New Hampshire Red thread!!!!!!!!!

[DreamsInPink]

I have one NHR coming in June from My Pet Chicken... and after looking over the disposition, I'm wondering if maybe I shouldn't cancel my order for that particular breed. I've read they are bred from RIR, which have a reputation for being rather mean and aggressive.

What are your experiences with their temperaments and how do they lay?

 

[Weehopper]

Had two New Hampshires. Both nice birds. Dog killed one, so now I have only one. I really like her. Very sociable. Not aggressive (so I suppose that depends on the individual). Lays pretty regular, med. size, light brown eggs. She's not quite a year old. Got her as a started pullet from Murray McMurray hatchery. Will probably get more of them. They are pretty too.

 

[DreamsInPink]

Thank you very much. I may be ok then.

I swear, I've been reading the descriptions of different breeds on My Pet Chicken and McMurray, and some of them are like night and day for the same breeds...

I really LIKE MM because of the little drop down part that describes all the different aspects for each breed. I wonder if there are other sites that has anything similar.

 

[Bogtown Chick]

I too have found the NH's the friendliest birds in my mixed flock.

 

[cbookout]

I have 2 NHR in my mixed flock (EE's, SS's, and Buff Orp's also). My NHR are my best layers and so social with people that they are a tripping hazard. They want to literally be on my feet when I walk into their enclosure. They are for sure the top of the pecking order. They can be very mean to the other birds, especially the more skittish EE's and I had a silkie hen that I added to the flock and one of my NHR's took a chunk out of her neck that required a suture. The silkie became a house chicken after that. I have 3 roost bars and they go to the top and peck every other bird on the head as they are getting up to the top roost bar. Although they are great layers of large brown eggs and very social and friendly to humans, I would not replace them or ever get this breed again just because of their aggressive nature to other breeds. These would be fine in a flock of just this breed or mixed with leghorns and RIR's, but I don't like them in a mixed flock with docile birds.

 

[DreamsInPink]

Thank you chookout, that's exactly what I was afraid of. I only have one ordered for June, and it'll be the youngest of all my age groups.. so I'll either change my order and not get the NH or just leave it and hope for the best. I guess worse case scenario if she ends up being a terror, I can send her to freezer camp. :/

 

[cbookout]

I think since she will be the only NHR and the youngest you won't have a problem with her being super dominant.

One other thing I noticed with these birds is that they were the very first to start laying of my 4 breeds and they lay almost daily. They are very productive. Now a year and a few months later, their eggs are starting to be a little more oddly shaped with more calcium clusters on the outsides of the eggs. I don't know if this is true but it seems like since they started earlier and layed more eggs than the others their eggs are starting to show their age much more than my others. Although I do get more meat spots in my Buff Orpingtons eggs than in any of the other breeds and their eggs are still perfect looking on the outside.

I now also have black australorps and blue and lavender ameraucans in my flock in addition to the New Hampshire Reds, Speckled Sussex, Buff Orpingtons, Easter Eggers and Speckled Sussex/Easter Egger mixes and by far, hands down my favorite birds are the Easter Eggers. They are beautiful, sweet, not aggressive at all, hardy and independent. They do not lay as many eggs as the other breeds (They prob lay on average 4-5 eggs a week each) but to me the blue eggs are pretty hard to beat. They seem creamier somehow and the yolk to white ratio is perfect. I will never not have Easter Eggers in my flock and I'm considering over the next few years just having Easter Eggers and Buff Orpingtons. Thats just my two cents.

 

[cleggs]

We bought 6 NHR pullets earlier this month, 1 week shy of being 6 months old and started laying immediately upon getting them home. We added quite a few White Leghorns that are almost a year old. Our NHR hens were pretty aggressively pecking the new hens and fighting. After a few days the aggression ceased and they seem to be doing very well. We have started introducing our biddies now and they are being aggressive to them but we are confident in that they will get used to them and not bother them any longer after a few days.

 

[DreamsInPink]

We bought 6 NHR pullets earlier this month, 1 week shy of being 6 months old and started laying immediately upon getting them home.  We added quite a few White Leghorns that are almost a year old.  Our NHR hens were pretty aggressively pecking the new hens and fighting.  After a few days the aggression ceased and they seem to be doing very well.  We have started introducing our biddies now and they are being aggressive to them but we are confident in that they will get used to them and not bother them any longer after a few days.

Thanks for the encouragement. I think it'll be ok. I'm looking forward to getting the last group of chicks and getting everyone integrated so I can relax. lol

@cbookout
It sounds like you've got a lot of the same breeds I'm going to have, so I am hoping things will be ok. Only time will tell. As for the oddly shaped eggs, you should look that up. I'm not sure if it's the breed, or something in their diet. Maybe they are lacking something? Or getting too much of something?

 

[cbookout]

It's funny since you mentioned it not seeming normal for the eggs to be misshapen I've really started to inspect the eggs. It's my NHR, Ginger, that has been laying the weird eggs. They are exceptionally long and a little rippled at the very top. And the last two have actually had tiny holes in the top and had to be thrown away.

I feed my girls a combo of Nutrena Layer pellets and Feather Fixer pellets. They have Oyster shell in a little rabbit feeder free choice. I also string up "Hot Cakes" once a week for them to peck at. They also get lots of spinach from my garden, strawberries, blueberries, raw corn on the cob, other veggie and fruit scraps and sometimes they get leftover fish like salmon or steelhead trout. I keep their hen house super clean with fresh pine shaving bedding in the nesting boxes and fresh rosemary clippings throughout the hen house. I put DE powder in their dust bath spots once a month.

I feel like they are pretty pampered but I like it that way since I'm eating food from their body. Any ideas of what could be causing these weird eggs? My hens are now 1 year and 3 months old. My NHR have laid more eggs than any of the other breeds.