Silver Duck wing Welsummer Large Fowl
Updated: 13/02/2018
Welsummer Breed Standard
Origin: Holland
Eggs: Terracotta
Weight: Large Fowl: Cock 7 lb, Cockerel 6 lb, Hen 6 lb, Pullet 4.25 to 51b.
These weights should be taken as minimum Standards.
Bantam: Available in bantam
Colours: Partridge, Silver Duckwing, non standard Gold duckwing
About
The Welsummer is probably best recognised as the ‘Kellogg’s rooster’. The cockerels have the classic black and red-gold farmyard colours with bright yellow legs. The birds have an even, calm temperament and are great foragers. The hens also lay plenty of rich, terracotta brown eggs. The breed is hardy and economical, given opportunity they will get a lot of their diet as forage. The hens do not go broody easily, so their laying season is quite long. A Welsummer hen will lay around 200 terracotta brown eggs in a season.
Features
Calm and easy to handle
Good layers of dark brown eggs
Hardy
Great forager
The breed was developed in the town of Welsum in Holland and first accepted into British poultry standards in 1930. Its large ‘flowerpot brown’ eggs were an instant hit. The eggs were so brown that many thought the colour was faked. Judges in Holland mark the birds on indications of productiveness as well as looks, so that laying merits can be combined with beauty to create a strong utility breed.
UK Breed Standard
The Welsummer has a red face with single comb. The eyes should be red and legs bright yellow. Feather colouring is wild-type golden partridge, so hens and cocks are different patterns.
The cock should have rich golden-brown head and neck hackles and red-brown back, shoulders and wing bows. The breast and thighs should be black with red mottling. The tail should be black with a beetle-green sheen.
The hen should have a golden-brown head and neck hackles, with black striping in the lower hackles. The breast should be a rich chestnut-brown. The body and wings should be reddish-brown with black stippling and the inner tail feathers should be black.
The Welsummer is also standardised in silver duck wing
General Characteristics Male:
Carriage
Upright, alert and active.
Type: Body well built on good constitutional lines. Back broad and long. Breast full, well rounded and broad. Wings moderately long, carried closely to the sides. Tail fairly large and full, carried high, but not squirrel. Abdomen long, deep and wide.
HEAD: Symmetrical, well balanced, of fine quality without coarseness, excess or exaggeration. Skull refined, especially at back. Beak strong, short and deep. Eyes keen in expression, bold, full, highly placed in skull and standing out prominently when viewed from front or back; pupils large and free from defective shape. Comb single, of medium size, firm, upright, free from any twists or excess around nostrils, clear of nostrils and of fine, silky texture, five to seven broad and even serrations, the back following closely but not touching the line of the skull and neck. Face smooth, open and of silky texture, free from wrinkles or surfeit of flesh and without overhanging eyebrows. Ear lobes small and almond shaped. Wattles of medium size, fine and silky texture and close together.
NECK: Fairly long, slender at top but finishing with abundant hackle.
LEGS and FEET: Thighs to show clear of body without loss of breast. Shanks of medium length, medium bone and well set apart, free from feathers and with soft pliable sinews, free from coarseness. Toes, four, long, straight and well spread out, back toe to follow in straight line, free from feathers between toes.
PLUMAGE: Tight, silky and waxy, free from excess or coarseness, silky at abdomen and free from bagginess at thighs.
HANDLING: Compact, firm and neat bone throughout.
Plumage: Silver Duck wing Male
Head, neck and hackles white. Breast, black with white mottling. Back, shoulder coverts and wing bow white. Wing primaries, flight feathers (out of sight as wings closed), inner web black, outer web white; secondary's, outer web white, inner web black, with white peppering, coverts black with green sheen forming a broad bar across primaries. Main tail black with beetle green sheen; coverts, upper black, lower black, edged with white. Abdominal and thigh fluff, black with white mottling.
Plumage: Silver Duck wing Female Head and skull, silvery white. Hackle, silvery white and lower feathers with black striping and white shaft. Breast, salmon red or robin red. Back and wing bow, silvery grey, each feather stippled or peppered with black specks (i.e. partridge marking), shaft of feather showing light and very distinct. Wing bar, silvery grey; primaries, inner web black, outer web white; secondary's, outer web white, coarsely stippled with black; inner web, black, slightly peppered with white. Abdomen and thighs silvery grey. Tail black, outer feathers pencilled with white.
In both sexes and colours: Beak yellow or horn. Eyes red. Comb, face, ear lobes and wattles bright red. Legs and feet yellow. Under colour dark slate grey.
Eggs: Terracotta
Weight: Large Fowl: Cock 7 lb, Cockerel 6 lb, Hen 6 lb, Pullet 4.25 to 51b.
These weights should be taken as minimum Standards.
Bantam: Available in bantam
Colours: Partridge, Silver Duckwing, non standard Gold duckwing
About
The Welsummer is probably best recognised as the ‘Kellogg’s rooster’. The cockerels have the classic black and red-gold farmyard colours with bright yellow legs. The birds have an even, calm temperament and are great foragers. The hens also lay plenty of rich, terracotta brown eggs. The breed is hardy and economical, given opportunity they will get a lot of their diet as forage. The hens do not go broody easily, so their laying season is quite long. A Welsummer hen will lay around 200 terracotta brown eggs in a season.
Features
Calm and easy to handle
Good layers of dark brown eggs
Hardy
Great forager
The breed was developed in the town of Welsum in Holland and first accepted into British poultry standards in 1930. Its large ‘flowerpot brown’ eggs were an instant hit. The eggs were so brown that many thought the colour was faked. Judges in Holland mark the birds on indications of productiveness as well as looks, so that laying merits can be combined with beauty to create a strong utility breed.
UK Breed Standard
The Welsummer has a red face with single comb. The eyes should be red and legs bright yellow. Feather colouring is wild-type golden partridge, so hens and cocks are different patterns.
The cock should have rich golden-brown head and neck hackles and red-brown back, shoulders and wing bows. The breast and thighs should be black with red mottling. The tail should be black with a beetle-green sheen.
The hen should have a golden-brown head and neck hackles, with black striping in the lower hackles. The breast should be a rich chestnut-brown. The body and wings should be reddish-brown with black stippling and the inner tail feathers should be black.
The Welsummer is also standardised in silver duck wing
General Characteristics Male:
Carriage
Upright, alert and active.
Type: Body well built on good constitutional lines. Back broad and long. Breast full, well rounded and broad. Wings moderately long, carried closely to the sides. Tail fairly large and full, carried high, but not squirrel. Abdomen long, deep and wide.
HEAD: Symmetrical, well balanced, of fine quality without coarseness, excess or exaggeration. Skull refined, especially at back. Beak strong, short and deep. Eyes keen in expression, bold, full, highly placed in skull and standing out prominently when viewed from front or back; pupils large and free from defective shape. Comb single, of medium size, firm, upright, free from any twists or excess around nostrils, clear of nostrils and of fine, silky texture, five to seven broad and even serrations, the back following closely but not touching the line of the skull and neck. Face smooth, open and of silky texture, free from wrinkles or surfeit of flesh and without overhanging eyebrows. Ear lobes small and almond shaped. Wattles of medium size, fine and silky texture and close together.
NECK: Fairly long, slender at top but finishing with abundant hackle.
LEGS and FEET: Thighs to show clear of body without loss of breast. Shanks of medium length, medium bone and well set apart, free from feathers and with soft pliable sinews, free from coarseness. Toes, four, long, straight and well spread out, back toe to follow in straight line, free from feathers between toes.
PLUMAGE: Tight, silky and waxy, free from excess or coarseness, silky at abdomen and free from bagginess at thighs.
HANDLING: Compact, firm and neat bone throughout.
Plumage: Silver Duck wing Male
Head, neck and hackles white. Breast, black with white mottling. Back, shoulder coverts and wing bow white. Wing primaries, flight feathers (out of sight as wings closed), inner web black, outer web white; secondary's, outer web white, inner web black, with white peppering, coverts black with green sheen forming a broad bar across primaries. Main tail black with beetle green sheen; coverts, upper black, lower black, edged with white. Abdominal and thigh fluff, black with white mottling.
Plumage: Silver Duck wing Female Head and skull, silvery white. Hackle, silvery white and lower feathers with black striping and white shaft. Breast, salmon red or robin red. Back and wing bow, silvery grey, each feather stippled or peppered with black specks (i.e. partridge marking), shaft of feather showing light and very distinct. Wing bar, silvery grey; primaries, inner web black, outer web white; secondary's, outer web white, coarsely stippled with black; inner web, black, slightly peppered with white. Abdomen and thighs silvery grey. Tail black, outer feathers pencilled with white.
In both sexes and colours: Beak yellow or horn. Eyes red. Comb, face, ear lobes and wattles bright red. Legs and feet yellow. Under colour dark slate grey.