Welsummer chicken: size, eggs and care guide

The Welsummer is a standard-size breed laying about 160 to 200 dark terracotta, often speckled eggs a year, with hens around 6 lb and roosters around 7 lb. The Welsummer rooster is the chicken on the Kellogg Cornflakes box, which makes it one of the most widely reproduced chicken images in the world. The eggs are frequently speckled, which many keepers rate as the prettiest egg in a backyard basket.

How big is a Welsummer?

A mature Welsummer hen weighs about 6 lb and a rooster about 7 lb, with a typical standing height of 15 to 17 inches. That puts it in the standard class, which is what drives its feed requirement of roughly 0.25 lb per bird per day before waste, free-ranging or seasonal adjustments.

Welsummer egg production

Eggs are not this breed's main strength. A Welsummer lays around 160 to 200 large dark terracotta, often speckled eggs a year, about 3.1 to 3.8 a week, so it is usually kept for other qualities and the eggs treated as a bonus. Output drops further during the moult and the darkest weeks of winter. To turn that into a monthly total and a dollar value at your local egg price, run it through the egg production calculator.

Temperament and noise

Friendly, calm and intelligent, and generally happy around people without demanding attention. Welsummers are good foragers and tend to be sensible about predators. Noise level is rated quiet, which matters if you keep chickens close to neighbours.

Origin and history

From the village of Welsum in the Netherlands, developed in the early 1900s from local birds crossed with Barnevelder, Rhode Island Red and Partridge Cochin. Dutch breeders were chasing the same dark-egg premium that produced the Barnevelder next door.

Cold and heat tolerance

Cold tolerance is good and heat tolerance good. The upright single comb is the part most at risk in hard freezes, so ventilation that removes moisture without creating a draft matters.

Does the Welsummer go broody?

Rarely. That means fewer interruptions to laying, though you will need an incubator or a broody hen of another breed if you want to hatch chicks.

Care specifics for this breed

Undemanding. Like other dark-egg breeds the colour is deepest right after a moult and fades through the laying cycle, so judge a bird on her first eggs of a season rather than her last.

Feed cost for a flock of Welsummer

Feed cost sits in the normal range for a standard laying breed: about 0.25 lb per bird per day, so six Welsummer birds come to roughly $21.19 a month at $22 per 50 lb bag. Free-ranging typically trims around 15% off that and winter adds about 10%. The feed cost calculator gives the exact figure for your flock size and local feed price, including bags needed and how long each lasts.

Is the Welsummer right for you?

It suits keepers who want beautiful dark speckled eggs from a friendly, easy bird that forages well. It is a weaker choice for anyone needing top egg counts, or expecting Marans-level darkness. If you are still deciding, compare it against the other options in our guide to the best egg-laying breeds for beginners, or work out how many birds you need with the flock size calculator.