In usefulness and beauty the Hamburgs stand very prominently amongst
that numerous collection of fowls which our broad nomenclature
denominates “fancy poultry.” The plumage of every variety, either
Penciled or Spangled, Silver, Golden or Black, is at once beautiful and
striking, attracting the attention of strangers to the poultry yard or
exhibition room when all other breeds have failed to interest them, and
drawing from them involuntary tributes of admiration. And if they are so
much admired by cold and superficial observers, surely the Hamburg
fancier may be pardoned for his unbounded enthusiasm for his favorites
when every season and nearly every day unfolds new beauties in his birds
and renders them more fascinating and delightful to his eye. The
exquisite symmetry, the novel and shapely rose combs, the snowy and
delicate ear-lobes, the tapering blue legs and graceful carriage give
them an aristocratic and “dressed up” appearance and render them the
most beautiful of our domestic fowls.
The Hamburg fancier has plenty of scope in which to indulge his taste,
the different colors and markings affording an ample variety from which
to choose, while the general characteristics are the same.
“Hamburgs,” says Mr. Beldon in Lewis Wright’s poultry book, “are without
doubt the most beautiful breed of poultry we possess, as well as the
most useful, all varieties being alike elegant and beautiful. The
dweller in the country will generally prefer the Silver, while the
citizen will take the Golden or Black; but all of them, in their
matchless variety of marking and color, will delight the eye with the
utmost degree which is perhaps possible of beauty in fowls. Their
marvelous beauty, however, would not recommend the Hamburgs to the
practical breeder so much as their wonderful egg-producing qualities,
which it has been claimed surpass those of any other breed. The
wonderful stories told of Hamburg productiveness, while often more
amusing than reliable, serve to show that in any hands, in any climate
and under the most adverse circumstances they have proved very
profitable to their owners, while with ordinary care they are the best
of layers.”
The average Hamburg pullet will begin laying at four or five months of
age, and will lay from 150 to 200 eggs the first year under favorable
circumstances. The second and third years hens will average from 175 to
225 eggs when properly cared for, and from the third year their
productiveness gradually declines, although one reliable breeder asserts
that he once owned a Black Hamburg hen which at five years of age laid
220 eggs in ten months. A great deal depends upon the strain of birds
and the care they receive, as if productive traits are cherished and
carefully bred for, the number of eggs may be greatly increased, while
neglect to properly cultivate this quality by careless and incompetent
breeders will result in a marked decrease in productiveness.
The absence of the incubating instinct has much to do with the
productiveness for which Hamburgs are noted, as no time is lost in
sitting or brooding the chicks. Some breeders claim that Hamburgs
_never_ attempt to sit. This is incorrect. We have known cases, although
we acknowledge they are rare, where Hamburg hens have hatched and reared
goodly broods of chickens, in every case proving themselves steady
sitters and excellent mothers; nor was there a particle of tainted blood
in their veins, these being merely cases where that wonderful instinct
which is common to nearly all fowls will “crop out” occasionally in
_every_ variety of non-sitting fowls. It is _not_ necessarily due to a
former cross, but may be occasioned by “reversion” to which we attribute
everything that we do not understand in nature’s domain.
This non-sitting instinct is of double value to the Hamburgs, as they do
not lose half their feathers during incubation, but maintain their sleek
appearance through the entire season, and when they do moult they moult
easily and rapidly, seldom or never being left for a time denuded of
feathers, as are most other breeds, but the new feathers making their
appearance as the old ones drop out, so that they are never an eyesore
to their owners. Indeed, they seem to change their coats so easily that
it is no rare thing for hens to lay as steadily during this ordinarily
trying process as at any other time. They should, however, have an extra
allowance of feed at this time, and a little tincture of iron in their
drinking water or a few rusty nails placed in the drinking pans will
strengthen and tone up their systems.
To do their best, Hamburgs should have free range. Mr. Beldon, though
greatly overdrawing their need for this luxury, attaches so much
importance to it that he says: “They are of little use penned up, in
which state they pine and mope for liberty; that bright cheerfulness
which is common to them disappears, and from being the happiest they
become the most wretched of birds.”
Though Mr. Beldon may have found this the case, our own experience has
been that no small breeds of fowls will stand the tedium of a long and
severe winter in close quarters better than the Hamburgs. In fact, all
you need is to _keep them busy_, and they will seem happy and contented.
Still, the larger the grass run they have in summer the greater their
productiveness and the better they will do. They are very small eaters,
and when at liberty are excellent foragers, being up at break of day and
away rummaging the fields and pastures in search of food. Their quick
eye at once espies their prey, and “woe to the poor worm that happens on
that particular morning to have got up a little too early.” Every corner
is searched with indefatigable zeal, and by the time the man gets around
in the morning to feed them they have made a good breakfast and are
ready for the business of the day. Perfect liberty or a large grass run
are valuable adjuncts to health and egg production. Give it them if you
possibly can.
As a rule Hamburgs are a healthy breed, being little subject to the
common ailments of poultry. One of our correspondents writes: “They are
remarkably hardy, often enduring hardships that to other breeds mean
disease and death with successful fortitude. I have had young Hamburg
chicks pecked by the mother of a rival flock and virtually ‘scalped’ in
her insane jealousy, the skin being torn from the head down the entire
back, and yet the youngster would trot around as lively as though
nothing had happened, and not only get well but flourish. Sometimes the
feathers would grow out upon the ‘skinned’ place, and sometimes it would
always retain a smooth appearance. I have now a hen, which we consider
one of our best breeders, without a vestige of feathering upon her
entire back, owing to a like accident in her youth. The chicks are very
easily reared. Of course they must have proper care, as they cannot rear
themselves; but with a moderate degree of attention no trouble will be
found in raising them to maturity.
“Taken as a whole we consider the Hamburgs as hardly excelled by any
other fowl for the farmer, fancier or poulterer. On a good homestead
they will keep themselves, and if well attended to will pay better than
any other farm stock in proportion to the investment. In fine, I feel
perfectly safe in an assertion that in no one breed will be found so
much beauty and usefulness, and so many excellent qualities, as in the
several varieties of the Hamburg family, while in the one item of egg
production they stand to-day where they did hundreds of years ago,
unrivaled by any domestic fowl.”
This is a statement of one who is full of enthusiasm, but it may be
noted that only a superior breed of fowls would excite so much
commendation in a breeder who has been familiar with them from his
youth.