The Norwegian Jaer Hen

The Norwegian Jaer Hen breed originates from the Norwegian landrace type of poultry in the time before import of foreign breeds begun around 1850. The national control station for the breeding work was established in Jæren in 1916. The breed shows good vitality and health in spite of a high degree of inbreeding, as today's population is considered to originate from one single pair of parents.

Jaer hens are significantly smaller than other comparable laying hens. The average live weight of males is 2,5 kg and of females approximately 1,7 kg. The neck is held in an upright position, and the beak and legs are light yellow.

The cockerel is white with either grey or yellow-brown colour on the tip of each feather. The hen has a barred grey-black bottom colour at the deck feathers. The feathers on neck and collar are yellow-brown. The flying feathers and tail feathers are dark grey without neither stripes or edge. An unusual trait of the breed is that the newly hatched chicks show a difference in male and female colour pattern, and are therefore easy to sort by sex.

The hens are quite productive, and have a laying rate of about 60%, 200-230 eggs per year, with a good shell quality. The breed was kept as a commercial laying breed until 1973.

The individuals of Jær breed are active, seek feed eagerly and are quite competent flyers.

Today the breed is mainly kept as a hobby breed and for small scale egg production. They are kept amongst farmers and at the Norwegian Poultry Genebank as the main national conservation measure, with 30 groups of animals consisting of one male and 6 female half-sisters in each group.

Male and female of the Norwegian Jaer Hen (photo: Ã…smund Asdal).