The Heritage Rhode Island Red Site

[immyjay54]

depends on the age and breed. For a production line 28 week old hen, that is a great price. Around here I re-homed my production 11 month old hens at $10-$15 depending on how many they bought. They were all sold with more wanting them in under two weeks. But here is a cost breakdown for you. $3 per chick is a bunch were ordered and shipping counted or if gotten at the feed store. 15-20 pounds of food to get to laying age = $8. Bedding and save a chick for the water, any treats, increase in water, heat for the brooder, all of the little pennies add up most likely about a $1 or $2 depending on how many are being raised together. So to get a feed store chick to laying age I estimate about $12-$13 plus time and efforts. For a newly laying production hen I ask $25 for one or $60 for 3. Sounds like a lot but really very little profit in it. Heritage breeds I would expect to pay much more for a hen and a touch more for a rooster as the chicks cost more and roosters typically get sold at feed plus chick cost unless they are breeding age and show quality for sure.

Now I have a question about the HRIR roosters. Mine are just at the 25 week mark and the fastest to feather one is having a feather thing on his neck. I see lots of gray / silver feather tubes but no feathers. No skin showing and he is the bossy rooster so I don't think it is from a little disagreement. Is it some kind of molting and new feathers are coming in? Or do I need to watch more carefully and put him in a different pen until his feathers grow back in. My other 25 week old roosters have much smaller spots like this on their necks too. I feed them a high protein feed so it is not a lack of protein or an excess of calcium. I do toss soft veggies out to the compost pile. These HRIR are great foragers. They are out eating bugs and whatever else they like most of the day even when there is feed available. So I'm very confident it is not a food issue but if it is I will change my feeding ways.

Hey Sally,
Look at the last pictures I posted of my Reese birds and you'll see the same thing on them. It is nothing but molting. I never noticed this this bad with my other birds but we have not had a summer like this year either. Mine look really funny in the necks. Even some of my older birds did this this summer, I called them turken reds. I was ashamed for anyone to see them.
Nothing really to worry about and as Matt said, give them a month or so and they will be gorgeous. lol
Jim

 

[Chickens Naturally]

Most days I like to get on and read this thread. I feel I've learned a lot and still have a lot to learn, but today was a real eye opener and learning experience. We learned something about another animal today folks. We learned the sound of a MALE DONKEY. We learned that right here on BYC. You know if people don't have heritage birds, and it's not even an interest of yours, what is the point of stirring up trouble. There is a difference in debate and attack. This quickly became a forum for you to attack someone when it was totally uncalled for. It seems it occurs on several threads lately.
Jimmy, I'm so glad the sun is shining today!

Bob, tell Zora duh huh, she'll know what I mean.

I am sorry you feel that way. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, however I'm not sure how you could get 'attack' out of anything I said. I like Bob, he is one of the few people I have exchanged PM's with on this forum. It may be unintentional, but man, it's hard to keep up with the false information. I don't have heritage Rhode Island Reds - I do have interest. The last time SOMEONE ELSE posted their opinion on out crossing and I posted mine, I got a post from someone else nearly identical to yours which is more or less, 'why are YOU stirring up trouble'. I thought I was RESPONDING to someone else's opinion after THEY brought up the subject BOTH times.

All I am saying is that it is incorrect to imply that out crossing is always bad. Considering that there is a huge industry of meat and egg producers who have smarty pants geneticist on the payroll who have used out crossing and all chickens come from jungle fowl, very intelligent people recreate breeds and others save breeds by using these methods....I would think that my position on this would be self evident. The heritage RIR was the result of crossing not only lines, but breeds. How can anyone know these things and have an issue when I say crossing is not always bad? Was it BAD when all the different color varieties were developed? If you have RIR guess how you got them? No you probably will never have a need to cross an old line if you are fortunate to get them. Guess what? I NEVER SAID YOU OR ANYONE ELSE SHOULD. I said its not 'a right way and a wrong way', its a 'right time and a wrong time'. Out crossing is not categorically a bad thing. How can anyone disagree with that???

Feel free to quote me on anything I said that attacked Bob. I even said in my post, 'when I say YOU I am not talking about YOU personally Bob, I agree with most of what you say'.

If you can get out of what I said that I was attacking Bob, have no interest in heritage fowl and by stating my opinion I am starting trouble...all I can say is I am sorry you feel that way. And since you can't tell my mood by print, I'm not angry. I'm simply stating my opinion on the subject and I stand by it.

 

[cmom]

Quote:

Nothing really to worry about and as Matt said, give them a month or so and they will be gorgeous. lol

Jim
My boys look like tailless turken reds too. There are feathers everywhere. Can't wait until they are handsome again. I wanted to put one of the boys in the show in October but not sure if he will be ready by then. The rooster I got from Matt is looking pretty pathetic right now. I am ashamed too for anyone to see them.

 

[SallyinIndiana]

Just curious, this talk of line breeding gets me thinking too much sometimes. If the same sire is the sire foe multiple generations, how long is a HRIR rooster fertile? Are there fertility issues on that 4th generation? Is it a must to start with a young bird when line breeding to make sure that the sire stays fertile?

 

[Fred's Hens]

Just curious, this talk of line breeding gets me thinking too much sometimes. If the same sire is the sire foe multiple generations, how long is a HRIR rooster fertile? Are there fertility issues on that 4th generation? Is it a must to start with a young bird when line breeding to make sure that the sire stays fertile?

I wrap my mind around this concept this way. Take it for what it is worth. This is a kind cloning. The daughter pullet is 1/2 her sire. Put her back under her sire the offspring are 3/4 clone of the sire, but you'll still have to select carefully. In subsequent generations, if you can keep that sire from dying or eaten by a coon, the next gen will be 7/8 clones of that patriarchal sire. If you can or do squeeze one more gen out of him, those birds will be 15/16th clones of the sire. Remember, there must be excellent selection each step of the way.

Cloning. The flock would be level, that's for sure. Is is this simple? Well, no. Nothing is ever quite as simple as that, but the goal is to make a level flock or replicated birds, each after their kind. This is merely the way my minds works. I'll go back to my knitting now.

 

[cmom]

Thought I'd post some pics of the offspring from birds I got from Matt. The pictures are not the best. They were getting ready for the night. In some pics I used a flash. I will try to get some better pics tomorrow. I have already culled some. These are what are left to select from. I kept one male from this hatch. I think they are about a month away from laying.

 

[Matt1616]

Thought I'd post some pics of the offspring from birds I got from Matt. The pictures are not the best. They were getting ready for the night. In some pics I used a flash. I will try to get some better pics tomorrow. I have already culled some. These are what are left to select from. I kept one male from this hatch. I think they are about a month away from laying.

Looking good cmom. I see some extended keels and good color there. A couple more month and they should be nice. I hope you are happy with them. Matt

 

[cmom]

Matt,
I am very happy with the birds. I hope to get some show quality birds out of them. I am planning on taking a couple of the pullets to the Inverness show Oct. 26th to see how they place. The Roo I got from you is looking very pathetic right now. He is molting big time. I had to de-spur him as he was tripping over those long spurs. Alieda

 

[RedRidge]

Quote:

Cloning. The flock would be level, that's for sure. Is is this simple? Well, no. Nothing is ever quite as simple as that, but the goal is to make a level flock or replicated birds, each after their kind. This is merely the way my minds works. I'll go back to my knitting now.

I have struggled with this too simply because I want to maintain/increase (ha, yeah right) fertility and egg laying.
I think I have a long road to hoe simply because tracking egg laying is not easy unless each hen has their own suite...

But... I am determined to do my best to try to maintain the quality in the line I have which is approaching it's 100th year.

Any advice for different easy methods to track egg laying?

 

[Fred's Hens]

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.