BREEDS you need
Hamburgs, also known as Dutch Everyday Layers, are a common chicken available in standard and bantam sizes. Originally bred for dueling purposes, the flighty, independent Hamburg prefers other birds to human company. Intolerant of confinement, it would rather spend its time foraging in yards and roosting in trees. This shouldn’t deter farmers interested in keeping these beautiful ornamental birds, however: They’re dependable, nonsetting layers of medium-sized white eggs and often lay well into maturity.
Keep them in spacious coops with enclosed yards or, when possible, allow them to roam free-range to ease their dislike of confinement. The Hamburg is very self-sufficient and avoids encounters with predators.
Clip one wing to prevent it from flying too far. Not the best option for children, the Hamburg isn’t considered overly friendly.
The origins of the Hamburg chicken breed are somewhat unclear. Some experts agree that they were originally bred in Holland and Hamburg during the 1840s, while others believe that they are a much older breed that started somewhere in the Mediterranean, most likely Turkey. The British and Dutch strongly influenced the Hamburg varieties we see today.
The chickens have strong flying abilities and were once thought to be the result of a cross between common chickens and pheasants. Because of this likeness to pheasants, the Hamburg was once called pheasant or pheasant fowl. The breed was accepted into the American Poultry Association’s Standard of Perfection in 1874.
The APA recognizes six Hamburg chicken breed varieties: Golden Penciled, Silver Penciled, Golden Spangled, Silver Spangled, Black and White. All varieties have standard plumage. A red rose comb and wattles and white earlobes are characteristic of the breed. Its shanks are grayish-blue, except in the Black variety, in which they are black.
Murray Mcmurray Hatchery describes the Silver Spangled variety as having “lustrous, greenish black spangles on silvery white plumage giving them a perky polk-a-dot look. With neat rose combs, white ear lobes and leaden blue shanks and toes, these are excellent small chickens when it comes to both beauty and utility. Baby chicks are a silver gray with parallel dark and light stripes on the back.”
Standard Hamburg cocks weigh 5 pounds and hens weigh 4 pounds; bantam cocks weigh 26 ounces and bantam hens weigh 22 ounces.