Experience with Lemon Cuckoo Niederrheiner Chickens

[Centerville Bill]

I'm getting ready to order next year's chicks from Murray and have the Lemon Cuckoo Niederrheiner high on my list. Murray indicates the hens should be 6.5 pounds but also compares them with the Bielefelder which has 9.5 pound hens. Does anyone have these birds (from Murray?) that can give me some indication of hen size? My Australorps are my biggest birds and I don't want pecking order issues. Can anyone confirm the 200 eggs per year estimate based on their experience? Any other counsel would be welcome.

Thanks in advance.

 

[DLA]

I had never heard of them https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niederrheiner and

but thanks to your post looked them up and they're quite pretty, I can understand your interest in them. Good luck and if you get them please update your post and let us know how they turn out!

 

[DuckDuckGooseMum]

I'm getting ready to order next year's chicks from Murray and have the Lemon Cuckoo Niederrheiner high on my list. Murray indicates the hens should be 6.5 pounds but also compares them with the Bielefelder which has 9.5 pound hens. Does anyone have these birds (from Murray?) that can give me some indication of hen size? My Australorps are my biggest birds and I don't want pecking order issues. Can anyone confirm the 200 eggs per year estimate based on their experience? Any other counsel would be welcome.

Thanks in advance.

I have a group I purchased from someone who did buy them from McMurray hatchery. 1 hen looks more like a rooster and is too big. Because they are so rare, I did keep her. She lays huge eggs which are very often double yolks. The other hens are normal sized, short legged and round. I sold 1 hen with a larger rooster from the group and an extra hen who was half buff Orpington and half Niederrheiner and kept my favorite roo. So far fertility is up and down with them. I did have greater success hatching from the Orpington cross than the Niederrheiner hens. I will trim vent feathers and see how that works out. From my observations they're highly docile, beautiful, excellent layers and with slightly more effort I am hopeful about hatching as well. They're all around intelligent, friendly and gorgeous birds. The rooster is a gentle, loveable little guy.

 

[DuckDuckGooseMum]

I thought you might want to have a look!

 

[Centerville Bill]

Thanks for your report. Your picture is really appreciated.

 

[GenerousGroves]

Be careful with this breed. I have purchased from a local breeder and McMurray. In my short 11 months with these birds... And being a new chicken mom... This is my experience.
1. They lay 3-4 eggs per week.
2. They have weak legs... (I have 2 secluded currently with splints. I recommend a lower roosting bar... But I'm not 100% sure that's the issue. Mine is really high.)
3. It is a rare breed... I believe due to their fertility issues. Definitely trim vent feathers on both males and females as it helps with fertility and pasty butt.
4. When I ordered from McMurray I ended up with one with short yellow legs. Neiderrhinner have long white legs. I ordered 7. Two died on day 2 which I was refunded for. Of the 5 I had left, 2 males and 3 females.
5. Hens are in the 8-9 lb range and roosters are a solid 10 lbs at full size.
6. I did have a pecking order issue... Can't figure out who knocked the top hen down, but ever since she was injured, there have been other injuries as well.
7. I did have an issue with two early on. One we think it was a head injury ... The other had a bum leg we didn't yet know how to fix. Right around 13 weeks old. So we culled and ate the hen and roo. The most delicious chicken we ever had. So they are a great duel purpose bird, if that's what you are looking for.
Hope this helps.

 

[GirlsHuntToo]

They are on the top of my list as well. They are so pretty!! I might get them this year. If I do I will let you know and we can learn about them together!!

 

[CoopBoots]

I have one rooster I adopted as an adult. Breed only verified by posting here, but he's the image of the roo already posted in this thread.

He's old, very old, and clumsy. Idk how fertility would be with his own breed but he crossed out with close to 50% fertility to my young Buff Orpington pullets without a butt trim. The resulting boys look like Lemon Cuckoo Orpingtons (or maybe more accurately Buff Cuckoo), the girls pass for much bigger Buff Orpingtons.

One of the mothers (left) and daughter (right); excuse the butts, but it's a good size illustration:

Here's the Niederrheiner rooster:

Here's how the sons grow out from the Orpington crossing:

While I'd looooove to get a hen and try for some purebreds, everything I've read about the US birds is poor fertility/oddities in appearance, most likely due to limited genes in the small breeding stock. Can't afford the investment if the prognosis is so poor. But I'm really interested in adding the size and fluffiness to my hatchery quality Orpingtons since I can't afford any better quality. Can't say enough about how soft his feathers are; picking him up is like grabbing a huge fluffy pillow with spurs.

If you end up getting some, I'm always looking to see more pictures!!!

 

[livin in the boo]

I have had Niederrheiners for a couple of years now. I bought hatching eggs from a breeder and hatched out a trio. The following year I wanted to increase my gene pool, so ordered some from McMurray. The pullets were short legged, and not like my hens from the breeder. I hatched out chicks from my trio, when I was able to collect eggs. The hens were not great layers, and a lot of the eggs were crushed by the rooster. I discovered this after culling the original rooster. There were finally eggs in the nesting box! I am struggling with whether to keep my flock, or move on to another breed. They eat a lot, with not great egg production, at least in my experience.

 

[CoopBoots]

I have had Niederrheiners for a couple of years now. I bought hatching eggs from a breeder and hatched out a trio. The following year I wanted to increase my gene pool, so ordered some from McMurray. The pullets were short legged, and not like my hens from the breeder. I hatched out chicks from my trio, when I was able to collect eggs. The hens were not great layers, and a lot of the eggs were crushed by the rooster. I discovered this after culling the original rooster. There were finally eggs in the nesting box! I am struggling with whether to keep my flock, or move on to another breed. They eat a lot, with not great egg production, at least in my experience.

I agree; they are probably better as meat birds than egg layers, but they also seem to mature and grow really slowly so they probably are not an efficient choice. Even my crosses are slow and heavy birds and I don't think much of their laying abilities even as hybrids.

I think they need project work from a dedicated breeder starting with basic reproductive abilities / genetic diversity. I don't really know what they are meant to excel in outside of their appearance. I do find them quite pretty...

If you want to share any pictures, we'd love to see!