The Heritage Rhode Island Red Site - Page 2

Ok,
I for got you got some of Dicks Single Combs.
I got a cockerel and pullet out of that Single comb line that Dick was selling eggs out of. I got them off Dick about 3 months ago and and got a heck of a deal on them.
I think he said that they were 8 or 9 months old so I will see what I get out of them in the spring.

Your Reds are looking good.

Chris

I forget where I got these pictures from but I thought I would post them.





Chris

who sell the heritage RIR?

Rose comb or Single comb?

If you are looking for Single comb and not looking to spend a lot of money you can try -
Matt John at Shady Lane Farms http://www.shadylanepoultry.com/exhbreeds.html

Chris

I have some Heritage RIReds that I got from TatersChickens on here. She was a pleasure to work with and the birds are beautiful. I gave some of the eggs to my friend to hatch and he loves his hens and roo. That being said I now have a question.
We hatched these eggs in the last week of January and until today (Oct 8th) only one hen has laid a few eggs. Is this normal? If so when will the others start laying and how is their laying has far has eggs per week and size?

Here is a information about breeding Reds that might help the new comers.
R.I. Reds should carry its body perfectly horizontal and should be long, approaching in shape when viewed from the side as nearly as possible to rectangle or Brick Shape. The line of back and keel should be both be level and parallel to one another. The base line of the wing should be parallel to the back and keel and the wing should never have a tendency to drop, as the is a defect. The back should not only be flat from front to rear, but should be flat side to side. There should be no tendency to slope from the backbone to the side, and show no indication of a ridge along the backbone. The breast must project outward in order to fill out the rectangular shape. If a line was dropped through the base of the beak it should just clear the front of the breast. The tail should be well spread and carried what would be considered low at 20* for males and 10* for females, and should not be drooping.

A red eye in R.I. Reds is very desirable in the breeders of both males and females.
However, a male good in other traits should not be discarded as a breeder if his eye is bright, healthy and on the bay order. A hens eye color will tend to fade with laying, and it is rather hard to find good eyes in a old hen. However, a hen has a bright, healthy bay color eye probably had a strong eye as a pullet and can be used as a breeder.
The beak on breeders should be reddish horn in color. A beak that is dark black and streaky is not desired and should be selected against.
Breeders should have red ear lobes and birds showing white in there ear lobes is not desired and should be selected against.

To avoid the double mating, do not use a the extremely dark males, as the females from them can often be poor in color and tending to be mottled.
The mating should consist of a rich color male with even shade in hackle, wing bows, back and saddle.
The females should be dark, rich and even in color. Hens color should also be lustrous, bright, alive and not a flat, dead color which shows as brown or chocolate color.
Birds of even color are especially desired as breeding stock. The females that are to be used in the mating should not show too much black in the hackles and wing. In fact, hens that are free from black ticking in the hackle and wings in which the black markings are faint are preferred as the males with dark black markings in the wing will give about the right amount of ticking in the pullets hackles. If the black is dark in both males and females then there is a tendency to produce black lacing in the hackles of the male offspring.

Chris

Here is a example of the Eye color of a Red.



Chris

I was thinking to use this roo. Would you please critique him? I am not so sure what to look for. 6 months old






Maybe? this is a better picture of my one and only rosecomb roo. (6 months old) I know he still has growing to do, but do you think I should look for a better one, or wait and see? He seems smaller than the single comb roos. Maybe he is slighted at the feed tray?






I think the eye is actually darker than this picture shows.

Wow!!!!! I am so glad this thread got started.
I have been absent from the forum for months due to computer issues, but now I'm back and found this!

RIR's are my favorite breed.
Being from MA, I wanted my first chickens to be a breed that were proven to be hardy for this fickle New England climate. RIR's were developed in this area (or within a 100 miles of my area) so it made sense to me to get them. My first Reds were from the hatchery. Being a newbie to chickens at the time, I called the hatchery to ask if I recieved the wrong breed because the Reds I got were not the deep dark Reds that I had researched. So months later I found some kind folk here on BYC that pointed me in the right direction to get my heritage Reds. I am sooooo happy with my TRUE RIR's that I am trying to sell off my hatchery stock to make room in the coop for the upcomming heritage layers. Here as a pic from a few months ago of my roo, Joe. We named him Gentileman Joe (after the professional boxer) because although he looks tough, he is such a sweet guy. In the pic with Joe is one of my hatchery gals for comparison. I hope more folks see this breed for what it is,  and not what the hatcheries have made of it. They have created a muted color, egg machine that is smaller and ill tempered. A far cry from the true beauty and temperment of a true RIR.