The New Hampshire Chicken is a heritage poultry breed that lays beautiful, large eggs and grows to a pleasant size for mid-scale meat production. This successful dual-purpose bird was developed in Rhode Island and Massachusetts as a strain of the Rhode Island Red. Beginning about 1910, poultry raisers in New Hampshire deliberately selected for early feathering, fast growth, and maturity as well as large egg size and good meat conformation. Certain strains were also noted for their vigor and hardiness. Whereas the show breeders of the Rhode Island Red placed great emphasis on red coloring, this was not much of a consideration to many of the practical New Hampshire poultry raisers. The New Hampshire Agricultural Experiment Station was working on developing a broiler meat strain as well. With time, the New Hampshire type was recognized for its specialized traits, and it was admitted to the Standard of Perfection in 1935. The New Hampshire was a significant contributor to the egg production industry. The breed’s rapid growth and early maturity were also recognized by the large broiler industry both in New Hampshire and in the Delmarva Peninsula (Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia) by the 1930s. The Delaware-New Hampshire cross became a popular choice for broiler production.