A farmer near the Dutch village of Welsum is supposed to have used partridge versions of the Cochin, Wyandotte & Leghorn, together with Rhode Island Red and the Barnvelder to create some fantastic birds with widely varying plumage - yellow feathers and blue tails on some.   Early birds varied a lot in looks because the dark brown eggs were more important.   These were thought at first to be fakes as the colour easily comes off new laid eggs.   The first birds appeared in the UK in the 1920s but it was well into the 1930s before plumage was standardised.

Welsummers are neat, alert, active birds coming under the 'light' category.   An easy bird to look after, they are fairly quiet & placid, hardy and a good forager.   The breast is well rounded; the back broad and long leading to a large tail carried high.   They have a single comb.   Legs are bright yellow.   They are not inclined to go broody and when they do, they are not known for being good mothers.   They may lay up to 200 brown eggs a year, though the colour does vary between hens, some adding speckles, and get lighter or darker at different stages of the laying cycle.

We have one variety, the gold partridge.   There is also a silver duckwing type.

Gold partridge:   The cock is what storybooks describe.   The head has bright red comb and wattles with golden brown feathers which continue down the neck hackles with no striping, like a golden cloak.   The back, shoulders and wing bows are red-brown. The rest of the body and tail are black with a green sheen, though the breast and under parts are mottled with red.   A beautiful bird.

The hen has golden brown neck hackles with a black stripe and a gold shaft in each feather.   The breast is red-brown which continues down to the thighs.   The back and wing bows are a reddish brown peppered with black specks; the shaft of each feather is light and distinct.   Underneath the abdomen and thighs are shaded with grey.   The tail is black with the outer feathers pencilled in brown.

Bantam forms do exist though we do not have any.