others) since their somewhat flighty temperment is perfect for avoiding predators yet don't mind being held. They are a big help when it comes to taking care of pests. Their color is not only beautiful, but the plumage of the hens keeps them camouflaged and from being detected from hungry predators. The eggs are just as goregous as the birds are as well as big considering how small the Welsummer is!

Hands down my favorite of our breeds. I've heard of sometimes getting a nasty natured roo, but in the 4 years we've had them- not a one! Hens are good sized and very thrifty with their feed. Great consistant egg color and eggs. I can't say about hatchery birds, but from the lines I've got these are fantastic! If I had to only have one breed it'd be wellies.

Nice birds. Eggs started out dark and have now lightened, but the birds are going on 3 years old.