New Hampshire Reds?

[Wolfstead]

Anyone use New Hampshire Reds as dual purpose chickens? I'm looking mostly for a meat bird, but still a good egg layer too. I won't be getting any for quite a while, but I'm doing all my research now and figuring out which ones I'm gonna get and how many so I can slowly start acquiring supplies. When we do get our birds we will be having chicken frequently and also feeding dogs a raw diet so I'll need a good meat bird but I don't like the idea of all the health issues of CX and hate that they can get to where they can hardly walk as I want our birds to forage and be free range. If they have a little attitude, that's fine, it may actually make things a little easier. Lol But obviously I don't want them to be too aggressive. And being good mothers is a plus cuz we're going to need to breed them so nice we'll be out in the middle of nowhere. The New Hampshire Reds seem good and are easy to come by in my area so I was wondering what everyone here thought about them.

 

[redsoxs]

Here's an old BYC thread where NHRs are discussed - there is some mention of their use as a dual purpose. Hope it sheds some light. I have a couple of hens of the that breed - sweet birds!
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/81482/rhode-island-red-vs-new-hampshire-red

 

[tmarsh83]

I think the general problem with trying to use NHR in this way is so many of the lines have been diluted and the meat purpose has been lost. You can find some breeder stock that is more true to the dual purpose nature of the breed, but they're tough to come by.

I've given thought to a dual purpose flock of sex-linked NHR over Delaware hens, with the layers and meat chicks able to be split from day one. But with both breeds you run into the fact that the meat purpose has been bred out of so many of the birds, especially at the hatchery level, to promote the layer strains.

 

[Wolfstead]

Yeah, that's definitely something I'm concerned about as far as the meat purpose being bred out. The place I'm looking at for when I'm ready to get them does say they are bred more for meat purposes, but I don't know. That was my biggest problem with the RIRs, it seems hard to come by ones that are more for dual purpose rather than the production reds. Even the RIR they have that aren't listed as production reds still say "eggs" under the "primary use" section of the description where the NHRs say "meat/dual purpose". Again, I'm not wanting ones that are too big like the CX, so if they aren't quite as meaty, that's fine, just as long as they are worth the effort and not scrawny.