Hamburg

I love this breed. Their flighty personalities are perfect for my hands-off approach - I don't need 80 chickens trying to be my best friend while I casually steal their eggs. Hands down there is no soft way to describing their beauty and elegance, and their knack for survival both in feeding themselves and preventing themselves from feeding others makes them cheap to keep while you enjoy their every-day egg laying.


The Hamburg is an absolute treat.

We love our "four horsemen"! While they are quite nervous and flighty (flying higher and farther than any chicken I've ever seen), our girls are quieter than most, excellent foragers, and always have one or two eggs waiting for collection in the morning.

Although this breed is beautiful to look at, they have bad personalities. Very flighty, and not human friendly. Also, they can very easily fly, more than most chickens.

We have one little Silver Spangled Hamburg and she is easily the most entertaining hen in my flock! She is very loud, so you know when she's laid an egg or is excited about something that's going on in the yard. She's very striking to look at, her earlobes are bright blue, and it's a beautiful contrast to her plumage.

She's an infrequent layer, and her eggs are small, but she's a great addition to the flock! Although she is the smallest of my hens, she is very cold hardy and had no issues at all throughout the New England winter.

My Avalon is the prettiest bird in a flock of 37, sporting iridescent spangles that strongly contrast blindingly white plumage. Her first egg was quite surprising for us, since we were expecting a normal white, but what we found in the nesting box bore a striking resemblance to a small, shiny, rosy pearl.

I value Avalon as a "watchbird" for our flock, as it seems that she is always the first to spot ground/aerial predators and alert all the rest with a call. This is a valuable trait that comes in handy for our flock of diverse sizes and shapes that might not enable some to escape as quickly.

For being such a tiny bird, she holds quite a bit of clout in the pecking order. Perhaps there's something strange about our chickens and ducks, because the small ones are every bit as evil as their much larger flockmates!

Although I love Avalon and wouldn't trade her for the world, her personality leaves something to be desired. I kid you not when I say that you can't get closer than 7 feet from her, otherwise she'll go into a panicked frenzy trying to get away. Won't be getting this breed in the future for pet qualities, but rather for their looks, egg production, and level of caution when free-ranging.





-Alex

i got my silver spangled hamburg from murray mcmurray hatchery on 2-7-2015 as a chick, now she is 6 months old as she is so pretty! she lays a small white egg every day and she Loves to dust bathe. i read that this breed is known to fly up in trees but she has not been in a tree the highest she has even been was in her roosting bar at night.. i named my hen dotty.


this is a picture of her when she was a few days old.


she is on the right












this is a picture a her i took a few days ago

I only have one girl and boy. I had these years ago but they were wiped out by a neighbor's dog when I wasn't home. They roam really far and love to forage. The rooster is awesome. He treats his hens well and they know it. He keeps a good 15 or better with him at all times. My other two roosters I have right now just run around being greedy, mean, and randy. But this guy calls them for food, warns about hawks, he will even chase straggler hens into the coop when a hawk is out. I have never had a better rooster. Plus he is stunning to look at. I hope he has a long life because I don't know if all Hamburg roosters are this awesome or when I will find another like him. I don't know if the girl is laying yet, I have several who lay small eggs and since she is a single I just can't tell. I assume she is since the rest of the flock is. She is so cute I would not want to let her go any way.

My hen Miruna isn't flightly, and infact was the calmest chicken at fair. I didn't even have to hold her down on the table during the show. I just love her. They can be amazing chickens and don't have to be flightly if you raise them right. I suggest to not hold them as much when they are younger. Try hand feeding them and gaining their trust first.

In Australia this breed is rare. I own a flock but it took me 2 years to put it together traveling far and wide to find them. They sell for a very good price and are the best chickens I ever had.

I have a pair of female silver spangled Hamburgs. They are really close to wild birds. They like to lay their eggs outside the coop in a corner away from everyone else. They attempt to roost right before sundown, so we have to be alert because they can jump really high, and like to try to roost on the fence! They are high fliers, so you must clip their wings. Pictures don't do them justice, there is a beautiful green sheen on their black polka dots. I find mine to be very friendly, and very busy. They have a loud call when they are excited about something, different from my other breeds of chickens. They lay small to medium eggs, and so far I get an egg either every day, or every other day from my pair.

I received 14 Silver Spangled Hamburg chicks from McMurry hatchery last spring. I lost 2 a few days after they arrived and the third a month later from a hawk attack. The remaining 10 pullets and 1 cockerel have turned out to be very resilient birds. The cock looks almost pheasant-like with its' low station and long tail. The pullets make very wild noises when on alert and can be quite pugnacious. There is a certain wildness to them that I haven't experienced with any other breed. They're often termed as flighty but mine just don't seem to care to be around people. They're just too busy off in the pine forest foraging. And they are by no means afraid of me and will come right up and take food from my hand when offered.
They are definitely a free ranging breed. I would imagine if not given enough space, they would turn out to be very ornery and cruel to their flock mates.
Although my Silver Spangles are beautiful, next time I would go with Silver Penciled as I think it would make for a better camouflaged bird.
The eggs are small but plentiful and most of us Americans don't need to be eating Xtra-large/Jumbo size eggs anyways.

he crows a lot, & he is very aggressive sometimes, when he crows we say its Samuel L. Jackson yelling "what in the hell!!"

Hamburgs are really pretty. I love heir paterns, colors, and tail. They lay a beatiful (but tiny) white egg almost every day. But they are very skittish and flighty. Mine flew onto my roof! Lastly they are a little small which landed mine a place at the bottom of the pecking order!

The hen that I have is very flighty but she's nice and calm. She lays great eggs but only about twice a week.

I love these guys. Bought a straight run from Meyer for my son for 4-H. Will be culling some roos this fall, but for now, these are the hardiest little chicks I've ever seen. They came out of the brooder at three weeks, and have been free ranging for a week now. Very good at sticking together in a tight flock, very self-reliant, and VERY opinionated as far as where they want to go and what they want to do. Haven't integrated with the rest of the flock yet. Sleep in our mulberry tree. Very spirited chickens. Love em.

My hamburg is beautiful but is so flighty and timid that she actually made herself into a target. It took almost a month for her to calm down enough for the big girls to accept her when we integrated the new girls in. She gives us about 4 eggs a week and so far hasn't stopped this year.

Beautifull Girls. They look like Dalmations ! Small and quick, they dont look like a classic chicken at all. But, they are awesome for diversity in your flock. They lay small white eggs, you cant handle them very easily, they are fast and tend to fly more then the others. They are great in confinement and are very alert when free ranging. Cold wether is not an issue for these girls. They are VERY clean and never have a feather thats dirty or out of place. The females that I have have very pretty tails that stick straight up in a straight line unlike the others who have spread out tail feathers.......Nice tight combs that never have any freeze issue no matter how cold it gets.