The Heritage Rhode Island Red Site

[ChickMagnet207]

I came across this post by chris09 on this thread

 

[Chris09]

Watch the backs on some of the birds they are starting to look narrow.

Chris

 

[Robert Blosl]

I came across this post by chris09 on this thread

This is one of my favorite pictures I have in my computer and I think it came out of a English R I Red book years ago.

When you are starting out dont kill a female because she has stripes because she may have legs dead center, width of back to the oil glands, level wings and a great head. Fix the traits for type first. Get them stamped into your line then once all your females has that classic brick shape , width of back, level wings, extended keel and a good head you can hammer away on this color issue.

Having a good colored R I Red with type defects is not going to do you any good for your strain.

Great observation, ticking in the neck female is the key to breeding for color.

 

[immyjay54]

If the females have more black on the hackle, and the cock birds are truly clean with no black at all do you think that eventually the hackles will get right on the females as time goes on? Gees, there is a lot of work and millions of thoughts going through my head right now. lol
Has anyone come up with hackle feather transplants yet like hair transplants for humans?
Chris, I noticed two things with the one cockerel that I will be watching very closely. As you pointed out, I thought he (my #2 pick bird) was a little narrow in the farthest part of the back going to the tail. Watching to see if he fills out there as he gets older. Second thing I noticed with him (same bird), he has some dark mahogany lacing on edges of a few of his tail feathers. I don't know if these things change or not since this is my first year with the heritage RIR's. The other two guy's tail feathers are just the plain beetle green.
Better get my lawn chair, beach umbrella and coffee pot ready to sit in the chicken lots with pen and pad in hand. lol
Hey all, have a wonderful day and thanks so much for the input on my birds that I have pictured. All comments were well taken and I'll try my best with what I have and hopefully can post some pictures next year of some very nice RIR's from a couple or so different lines.
Thank you all so very much. Oh, you to Jeff. ha,ha You know I'm just jerking your chain. ha,ha.
Jim

 

[NYREDS]

This is one of my favorite pictures I have in my computer and I think it came out of a English R I Red book years ago.

When you are starting out dont kill a female because she has stripes because she may have legs dead center, width of back to the oil glands, level wings and a great head. Fix the traits for type first. Get them stamped into your line then once all your females has that classic brick shape , width of back, level wings, extended keel and a good head you can hammer away on this color issue.

Having a good colored R I Red with type defects is not going to do you any good for your strain.

Great observation, ticking in the neck female is the key to breeding for color.

Absolutely. Too much black in the female hackle is better than too little. It's a lot easier to reduce the black than it is to get it back if it's all gone. Females with no black in the hackle will also have too litle black in the wings & tails that are red where they should be black. When that happens you're at least 3 years away from getting the colour back where it belongs. There's even a place in a breeding program for a male with good type & black in the hackle.
Always remember, type, type type. it's much easier to fix colour than it is to fix type.
A few posts back there was mention of birds narrowing toward the rear. I always tell people to cull for red type from the top, not just from the side. A good Red needs to carry width from the shoulder to the tail. You don't want a wedge shaped bird.

 

[Chris09]

Absolutely. Too much black in the female hackle is better than too little. It's a lot easier to reduce the black than it is to get it back if it's all gone. Females with no black in the hackle will also have too litle black in the wings & tails that are red where they should be black. When that happens you're at least 3 years away from getting the colour back where it belongs. There's even a place in a breeding program for a male with good type & black in the hackle.
Always remember, type, type type. it's much easier to fix colour than it is to fix type.
A few posts back there was mention of birds narrowing toward the rear. I always tell people to cull for red type from the top, not just from the side. A good Red needs to carry width from the shoulder to the tail. You don't want a wedge shaped bird.

To me there are breeding hens and there are exhibition hens, a exhibition hen will have the real nice ticking in the hackles that the standard calls for but a breeding hen will have a little extra "color" to her hackles weather it be lacing or the whole hackle feather has a dark/er appearance.
I have always said that you have to build the barn before you paint it and I hold that to be so true when breeding chickens. The narrowing toward the rear on Reds is a hard to fix fault and birds that have this fault don't stick around long at my place.

Chris

 

[henpeckedmuch]

Imajay,
I really like the looks of both your #2 bird and your #3 bird as they look right now. They are still young though, Let them mature before you make any cuts.

 

[melroseladi]

Reading these most interesting posts regarding type, color, wedge shape etc, at what age should we start culling for things like wedge shape? I am sure several of you can probably tell from hatch, but for us beginners is there a time frame we should hold on to them to see how they develop before culling?

I look at all the pics and read and read and read and I am so afraid that when I actually have RIRs that I will cull wrong, or too early, or (which is more likely) keep all of them out of fear of culling wrong or too early.

 

[henpeckedmuch]

I'm not sure this is the correct place to ask this question or not, but here goes.--

How do you set up your pens? Do you seperate cockerels from pullets? Do you keep them in small pens or large? Do you keep your breeding cocks in with your hens year round? Where do you house the chickens you are about to show?

Right now I have one 20ft x 30ft pen separated into three 10ft wide by 20ft long pens. I have been keeping cockerels in one, hens in the others. Each pen has its own shelter. I also have several 2ft x 4ft. cages in the garage that I use to separate sick chickens from the rest of the flock when nessesary. Am I doing anything right?

 

[docdandc]

ImmJay
I notice that the #3 bird has good width of back carried further toward the tail. Not as much wedge shape. I like that. Also, it looks like he has those black spur genes that Bob has talked about in the past. Ask him about that?!? Time will tell as they grow out. #3's tail looks like it may change as he gets a few months older. Hard to tell, from a picture, if he is in good condition or a bit over fed. Also hard to tell from the picture if he is deeper keeled and normal legged or regular keel and short shanked a bit. Great color and shine. Good ammount of saddle feathers with no stringyness that I have seen in many pictures.
#2 looks good from the side view and has a nice tail but is narrow through the ribs, more wedge to him. Nice tail angle on the side view. Looks taller in the leg now but I would bet he will fill out by Spring.
I like both of them and would like to see how they change as they grow out in the spring breeding season. I think the mating combo's will be key for your breeding setups. Breed the wedge out and the brick in.


Are they crowing yet?