Holland Chickens: The Backyard Dual Purpose Bird

Holland chickens are not from the country of it's name, but was developed in the United States. It is a nice dual purpose layer of white eggs.

Holland Chickens The Facts:

Class: Standard: American Bantam: Single Comb, Clean Legged

Size: Standard Male: 8.5 Ibs. / Standard Female: 6.5 Ibs. / Bantam Male: 34 oz. / Bantam Female: 30 oz.

Comb, Wattles & Earlobes: They have a single comb with six well defined points that stand upright on males and lean over at the rear on females. They have medium to moderately large wattles and earlobes and the comb and wattles are both bright red. Bright red was also put in place by the APA as the standard of perfection for earlobes, but breeders have had a difficult time making this trait standard. Earlobes commonly have a white center and vary between pure red and almost pure white.

Color:

Barred: They have standard barred plumage.

White: They have standard white plumage.

Place of Origin: United States

Conservation Status: Critical

Special Qualities: Nice backyard dual purpose layer of white eggs.

Considering that most chicken breeds are named after where they originated from it would seem obvious that this breed is from the country of it's name. Not this time. This breed was actually originated by scientists at Rutgers University in New Jersey in 1934.

At this time in 1934, most eggs for market were produced on small farms by dual purpose birds. Most dual purpose birds laid brown eggs. Consumers were willing to pay a premium price for white eggs, so the scientists at Rutgers were trying to provide a means to give more supply for this demand.

The scientists created the breed by crossing white birds from Holland (where the name came from), with White Leghorns, Rhode Island Reds, New Hampshire's, and Lamonas. They used the White Leghorns, Barred Plymouth Rocks, Australorps, and Brown Leghorns to produce the barred variety.

These birds are well suited for backyard and barnyard conditions. They have a tendency to develop slowly, but they are good foragers and can take care of a good deal of their food needs on their own. They are rather hardy, although they can suffer from frostbite to the comb in extreme conditions. The hens produce lots of medium to large white eggs and will go broody. They tend to be rather docile birds as well.

The breed was first recognized by the APA in 1949.