Definitely not ugly - my cockerel is gorgeous.
I've bought all mine as adult birds. They are all free ranging. I don't find them at all stroppy or aggressive but I don't know how they would react in a more confined space. I don't think any of my birds were handled much and the original four weren't picked up while up at my friends - we could easily check them when they were roosting. I haven't needed to pick them up so they're still not used to be handled by me (and I'm not used to handling chickens!!!). If you look back at one of my earlier posts - "Oh boy! Did I get that all wrong" you'll see that though I had some difficulty catching the escaped hen, once I picked her up she was very quiet and placid. They're not bothered by the cats - they just walk away in a very stately manner!
I think probably they could best be described as "independent", although they soon come running when I take their treats out, even coming out of the hen house when they hear the field gate open. I'm a coward so haven't actually tried hand feeding although Pink hen and Cocky will take treats out of a small dish held in my hand. I also think they're beginning to understand the sounds of their names as well - I can now give them the mealworms on a "one for Henny Penny, one for Pink girl" basis and they will wait for them.
The reason I describe them as independent is by comparing them with my friend's hens - mainly Houdans with an unknown bantam, 1 Salmon Faverolle and a Cream Legbar. When released from the hen house the Welsummers were straight out of the electric enclosure heading for their favourite foraging spot while the others, particularly the Houdans made a very rapid beeline for the feeder.
I find they don't seem to eat as much as other people say a LF eats - I have seen them described as "frugal feeders". Unfortunately they are also frugal with their eggs - one every other day seems to be the max, but they do have to put the dark brown coating on which takes longer in the oviduct.
Hope this helps!
) and not particularly easy to tame in relation to other birds, the one I have at the mo eat outs of my hand but then so do my white stars which are meant to be a skittish flighty breed, they are very active scratchers and I would say need some free ranging, decent layers of speckled brown eggs. If you are after a breed that is friendly and good with kids then I think you could do better. Having said all that I have a lot of time for the hen I currently have, she has had a fair few knocks and has come through them with flying colours she is a bit of a nutter in that even after 6 months of taking her out of the rafters of the run and putting her in the house she was still doing it so I gave up and she has won the battle of wills, sits up there by herself in all weathers now with no visible harm to her health.
