Founding Flocks, Part 6: The New Hampshire

FlockJourney America 250 Series, Part 6: The New Hampshire, the breed from the state that made America official

Top 3 Takeaways

  • New Hampshire is the state that wanted its own chicken New Hampshire’s poultry breeders watched Rhode Island get a breed named for it and decided to create their own By the mid-1930s they had, by refining Rhode Island Red stock in the Granite State into a faster-growing, dependable bird all their own
  • It is a working bird, bred to do two jobs well The New Hampshire lays about 240 brown eggs a year and grows quickly enough that it

Founding Flocks, Part 5: The Jersey Giant

Some Founding Flocks breeds get by on their looks The Jersey Giant gets by on sheer size Developed in New Jersey in the late 1800s, it is exactly what the name promises: the biggest chicken most backyard Keepers will ever raise Part five of our Founding Flocks series belongs to the gentle giant of the American backyard

Top 3 Takeaways

  • Built to be the biggest Developed in New Jersey specifically to be one of the largest breeds in the country, and it still holds that reputation today
  • Slow and steady Jersey Giants take

Founding Flocks, Part 4: The Wyandotte

Some American breeds came over with the settlers The Wyandotte came from here Developed in New York and named for the Wyandot people, it is a true American original, a breed Americans created rather than imported Week four of our Founding Flocks series belongs to the bird that wears lace and shrugs off winter

Top 3 Takeaways

  • An American original The Wyandotte was developed in New York, which makes it one of the breeds that America can call its own creation rather than an import
  • Built for cold A low rose comb that resists frostbite and a dense, well-rounded body

America 250 Series, Part 3: Barred Plymouth Rock

Close your eyes and picture a chicken Odds are you just pictured this one The black-and-white striped hen scratching around the barnyard is the Barred Plymouth Rock, and for the better part of a century it was the most common chicken in America Week three of our America 250 series belongs to the bird that became the picture of the American backyard

Top 3 Takeaways

  • It’s the chicken everyone pictures The barred black-and-white hen is the storybook American farm chicken, and it was one of the most popular breeds in the country for

Rhode Island Red: The All-American Hen Behind Half Your Favorite Layers

Top 3 Takeaways

  • The Rhode Island Red is America’s most-raised backyard hen In a recent Hoover’s survey of 253 backyard keepers, 66% had raised one That’s two of every three keepers, and no other brown egg layer comes close
  • You may already be raising its descendants The Red Star, Black Sex-Link, Cinnamon Queen, and ISA Brown all trace back to a Rhode Island Red parent, and the New Hampshire was refined straight from Rhode Island Red stock One breed from one small state is the genetic backbone of the modern hen house
  • It delivers exactly what keepers say they

7 Classic American Chicken Breeds to Raise for America’s 250th Birthday

This summer, the United States celebrates its 250th birthday, and there will be parades, fireworks, and bunting on every Main Street Meanwhile, the oldest American tradition on your block will be out back rather than on the parade route Backyard chicken keeping is older than the nation itself, and the good news for anyone carrying on that tradition today is that several of the very same classic American chicken breeds that helped settle the country are still scratching around farmyards right now In this guide we round up seven founding breeds and take a close look at the oldest

12 Months in a North Iowa Backyard. One Polar Vortex. Here’s How the Hoover’s Coop Held Up.

12 Months in a North Iowa Backyard One Polar Vortex Here’s How the Hoover’s Coop Held Up

On a rural property outside Mason City, Iowa, sits a 10-Bird Hoover’s Lean-To Easy Clean Coop and Run It’s been there for nearly a full year, holding a small flock of backyard chickens through some unpredictable weather conditions Now, 12 months later, the coop is holding up just as well as we expected While the inside has been cleaned on a regular schedule (the coop has been home to two Rhode Island Reds and two Light Brahmas this year), the outside underwent no

Why We Delivered Four Chicks to an Iowa Care Home

Why We Delivered Four Chicks to an Iowa Care Home

This morning, four chicks arrived at the IOOF Home and Community Therapy Center in Mason City They came with a brooder, a feeder, a waterer, a heat lamp, and a bag of feed

This isn’t a typical Hoover’s delivery We’ve been an Iowa hatchery since 1944 Most days, we ship chicks to backyards across all the country Today, four of them stayed close to home

The chicks will live at IOOF Home & Community Therapy Center for the next six to eight weeks while they grow their feathers and gain size Residents


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