The Heritage Rhode Island Red Site

I have a question for the pros. I have one youngster that is around 4 months old but she is a runt. She is half the size of her hatch mates. Here is a picture of her. I have her separated as the boys are after her and I am worried they will hurt her as she is so small. Do you think she will eventually lay ok. I have had runts before but they usually catch up somewhat in growth. The others may have been a bit smaller but I have never had one this small. I know it's hard to tell how small she is by this picture.


Here she is with some 8 week old Red Sex Link boys. She is about the same size as they are.




 
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All I know is this. This breeder Don Nelson kept his strain, line, gene pool or what ever you call it closed from any outside blood for over twenty years. He has a look to his birds that I can spot mile away. I know a lady who has some in Ga who got them from him or his care taker who is got his flock I know a guy In Penn who has a flock Jimmy has some and a lady in Iowa who has some. This is the same gene pool of birds that Don started. If I got two males from Jimmy sent to me and two hens sent to me from the lady in Georgia and breed them I would have unrelated cousins but still Don Nelson Line. If I line breed them for five years and you looked at mine and Jimmys and the lady in Ga they would look alike. You could exchange birds with each other and they would blend or niche perfectly.

We took my old line of Mohawks from Illinois seventeen years out from me still closed gene pool and a line I got a fellow started out of Florida twenty years ago and crossed them. They all looked like Mohawks. Where they my old line? Where they Mr. Reese's old line from twenty five years ago? Where they Mrs. Donaldson's Line that Mr. Reese got from her in the sixty's? They sure look like it to me. Are they? That's up for discussion. Some people feel once the customer gets birds from a breeder they are no longer his or her line there the customers line To me I can tell a Forgery line, Nelson Line Radamaher line or Mohawk line from the pictures. They all are good birds but look a littler different in shape to me..

Who cares? They are Rhode Island Reds and they are true to type and color.

Splitting hairs to much on this issue. I just know if I was getting R I Reds and I lived in the south where its hot and humid I would want Mohawks. If I lived in New York or Maine I would want Nelson lines they have adapted to the climate for so many years. Its just a matter of choice. If you like to show your R I Reds you better get you a strain that can win in tough completion or you will not enjoy going to the shows. If you want lots of eggs cross Heritage Rhode Island Reds on Production Reds. Or just get you some from Mr. Fox at Ideal Hatchery and its already done for you.

What does the beginner want to do. Be a Preservationist's and try to preserve this old breed or just have some dark red chickens in their yard and call them Heritage Rhode Island Reds.
To me its a personnel choice. I just try to help you be a Preservationist's. I have no interest in Production Chickens, Red Chickens that have traits from the twenty's or thirty's. I want to promote the Rhode Island Red Club and its officers.

Here is a question how many of you are members of this old club? They need support they are on the move. They are promoting the Red Chickens that you post pictures of on this tread.

Hope you get you some Heritage Rhode Island Reds if you don't have any and enjoy a great dual purpose breed. Don't forget the Rose Combs also. They are looking better than ever these days. bob

http://www.motherearthnews.com/home...breeding-chickens-zbcz1309.aspx#axzz2fUJkAttu
interesting article.
 
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I seldom keep a laying flock group of more than 10 hens. Less competition for food, roosts, nests, etc. We often kept 3 or 4 such groups for a 30-40 hen total, but I liked to subdivide laying hens into groups.

I can often discern up 10 hens eggs by shape and tint. But, even so, I can see who's going into the nests. I can also see who is not in in the Q that layers usually line up. With laying groups of say, 6 hens in a group, it is pretty easy to count egg numbers and conclude that someone isn't laying well and it is fairly easy to discern the two or three or four that are super layers. They're almost always found cueing up or in the nest.

All this takes noticing and making a note, I suppose. We often talk about pulling up a milk crate and a coffee and just observing. Laying time is worth watching.

Hmmm... yes... but...
I am very anal... I want exact numbers... so I have to either separate or trap nest.
I was hoping someone would have a better alternative ;-)
 
Hmmm... yes... but...
I am very anal... I want exact numbers... so I have to either separate or trap nest.
I was hoping someone would have a better alternative ;-)

I was trying not to sound like a smart aleck. Fact is, with a dozen hens or less, I learn them and it doesn't take me long. I know who is and who isn't laying. If I get 10 out of 12 eggs for the day? I know who didn't lay. If this were to continue for days and days, yes, I'd remove them from the group and put them in a pen of their own. I've done that and discovered my suspicions were generally correct. I've also found out I was wrong, on occasion and a hen is actually a good layer and I had her confused with another.

Trap nesting tells all. But, it takes a commitment. The hen cannot get out. Either way, learn the flock and make notes or trap nest and make notes. If you want to know your layers, it takes a commitment of time and attention paid.

Shrug. I don't know of an easy way to do this, except for the lipstick on the vent method and I'm not going there.
 
I just added 3 rir hens to my chicken flock already laying age. I'm excited about getting to know them and I'm currently trying to aquire a rooster for some rir chicks.

Well there are at least two kinds of RIR. There are 'production reds' that hatcheries and feed stores sell and Heritage Rhode Island Reds. I have had production reds and enjoyed them very much. They are really good layers and I never had a problem with health or mean roosters like some people have. I'm guessing maybe you have the production type? The folks on this thread are very passionate about pure bred old type heritage RIR and we are currently in a battle over what is acceptable practice when breeding these so this is kind of an 'advanced' study. You will learn a lot about true to type heritage RIR here though. Good luck with your search for a rooster and I hope you enjoy your chickens. My production reds were fantastic layers even all through the winter
big_smile.png
 
I was trying not to sound like a smart aleck. Fact is, with a dozen hens or less, I learn them and it doesn't take me long. I know who is and who isn't laying. If I get 10 out of 12 eggs for the day? I know who didn't lay. If this were to continue for days and days, yes, I'd remove them from the group and put them in a pen of their own. I've done that and discovered my suspicions were generally correct. I've also found out I was wrong, on occasion and a hen is actually a good layer and I had her confused with another.

Trap nesting tells all. But, it takes a commitment. The hen cannot get out. Either way, learn the flock and make notes or trap nest and make notes. If you want to know your layers, it takes a commitment of time and attention paid.

Shrug. I don't know of an easy way to do this, except for the lipstick on the vent method and I'm not going there.
LOL or as my Mom used to say when I was teen "where ya been, chicken sitting"? yep! and you can learn them all(habits, egg shapes, colors and know what they look like in production or out) if you take the time.

Jeff
 
The Heritage Rhode Island Red Site - Page 560

It is very simple if you read the name of this tread its about Heritage Rhode Island Red Site and ITS PAGE 560 its three years old. We PROMOTE Heritage Rhode Island Reds PERIOD.

I don't know what and the heck we are talking about Production Reds, and any hatchery type chicken on this tread. I wrote this tread to promote the Original Rhode Island Reds that have been high jacked by these Production chickens. If you type Rhode Island Reds into BING.com pictures look at all the light colored production reds that take over the pictures at least 85% or more.

If you want to count eggs of your females that are laying you have two choices. You have to order you some trap nests if you can find some or put them in three by three or four by four pens and let each female lay their eggs for 365 days in these pens . This has not been done since the 1950s. So that's my answer on that issue.

I picked my females and males over five years by fast feathering and early development as chicks and then chose the pullets and males as breeders each year that where quick to feather and lay and crow. I may have improved their egg production by 20 to 25 eggs per pullet year. I did not count each egg but I felt they where in the 190 egg per pullet year range which is about all you can ask a Heritage Old Fashion Rhode Island Red to lay. If you want more eggs 210 -20 per year they will blow out their guts. These are dual purpose chickens and they are not suppose to lay like Ideal Hatchery Production Chickens. They have their issues to. The are track stars and lay quick a lot and will not live long lives. Good Heritage Rhode Island Reds like I use to raise would live and lay up to six to 8 years.

Most people don't keep them that long but Greg Chamness did and crossed a male that I sold a kid that was five years old on some six and eight year old hens a few years ago and got chicks. So they did and still have longevity of life.

So that is the scoop on trap nesting, breeds of birds on this tread. I hope we can focus on getting people into the old style R I Reds, getting them on the waiting lists. I got a person who wants Large Fowl Reds today I referred them to Ron in Arkansas as that is where they live. They have the Back Yard Chicken thinking but want to make a change. How they will turn out over three years is anyone's guess. But they still have feed store thinking chicken in their minds They are rookies at this and have to try to explain their is a difference and they may be disappointed in not getting the eggs that they are use to getting from the Cherry Eggers. Only time will tell. Its hard to get this high egg production thinking out of lurkers or beginners. They just revert back to that logic that is why only a few make it with this hobby. Its hard work, lots of record keeping and must be careful how you line breed so you don't inbreed yourself into a corner.

http://www.bing.com/images/search?q...orm=QBIR&pq=rhode+island+reds&sc=1-17&sp=1&sk=

look at all the light colored red chickens when you hit this blue site. That's what the common person thinks a Rhode Island Red is. Sad Sad Sad.
 
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I just added 3 rir hens to my chicken flock already laying age. I'm excited about getting to know them and I'm currently trying to aquire a rooster for some rir chicks.


Well there are at least two kinds of RIR. There are 'production reds' that hatcheries and feed stores sell and Heritage Rhode Island Reds. I have had production reds and enjoyed them very much. They are really good layers and I never had a problem with health or mean roosters like some people have. I'm guessing maybe you have the production type? The folks on this thread are very passionate about pure bred old type heritage RIR and we are currently in a battle over what is acceptable practice when breeding these so this is kind of an 'advanced' study. You will learn a lot about true to type heritage RIR here though. Good luck with your search for a rooster and I hope you enjoy your chickens. My production reds were fantastic layers even all through the winter
big_smile.png


The Heritage Rhode Island Red Site - Page 560

It is very simple if you read the name of this tread its about Heritage Rhode Island Red Site and ITS PAGE 560 its three years old. We PROMOTE Heritage Rhode Island Reds PERIOD.

I don't know what and the heck we are talking about Production Reds, and any hatchery type chicken on this tread. I wrote this tread to promote the Original Rhode Island Reds that have been high jacked by these Production chickens.
Bob, all the talk about production reds here was about being nice and informative at the same time and answering a harmless question that could be coming from a child for all we know. As the 'thread starter' and 'teacher', let me know if this is against the rules here too. Is this a thread about heritage Rhode Island Reds or a scene from Apocalypse Now?
 
Quote: I won't do this because I'm just not enough of a farm girl yet. Maybe the day will come. The cheapest way I have seen posted about to sort the eggs by layer is to use food icing coloring gel up the vent. If I understood it right you put a little of this super thick jel into a pet medicine dropper and up inside the vent the coloring goes. to make it easy start with 3 colors. you need your hens to be identifiable using some think like numbered bands or colored spirals. Then you can either do 3 hens at a time or divide the flock into 3 groups based on colors. The coloring lasts for a few days. I think it was more for testing to see who was laying than trying to identify whose egg was whose for breeding purposes.

As for the poster wanting roosters, now is a great time to visit chicken shows in your area to get in touch with local breeders to get a good HRIR. If you are looking for feed store roosters, they abound on CL this time of the yr. it is a quality thing. I used to have production RIR. Then I found out about HRIR.

I have to say after reading the title of this thread, I thought it was about HRIR chickens. I did not think it was about being nice and informative on non-related topics. I sure did not think this thread was a great place to find info on obtaining the production strain. Threads are sorted the way they are for a reason.
 

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