Rhode Island Red

I just got three hens the other day- one RIR, Blu, one SLW, Speckles, and one Buff Orpington, Buttercup. On Sunday, May 4th, I got Speckles and Blu. Right away Blu warmed up to me and was sooo sweet! A few days later I got Buttercup, and Blu immediately accepted her (I tried bringing a white leghorn into the flock, but blu was too aggressive.) For a few days now I have been carrying Blu around the yard in my arms! She is the sweetest bird I have ever had, and the breed is amazing for a first time chicken owner.

The best chickens on the market good sellers, good layers, friendly, good free rangers, good for small and big farms. Beautiful bird.

My first chickens ever were Rhode Island Reds, and two of them are still in my coop today
Even though I wasn't entirely sure what I was doing, those first four turned out to be the sweetest birds I've ever had in my flock! (With the possible exception of Black Australorps)
They are real people-chickens, and love to be petted and cuddled. They come to me when I call "treats!" and hang around me whenever I'm working in the coop. Abbie, especially, is my baby She is the most spoiled chicken ever, but is still great at free-ranging and gets the most bugs out of all the hens.
Beware, they do NOT like new additions to the flock, and may attack viciously.... but give them a few months and everyone will be friends forever!
The only upsetting thing about them is that they only live to about three years old, although two of mine have surpassed that age, and Abbie still acts like a chick XD

I love theses, they are just a little shy

Every RIR I have had have been nasty and mean. I do not like them at all. I have tried three different breeders and each time the birds were flighty and picked on all the other girls.

Greta Layers when they lay. Mine take a few months off (5 months in a row) Never had any mean birds, Super friendly. Roosters are always at my feet and I can reach down and Check their bands on their legs with out picking them up. They just stand there and let me. few of the hens are kinda standoffish. But a few are not and I have a hard time keeping them out while cleaning the coop LOL.

very curious, Beautiful, great Egg-Layers. however they are very skittish, but is a good thing when there is a Hawk; she flaps her wings, screeches, Jumps up and down, and alarms us

Mine are still chicks, they are so sweet and gentle with kids!

Rhode Islands are good layers. They lay about one each day. It's funny how when I feed them, they swarm at me.
I have two, and have different personalities to each other. My light red-orange hen is sweet and loving and my darkish red hen tends to be very curious and when your not looking she pecks your back. They are very curious birds and love to forage. Roosters are aggressive, and very protective of the hens. I needed him to take care of the hens. So everyday I have fun.

Over all I love theses chickens they are by far my best layer and they are very sweet loving birds to people, but would rather kill the other chickens!

We had two RIRs. We got them as chicks along with 3 Buffs. For personality, I would go with the Buffs. So sweet, like being handled. As for the RIRs, one loved to be handled while the other didn't. Cinnamon (the more aggressive) is a bully, definitely at the top of the pecking order. She also has a nasty habit of pecking the eggs. We haven't completely broken her of this, but she is definitely better. However, she still picks on our Buffs. If there is food involved, she is even worse. BUT, her eggs are huge! So were Brown Sugar's eggs (our other RIR). Excellent size, great layers, wonderful foragers. Just know that they like to be the chief.

My RIR is a bossy sort. She lays good eggs and has only gone broody once.

We bought a single RIR with our other speckleds to see if we liked the breed. Other people had reported they were a bit on the aggressive side sometimes, so we knew it was a 50/50 chance we'd get either a docile sweet personality, or one that was on the wacky side. Charming was an adorable baby, loved being around us and with us, though now she's become an independent bird! Her personality is pretty much in the middle of both sides!

We had to break her from coming over and pecking our pants - she started inquisitively, then she began doing it harder right about the time she started vying for position in the flock. It got a little more aggressive, so we nipped it in the bud. In with the older girls (Dom, EE's, BR) she is flighty but tries to push her rank. With the younger two (Speckleds) she is definitely a bossy, pushy bird. She had to be separated for a week from everyone to calm her down and since then she's been doing better, but she's still a bit on the flighty side with the older girls and whenever I come out in the yard... she'll rush over to see me, then run away if I don't immediately throw out treats. Ha ha ha! She's our #5 bird (of 7), but I don't doubt she'll be leading the flock in the future.

Since she's started laying (late january), she's been one a day every day. Her eggs are shaped like golf balls, though, but that's alright with us as we're not selling them.

If you are looking for a solid laying bird, RIR's seem to be absolutely great. We don't baby our birds after they go outside, so I can't really tell if she'd have been a good pet - she was quite friendly as a chick and loved cuddles, though, so she might have been! In a mixed flock, she seems a little pushy with her position. We will likely get more in the future.

My Rhode Island Red hen is my most intelligent hen and one of my friendliest. She sticks right beside me when I work in the garden or yard. When I pull weeds, she catches any bugs that scurry away. I'm very thankful that she is quick to catch the black widow spiders that infested my garden last year. She is the best hen I have at finding her own food while she free-ranges in the yard--she is never skinny. I enjoy the variety of funny sounds she makes; she's quite entertaining. I grew up with RIR hens and assumed all chickens were very "talkative," but now I realize it must be a RIR trait.

I have owned several RIR over the years, but that last 2 I have, will be my last! They are GREAT layers, but they have attacked a killed another chicken. They are top of the pecking order in my flock and they are the meanest to other birds. If your entire flock was RIR, it would probably be ok, but in a mixed flock with more docile birds, the docile birds don't stand a chance.

My hens are all very friend and always run to me when they see me. my very healthy birds. like free ranging. they don't often go broody which can be good or bad. they aren't the best egg layers.

I started out with Rhode Island reds , They were good layers they would lay mostly everyday and all throughout the winter. My RIR hens were very friendly and didn't mind being picked up. they would all go back into the coop by themselves at sun set which was very nice because I never had to chase them around to get back inside. I had a terrible experience with my RIR roo's they were terribly aggressive I couldn't walk to or from the coop without being attacked I could not turn my back or bend over to feed or water without being spurred and clawed. My mother got spurred bad in the leg and it bled allot, anyone who came by to look at the chickens would get attacked, my dog got attacked, the children couldn't even go near the backyard because we feared for there safety. one rooster ended up being a meal and the other one was let free on a bigger farm. another con was they were not very cold hardy, if you live in a area with cold winters RIR are not the best for you, there combs and waddles would get frostbitten and all winter I was curing frostbite. RIR are not very friendly to new members of the flock, I tried introducing 5 new hens to the flock slowly but the RIR's seemed to never get used to the newbies, they would chase them and peck them apart, and wouldn't let any even close to a feeder.

I had these, great birds. Hardy in heat and cold. Great dual- purpose birds. Everyone should have some in their flock .

I have had a great experience with my Rhode Islands because they give me a good amount of eggs, they will come to you because they enjoy your company, they are active and not lazy,they are adventurous and always curious about things..... The Rhode Island is just a very good breed!