New Hampshire laying hens, also known as 'New Hampshire reds', are a relatively recent poultry breed.They began to develop in New Hampshire and southern Massachusetts (northeastern United States) around 1910 and in the following decades.Starting from the Rhode Island breed, breeders (primarily AW Richardson) developed New Hampshire through successive selections and according to criteria of robustness, early maturity, speed of growth, conformation, egg size and rapid development of the plumage.No other bloodline is thought to have been crossed with Rhode Island Red to develop New Hampshire (although there is another historical assumption that New Hampshire was instead bred from breeding Rhode Island Red. with golden Leghorn).This breed was then introduced from Rhode Island and Massachusetts to the neighboring state of New Hampshire, from which it took its name;later the breeders worked to obtain a lighter coat than the one native to Rhode Island.The New Hampshire breed immediately enjoyed considerable success among breeders thanks to its productive qualities and its remarkable rusticity accompanied by excellent domesticity.New Hampshire is in fact the classic "American" hen that we imagine in the vicinity of a classic "American" farm complete with wheat fields and a red barn at the top of which a rooster-shaped weather vane stands out.And it is precisely the architecture of traditional American red barns that inspired many structures of garden chicken coops (red barn chicken coop) on the market today.Today the New Hampshire laying hen is often also common in European farms and it can often happen to find it for sale at agricultural consortia as an excellent laying hen (in fact it is the basis of many industrial strains of red plumage layers).This is how and when New Hampshire arrived in Italy, developing rapidly in the postwar period and also being used to give life to new breeds.Let's follow this path in the words of Andrea Mangoni:“The New Hampshire was born therefore as a utilitarian breed, and towards 1920 it began to assert itself more and more, so much so that in 1935 it was admitted into the American Standard of Perfection.Only 4 years later, thanks to the Rovigo Experimental Polliculture Station, it was imported to Italy, where its "sister breed", the Rhode Island Red, had long since successfully landed.Here too the breed found a good diffusion and after the Second World War it lent itself well to being crossed with the white Leghorn, in order to obtain excellent dual-purpose chickens with even more marked fetation skills.In Lombardy these crosses were used in the 1950s to replace the lost breed of Pollo Brianzolo.Later in the 60s at the Experimental Polliculture Station of Rovigo it was used together with the Sussex to select one of the Venetian synthetic breeds, the Rovigo Ermellinata."The News Hampshire is a very suitable breed for outdoor living, but being a hen with a mild temperament, it also adapts to living in an enclosure.The eggs are reddish in color and the annual production is around 200-220 eggs;usually they lay at a good pace even in the winter months.The females do not have a good predisposition to hatching and rarely make hens.It is a typical medium American breed, of sturdy and compact build, but slender.The head is moderately long and has a simple crest carried straight in both sexes, with five points, of proportional size to the head.The eyes are round and light red.The earlobes are oval and bright red like the rest of the face, the wattles are broad and the beak is robust, of medium length and horn yellow in color.The neck is moderately long, arched and with a rich cape.The back is broad and slightly inclined towards the tail, which is of medium length, well open and with arched sickles in the male.The abdomen is broad, full and deep.The legs are yellow and of medium length.New Hampshire's red plumage is very dense and rich and remains lighter than that of its Rhode Island Red ancestors, and is described by some as a "deep chestnut red" (golden brown with black tail) color.Below are all the specifications and characteristics of the varieties of the New Hampshire breed recognized by the Italian standard, as they appear in the FIAV list (golden brown with black tail, white, golden brown with blue tail):US origin State of New Hampshire.Breed created in 1935 from Rhode Island for production purposes.First created the Golden Brown color, the White variety was created in 1954 at the same time in the USA and in Germany.Egg Minimum weight g.55 Shell color: dark brown.Rooster ring: mm.22 Hen: mm.20II - TYPOLOGY AND ADDRESSES FOR SELECTIONMedium-sized chicken, strong, with a concave backline, rounded shapes, medium-high growth habit and well-marked productivity characteristics.Maintain vigor, earliness and high deposition capacity.Select subjects with good muscles, which maintain the particular type of dual-aptitude chicken with little propensity for hatching.III - STANDARD General appearance and characteristics of the breed 1- SHAPE Trunk: broad, of medium length, deep and well rounded.Head: of medium size, slightly long, flatter than round.Beak: Strong of medium length, horn-colored to yellow.Eyes: large, dark red / orange in color.Crest: simple, of medium size, red, well implanted, four or five regular teeth, with the lobe detached from the nape but following its line.In the hen it is tolerated folded on one side.Wattles: of medium length, uniform, red, without folds, of fine texture.Face: red, smooth, of fine texture.Earlobes: elongated, smooth and red.Neck: of medium length, well arched, with an abundant cape that falls over the shoulders.Shoulders: broad and rounded.Back: broad, of medium length, concave, with the rump rich in lanceolate.Wings: of medium size, carried well closed and adherent.Tail: of medium length, carried well open, with wide and medium-long sickle-shaped and coxswins, well covered by abundant coverts.Chest: broad, deep and well rounded.Legs: Legs well evident, muscular and of medium length.Tarsi on average long, straight, without feathers, four fingers;intense yellow color.Belly: full and broad.Skin: yellow.2 - ROOSTER WEIGHTS: Kg. 3,0 - 3,5 HEN: Kg. 2,2 - 2,7Serious defects: Crest too jagged or coarse;flat back;insufficient chest;thick bone;underdeveloped belly of the hen;presence of white in the earlobes;legs of a color other than yellow.3 - FEATHER Shape: Large feathers, moderately adherent to the body.(If you want to continue reading the FIAV Official Standard for the New Hampshire Laying Hen, please download the following document in pdf)New Hampshire group in winter… they don't seem to like snow much!🙂In this last video we see free New Hampshire red and white scratching.Good evening I'm Roberto from Cadoneghe Padova where you can buy New Hampshire hens, thank you good evening.Hi, the only kennel we have found in New Hampshire's Veneto is the following;you try to call and hear.“La Fonda amateur chicken coop” Province of Treviso, Municipality of Montebelluna.Vicolo Don Bosco 17 - Tel: 348.0844255Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.