I had been 30 years or more without chickens and when I decided to have them again I went back to the go to breed (Rhode Island Red) and got them from the same hatchery as before and they were very good egg producers but as time went by they began to die early and all from the same thing. I thought maybe inbreeding was the problem and I tried crossing them with another family of Rhode Island Reds but the problem was still there so it was a genetic defect with the gizzard and it is well known without a healthy gizzard you can’t have a healthy chicken. I looked around and found a hatchery that had Rhode Island Reds from an Amish flock and they are from a hundred or more generations of free range chickens and so far so good. The first thing I noticed about them was some of the sounds they made were more like something you may hear from a wild game fowl. When moved from the brooder to the outside pen they were very easy to train to go inside to roost and as they became older they would peck at my pants leg when I walked among them and when I tried to pick them up they would hackle up and I would stick my foot out at them they would shuffle on it and when on the roost as I walk by they will peck at me but when I do pick them up and pet them they talk to me very friendly. I think they are just being playful because they do fight and play a lot and when they start maturing they do settle down. Never before have I had chickens like this before with the exception of fighting game cocks. In summary they are intelligent easy to work with, robust and feel like muscle and have a lot of character and personality and are a lot of fun to have. I also got another surprise when I mated my Blue Vonglo brood cock Billy Blue to them I got offspring with very good hybrid vigor. They grow about 25% faster than the parent stock and so far all the pullets come in blue/grey or midnight blue and the roosters vary with some splash but cannot distinguish a sex link. I am now pleased with the chickens I have and the ones I can produce.