German New Hampshire

[Rancher3535]

Mike,

What a great way to display your breeding stock. It really allows us to get a good look at the birds. Also nice that you tell about why you have them set up the way you do.

Thanks for sharing.

Rob

 

[fizlett]

Lovely! what is a german NH?

 

[MistyMountain]

I'm very impressed with the beautiful color of these birds. I wonder if they ever mix these to the regular American New Hamp. I have 5 regular coming from Sandhill and wonder what the different color is. Thoughts?

Linda, How did you like your NH from Sandhill?

 

[LindaB220]

Linda, How did you like your NH from Sandhill?

Never completed the order. I just cancelled. I had 15 hatchery chicks that I picked up from Meyers and they were enough work at the time. Someone counselled me to not get the 25 min that I had to order. So I bought a incubator and have hatched 11 super blue egg layers. I have 18 more eggs being mailed today. I don't know what I was thinking with this heat. It's 90 in the shade so babies are fine.

 

[LindaB220]

Lovely! what is a german NH?

Sorry I saw this late!!!

After WWII we helped Germany replenish their animal stock. So they got NH. They didn't change them like our hatcheries are doing now by adding Leghorn to the breed. So we imported some back. They are beautiful. Big. I want some.

 

[Zanna]

This is my first season of breeding New Hampshires, I believe I started with quality stock with a male from an unrelated line than the females. Because of the quality, I did not think it was necessary to single mate so pen mated the Cock over Four Hens. Every egg set hatched and I hatched about 75 chicks over a 3 month period finishing up two months ago. Hatched about 2/3 pullets, 1/3 cockerals. While I am seeing some very good type, not one cockeral has a correctly coloured tail. Most of the black tail feathers, some all, have the border of chestnut red desired in the females. Is this a typical problem with the NH? Can I breed to get a correctly coloured tail, is it possible? Do they ever go through their first molt and come back in correctly?

 

[desertmarcy]

This is my first season of breeding New Hampshires, I believe I started with quality stock with a male from an unrelated line than the females. Because of the quality, I did not think it was necessary to single mate so pen mated the Cock over Four Hens. Every egg set hatched and I hatched about 75 chicks over a 3 month period finishing up two months ago. Hatched about 2/3 pullets, 1/3 cockerals. While I am seeing some very good type, not one cockeral has a correctly coloured tail. Most of the black tail feathers, some all, have the border of chestnut red desired in the females. Is this a typical problem with the NH? Can I breed to get a correctly coloured tail, is it possible? Do they ever go through their first molt and come back in correctly?

Hi Zanna, there is also a breeding New Hampshires to the SOP thread, you might post there. Do you have a photo as an example? The main tail feathers should be black, but the tail coverts are supposed to have the red border on the male. Wow, that is a lot of chicks to hatch, bravo!
Also, have they gone through their adult molt yet? If not, I wouldn't make any decisions on color until they do. Do you see the two tail coverts edged in red in this photo below? I believe that is what you want.

 

[gjensen]

This is my first season of breeding New Hampshires, I believe I started with quality stock with a male from an unrelated line than the females. Because of the quality, I did not think it was necessary to single mate so pen mated the Cock over Four Hens. Every egg set hatched and I hatched about 75 chicks over a 3 month period finishing up two months ago. Hatched about 2/3 pullets, 1/3 cockerals. While I am seeing some very good type, not one cockeral has a correctly coloured tail. Most of the black tail feathers, some all, have the border of chestnut red desired in the females. Is this a typical problem with the NH? Can I breed to get a correctly coloured tail, is it possible? Do they ever go through their first molt and come back in correctly?

Zanna, that is a good observation. This is common with the German strain. It is not as common with the crossed birds. It is kind of "too much of a good thing". The females have beautifully marked tails.

I see this is as a minor fault. You may find that there is some variation in degree of edging. Also in the pullets. It is a point of selection and can be remedied over time. I have had a few individual males that were not marked like this. You can deal with this over time, but watch the females. You do not want to lose it there. It will always be a balancing act.

This point (I believe) is another example where the breeder is not always the showbird. If I had a nice female that was not marked as well, I would want a male that had too much.

Initially, I would not concern myself with it. I would be mindful of it as I move forward. I am guessing that you will see some variability along the way.

Also, like desertmarcy said, do not critique their color until they are completely in their adult feather. Don't judge the male's tales (other than color) until much later.

 

[Zanna]

Thank you both for the input! I do know the tail coverts should be bordered but I am talking about every tail feather on most of the birds being bordered. They have not gone through adult molt yet. Time to cut numbers back so I will just pick the best type and not be too concerned with tail colour yet. I don't have any pics of the young cockerals but their tailfeathers have a much more defined border than the Mom pictured.

Here's 2 pics of Dad (same bird), correctly coloured tail and one of the Moms:

 

[gjensen]

Zanna, I see now that many of them are still very young. Let them feather into their adult feathers, and the males fill their tails out before you do too much. This is what I mean by a male wit too much color. If you look closely, you can see it. I see about half of my males with this. This is what I had assumed you were talking about.



A typically marked pullet . . . .