New Hampshire Red

[Jaygood787]

Hey Ive looked into this breed a little bit, wondering if anyone has any to tell me about.

Let me know how you like them if they would do well introduced into a small flock.

Any Ideas where to buy? Living in Maine

 

[draye]

Don't know much about them except it is not proper to add the "Red" in on the name, just New Hampshire. I am really wanting some of these myself, just don;t have enough room for everything that I do want.

 

[Jaygood787]

ok , New Hampshire's Id like to get some this spring or sooner than later. Seems like a productive breed

 

[phasianidae]

In my experience, they are a wonderful breed! Out of many heavy breeds I have had, they grew the fastest and reached a large size. They would do just fine in a small flock. They are also great meat birds and layers. My NHs were Newcomer strain from Welp Hatchery in Bancroft, Iowa. The only reason I discontinued raising pure bred New Hampshires is there single comb that does not fair well in MN winters. I now have half and one quarter NH blood in some of my flock.

 

[BigIslandChicks]

they are supposed to be fairly productive of large brown eggs, fast to feather out/grow and very cold hardy.

i just added 3 of them to our flock - they are only 7 wks right now but i do believe i have 1 roo... yeah more NH's and sexlinks down the road!! and they are just too cute! they are supposed to be a good dual purpose breed as well.

i really like them so far and am looking forward to hatching out some chicks this fall!

 

[Long Last Farm]

my experience with New Hampshires has been similar to Minnesotachickenbreeder. My 4 New Hampshire hens are reliable healthy medium sized birds, who were the earliest layers of my flock ( includes EE's, BLRW, cuck00 marans, and welsummers). They lay almost every single day. Not too flighty or bossy. I have one NH rooster, who is a tad aggressive, but protective of his hens. The hens' combs have not been frostbitten yet ( and it has gotten COLD here in WNY) but unfortunately the rooster's larger comb has gotten frostbitten. That is the main drawback i have found about NH's.

 

[Jaygood787]

Ive got a few Javas right now...Do you think the New Hampshire breed is similar to winter hardyness. Maine gets cold.

 

[phasianidae]

Quote:
NHs are some of the hardiest breeds I've had, minus the comb, my oldest hen who is approaching 4 this spring is a NH. In MN, the cold can be quite hard on them and most of my chickens would die by age 3 years if I kept them that long. As Long Last Farm said they were also the first ones to lay. If there was a pea or rose combed variety, you can be sure I would have them... Which brings a thought! Why not create a rose combed NH! It would be very simple as someone could breed a NH to a rose combed RIR and then breed the rose combed offspring back to NH for several generations. Maybe I will! Unles they already exist without my knowing it?

 

[Jaygood787]

I was thinking the same thing. So when they get frostbite on their combs, can that lead to problems? I like the fact that they are bread from RIR.

 

[Illia]

The thing about New Hampshires is that they're a lot like Rhode Island Reds, except MUCH more rare. By this I mean that in hatchery quality form, they're typical. They're orange in color, medium size, lay a lot of eggs, and that's about it. In true heritage/"show quality" form, they're very rare, large in size, good dual purpose, grow slowly, and lay a decent amount of eggs. They're also very beautiful, but sadly pretty rare.

Here's a really good thread on true New Hampshires . The second page even shows what real ones look like, and of course a contrast of my own NH hen from a hatchery, who honestly still has a fluffier body than most other hatchery based New Hampshires.