NEW HAMPSHIRE HENS
The New Hampshire hen is fast becoming a popular breed of hen by people wanting a few chooks in their back yard. They make a lovely addition to the family, with their quiet ways. Very docile to the point of having to be pushed out of the way, they will even endure being picked up time and again, and enjoy following you about the yard hoping you might dig up a worm or find an interesting morsel for them.
Easy to keep in, they do not bother jumping over fences. In short they make a lovely pet for young children and adults alike; but they are much more!
They came about by farmers selectively breeding from the Rhode Island Red. The farmers continually bred for early maturing, rapid full feathering, vigor and production of large brown eggs. By following this intensive breed-ing program a different breed gradually emerged. This took place in the New England states, chiefly in Massachusetts and New Hampshire, from which it takes its name.
The standard describes them as a large soft feather breed, having four toes, medium sized upright comb, legs rich yellow, eyes bay in colour. Plumage in hens is medium chestnut-red; cocks medium chestnut-red with saddle bril-liant reddish-bay; tails greenish-black.
New Hampshire’s produce approximately 280 + eggs a year. Eggs range from tinted through to brown. Young pullets lay a smallish egg, but the older the hen the larger the egg, with old hens laying a very large egg, as the hen ages she will lay a few less eggs each year. They are a dual purpose bird with the cockerels dressing out at 2 kg., or better at approx. 5 months of age.
They are also one of the breeds used by commercial hatcheries to make egg laying crosses such as Hy-line, superlayer, Brinkkotter, etc.
A New Hampshire Rooster