The New Hampshire Red or New Hampshire is an American

breed A breed is a specific group of domestic animals having homogeneous appearance (phenotype), homogeneous behavior, and/or other characteristics that distinguish it from other organisms of the same species. In literature, there exist several slig ...

chicken The chicken (''Gallus gallus domesticus'') is a domesticated junglefowl species, with attributes of wild species such as the grey and the Ceylon junglefowl that are originally from Southeastern Asia. Rooster or cock is a term for an adult m ...

. It was developed in the early twentieth century in the state of

New Hampshire New Hampshire is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec t ...

selective breeding Selective breeding (also called artificial selection) is the process by which humans use animal breeding and plant breeding to selectively develop particular phenotypic traits (characteristics) by choosing which typically animal or plant mal ...

Rhode Island Red The Rhode Island Red is an American breed of domestic chicken. It is the state bird of Rhode Island. It was developed there and in Massachusetts in the late nineteenth century, by cross-breeding birds of Oriental origin such as the Malay with ...

stock; no other breed was involved. It is fast-growing, early-maturing, quick-

feather Feathers are epidermal growths that form a distinctive outer covering, or plumage, on both avian (bird) and some non-avian dinosaurs and other archosaurs. They are the most complex integumentary structures found in vertebrates and a premier ...

ing, and yields a meaty carcase. Mature birds are a light or medium red in color; they may fade in sunlight.

History

The New Hampshire Red was developed over a period of about thirty years in the early twentieth century in the state of

, partly by farmers in the state and partly through research conducted at the New Hampshire Agricultural Experiment Station at

Durham Durham most commonly refers to: *Durham, England, a cathedral city and the county town of County Durham *County Durham, an English county *Durham County, North Carolina, a county in North Carolina, United States *Durham, North Carolina, a city in No ...

. Birds of the

breed were

selectively bred Selective breeding (also called artificial selection) is the process by which humans use animal breeding and plant breeding to selectively develop particular phenotypic traits (characteristics) by choosing which typically animal or plant mal ...

for rapid growth and rapid feathering, with an emphasis on meat production; no other breed was involved. Color was not a criterion for selection, and the resulting birds were of a somewhat lighter red than the original Rhode Island stock. The New Hampshire Red was admitted to the

American Standard of Perfection The ''American Standard of Perfection'' is the official breed standard for the poultry fancy in North America. First published in 1874 by the American Poultry Association, the ''Standard of Perfection'' (commonly referred to as "the ''Standard''" ...

in 1935; the bantam was added in 1960. In the 1940s New Hampshire hens contributed to the development of the

Delaware Delaware ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Maryland to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and New Jersey and the Atlantic Ocean to its east. The state takes its name from the adjacent Del ...

breed of that state. In 2018 the New Hampshire Red was designated the official poultry of the state following a proposal from students at

Canaan Canaan (; Phoenician: 𐤊𐤍𐤏𐤍 – ; he, כְּנַעַן – , in pausa – ; grc-bib, Χανααν – ;The current scholarly edition of the Greek Old Testament spells the word without any accents, cf. Septuaginta : id est Vetus T ...

Elementary School. The

conservation status The conservation status of a group of organisms (for instance, a species) indicates whether the group still exists and how likely the group is to become extinct in the near future. Many factors are taken into account when assessing conservation ...

of the breed is reported to

DAD-IS DAD-IS is the acronym of the worldwide Domestic Animal Diversity Information System of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, within the FAO's management of animal genetic resources programme.Domestic Animal Diversity Infor ...

as "not at risk"; the most recent population data is from 2015, when it was reported to be approximately 3300 birds. The

Livestock Conservancy The Livestock Conservancy, formerly known as the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy (ALBC) and prior to that, the American Minor Breeds Conservancy, is a nonprofit organization focused on preserving and promoting rare breeds, also known as "h ...

lists it as "watch".

Characteristics

The New Hampshire Red is of medium-large size, males weighing about and hens approximately . Bantams weigh roughly a quarter of the weights of large fowl. In the United States and the United Kingdom only the red color variant is recognized; the

Entente Européenne Entente, meaning a diplomatic "understanding", may refer to a number of agreements: History * Entente (alliance), a type of treaty or military alliance where the signatories promise to consult each other or to cooperate with each other in case o ...

recognizes two further colors, white and blue-tailed red. The white was bred in Germany in 1954, and was separately created in the United States at about the same time. In the red variant, the plumage varies from a golden bay to a chestnut color; the tail feathers of the cock bird are black, and the hen has some black in the tail, in the neck feathers and in the wing

primaries Primary elections, or direct primary are a voting process by which voters can indicate their preference for their party's candidate, or a candidate in general, in an upcoming general election, local election, or by-election. Depending on the c ...

. The

comb A comb is a tool consisting of a shaft that holds a row of teeth for pulling through the hair to clean, untangle, or style it. Combs have been used since prehistoric times, having been discovered in very refined forms from settlements dating ba ...

is single and five-pointed, the

earlobes The human earlobe (''lobulus auriculae''), the lower portion of the outer ear, is composed of tough areolar and adipose connective tissues, lacking the firmness and elasticity of the rest of the auricle (the external structure of the ear). In s ...

are a long oval in shape, the

wattle Wattle or wattles may refer to: Plants *''Acacia sensu lato'', polyphyletic genus of plants commonly known as wattle, especially in Australia and South Africa **''Acacia'', large genus of shrubs and trees, native to Australasia **Black wattle, c ...

s are fairly large; all these are red, as is the face. The beak is a reddish brown or horn color, the eyes bay. The legs and feet are yellow with reddish-brown overtones.

Use

The New Hampshire Red was bred to be a dual-purpose breed, suitable for production of both meat and eggs. It adapts well to either

intensive In grammar, an intensive word form is one which denotes stronger, more forceful, or more concentrated action relative to the root on which the intensive is built. Intensives are usually lexical formations, but there may be a regular process for for ...

or extensive management, and yields a meaty carcase. Hens lay approximately 220 brown eggs per year, with an average weight of about ; they

sit Sit commonly refers to sitting. Sit, SIT or Sitting may also refer to: Places * Sit (island), Croatia * Sit, Bashagard, a village in Hormozgan Province, Iran * Sit, Gafr and Parmon, a village in Hormozgan Province, Iran * Sit, Minab, a villa ...

well, and are good mothers.

History

Characteristics

Use

References

Further reading