We shipped poultry to Europe after the war as part of a reconstruction effort. Not just Germany. Much of Europe's agriculture was in ruins. Germany did end up in especially bad shape. Whenever we read modern European poultry history, we read a lot of pre-war, and post war references. Particularly what is written by older poultry breeders.
The Germans, and others, were especially fond of the New Hampshires as we were here at the time. The Canadians loved them, and so did we. They became very popular very fast, because the birds produced. By 1950 we were using breed crosses, and the interest waned. The original broiler crosses were NHs x Cornish. The NH won the first chicken of tomorrow contest, and a NH x Cornish won the next. A strain of NHs did especially well in the laying trials. The NH was one of the first true commercial breeds.
They did not become especially popular upon exhibition breeders, though some did real well with them. The Red breeders shunned them. They were admitted to the Standard without the Red attached to the name because of the resistance by the breeders of Reds. Therefore it isn't "correct" to call them New Hampshire Reds. The name did stick though, but is still resisted in the exhibition circle.
The breed was a victim of it's timing. They came on hard and fast, and the interest in them waned just as fast. The industry was changing very fast at the time. What they were noted for was fast feathering ( most of the Reds were slow to feather), their quick growth, and fast maturity. They were popular meat birds, and they were as good of layer as the others.
The Germans remained fond of the breed, and their exhibition breeders did especially well with them. Their large shows today feature very large numbers of NHs. They are popular all across Europe. Some more so than others. They are many breeding and showing them in South America also. For some reason we did not do the same. Though that has changed some. The import stirred a new interest in them, as fads do. The fad is waning, but some good breeders are working with them, and doing well with them. Not enough, but that is the only thing that secures any breed. Good breeders.
I started looking for good NHs about 9 years ago. I spent about 5 years looking for decent NHs. I never found any. I searched the country for them, tried the hatcheries etc. I tried all of the popular hatcheries and all I found was junk. Most of the NHs at the hatcheries are not even NHs. I say this to illustrate how far they fell here. It is a shame really.
When these were imported I was very happy, and spent very good money to get a start. The next year I decided to get them from the original source, and did better. My first batch was American x German strains. Almost all of them have been crossed now. I kept mine pure, believing that though they had breeding challenges, they were the best that we had.
The bird pictured in my Avatar was one of my original cockerels between 7 and 8 months old. He was weighing about 10lbs then. This picture is a few generations ago. He did fill out a little more, but his color is a little off. His hackles etc. is just a shade too light, and his wings are too dark. His tail did as cockerels do and gained more lift with time. Maybe a little over done. I liked him for his width. He was a good wide bird like a NH should be.
The birds pictured in the advertisement are strain crosses. The one hen does have relatively even and decent color, but she is light in weight (narrow) and has a pinched tail. Some of the information in the advertisement is misleading, and one statement is just not true. I did not like the statement that they are good four year layers, and that Reds are only good for two. Frankly that would be said by someone that does not know any better. They probably heard that somewhere. I am sure someone else has read it, believed it, and repeated it. LOL.
