We have all heard of Leghorn, Rhode Island Red and Sussex fowl, but New Hampshire Red fowl is a breed that you don’t hear off very often.
They are not counted as a rare breed as they have their own breed club, but they could do with more support.
The breed does appear at shows here but not in large numbers, with more of the bantam version than the large seen at such events.
They are standardised as a heavy soft feather breed and are often found in the any other variety heavy soft feather class.
This is a very nice breed, that once seen will never be forgotten as they have luxurious warm golden bay to chestnut feathers set off with bright yellow legs and with an abundance of feathers.
The males have dark tails which are a lovely contrast in colours, and the females have some dark tail feathers and a trace of dark feathers around the necks, but shouldn’t be as strong as a cape of dark feathers like a buff Sussex.
About the breed:
The New Hampshire Red, as the name suggests, were developed in the state of New Hampshire in the USA.
They evolved from the Rhode Island Red fowl, which was created in Rhode Island in the States.
The breeders who developed the New Hampshire were selecting birds to produce a faster growing and quicker maturing dual purpose breed and, in the course of their breeding, they developed the bird into the colour that it is now.
In essence, they produced a wonderful dual purpose breed with great table qualities and still retaining good egg production.
The breed was developed over 30 years in the early part of the 1900s by farmers and research conducted at the New Hampshire Agricultural experiment station.
It was admitted to the American standard of perfection in 1935 with a bantam version being admitted in 1960.
The New Hampshire was made the official poultry of the State of New Hampshire in 2018, having been proposed by pupils of Canaan Elementary School.
Only the red variety is recognised in the USA and UK, although a black tailed blue and a white variety have been created.
Locally, standard sized New Hampshire Reds are only kept by a small number of poultry keepers and they could certainly do with more support.
The bantam version is more common but could also still do with more help.
I hope that the New Hampshire keepers have a great hatching season.
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