Rhode Island Red

We first got a rhode island rooster a few years ago from a friend who had a bunch of rhode islands and couldn't keep a rooster in the city. It was a young rooster and we had 12 pullets in an open pasture so decided to take him. Although he was friendly enough with his flock, although sometimes a bit rough, he was extremely aggressive with us three days after we got him. The first few days we were able to pet him and feed him from our hands, and then on the third day he pecked and bit my finger when I tried, and after that, wouldn't let anyone enter the pasture and would attack our hands when trying to get eggs. We culled him afterwards, and learned after that many people found RIR roosters to be extremely aggressive. He was quite a beautiful bird though.

This year we got 10 rhode island red pullets and mixed them into our flock of ~35 other chickens of a huge variety of breeds, sizes, and colours. We have 3 roosters, one of them a bantam. They get along really well with the other birds and do not fight, and generally aren't picked on. They don't mess with the bantam rooster either or go after the ducks. Our main concerns were that they would be aggressive with the other birds because of other reviews we've seen but so far they've been wonderful.

The moment they started laying we noticed an immediate rise in egg production to almost 8 extra eggs per day than we had before - they are egg laying machines! The eggs are good size and have a fairly thick shell compared to the hybrid sex-ilnks.

They have been hardy this winter so far with only the girls with the largest of combs getting a tiny bit of frostbite, but no more so than any other breed we have except buckeyes who are 100% hardy it seems.

The biggest problem we have with them is that they're flighty - from the moment we got them to now they will not be touched (we go them when they were around 4 weeks old). They flip out when they see you and run away and hide, and some of them peck at your boots or try to attack you angrily when you shoo them away. Of course, we had a couple easter eggers who didn't like to be shooed away and attacked our boots so it's not really a big deal.

There are 2 or 3 girls who will go out of their way to be aggressive towards people. The rest are just insanely skittish and flighty. Handling them as chicks was extremely hard because they would immediately screech and scratch or peck.

As long as they lay good eggs and don't try to fight the other hens I'm happy with them though!

Probably the lowest intelligence level of every breed i've tried, These are always the first to go when predators are hungry. Would fine if in safe confinement with Arial predator protection.

My Rhode Island Reds are great birds and lay well. One of them is sweet and will let me hold her while the other is flighty and noisy. Both however are aggresive with my other hens.

Note: This review applies to to the Production Red form of Rhode Islands only. True Rhode Islands are lovely birds, and while their production is not as high, their color and good attitude make up for it.

I am not personally fond of Rhode Island Reds. If I was basing this review on my own opinion, I would be giving them 1 star. However, objecitively, they are an OK bird, and so receive 3.

To start, they are severely overrated. As someone employed in the business of selling started pullets, I deal with many customers each week asking about Rhode Island Reds. They have always "read somewhere" that they are the best layers in the world! This isn't true. A Rhode Island is only a good layer. Now, I personally rate bird's laying ability on a scale of great, good, and ornamental. Great layers will give you 5-6 eggs per week. Good layers, 4-5. Ornamentals will vary but will never produce like a proper laying breed. Now, being as Rhode Island Reds are only good layers, a bird such as a Sex Link or Leghorn (great layers) will outlay them any day of the week. Yet people consistently spread these ideas that RIRs are the best layers in the world.

The second issue is temperament. Now, I'm not completely slandering the breed. There are plenty of perfectly nice Rhode Islands out there, birds who've never pecked a single other hen or human. But on the whole, the breed has a tendency towards nastiness. Now, I work with hundreds of birds at a time in my workplace. These pullets are raised together, and so as happens with hundreds of birds raised in close proximity, you get a bit of picking - a tailless bird here, a bare-necked hen there, nothing so severe as to see horribly bald birds or wounds or anything of the sort. And yet, when a group of birds is raised with Rhode Islands tossed in the mix, suddenly every bird is tailless, and you've got scabby backs and irritated, red oil glands. Same amount of space, same yard to roam, same number of birds, but invariably, groups with RIRs mixed in get picked out far worse than any other groups.

Conclusion: A good layer, but don't expect the 365 egg a year bird some people like to crow about. Be wary of purchasing more than 2-3 of them, at most, if you keep a mixed breed flock. They do awful in confinement and will pick each other out to the point of wounding. As far as the Production Red category goes, I'd call them my third choice of bird. Red Sex Links are better layers, and New Hampshires have a far better temperament.

I got my two RIR hens when they were day old chicks last March (2015). They were the first of my birds to start laying. They lay one beautiful, large brown egg every day. My RIR's have a great personality and are very friendly. One of them enjoys flying up onto my 13 year old daughter's shoulder, which my daughter just loves! Although my RIR's are at the top of the pecking order, they do not bully the other birds. Overall, I love these birds! They forage really well and are just great birds! I had heard that most RIR's are aggressive so while they were chicks, I gave them lots of treats and handled them several times a day every singe day. My birds names are Lil'Red and Jess and they are great members of our flock.

I also have a Rhode Island Red rooster. I have heard that they can be aggressive, so I keep an eye on mine. Although he started off having a bit of a rough personality, he seems to be getting a little better as he's getting older. If I had to do it over again, I probably wouldn't have chosen a RIR as our rooster. He isn't always nice to our hens and I'm still not sure if we're keeping him or not. I should mention that this rooster was raised by my neighbor and they don't handle their chickens. They do take very good care of them, they just don't handle them. We've had our rooster, we named Reggie, for almost a month. He has never been aggressive to my family.

I'd give the RIR hens a full five stars, but I'd only give the rooster three. So, I have given the breed, in general, four stars.

We got two RIRs in a batch of ten chicks. We got them from a trusted local breeder, although I wouldn't know the difference between a RIR and a Production Red. Ours are small and friendly. They don't want to be held like the Buff Orpington or the Silkies, but they let us pet them. The only downside is that they are incredibly loud. They are louder than our two cockerels and I'm considering whether or not to give them away. I can't imagine the neighbors appreciate them. They are five months old and I don't know if they are laying yet.

My roo (Beauregard) was the sweetest of my flock. He would run to me and hop up my body into my arms or resting on my shoulder. My girls are loving but also very playful and will play with anything. We started with toys at 5 days old and they are the silliest birds I've ever seen!

Very good layers...not tooo nice

I have 4 Rhode island reds and they are more nice than mean. Some signs of them being smart is today I saw one about 10 feet a way from the others, I went over to try and pick him up then as I was walking over there 1 of the chickens behind me jogged up to me and was staring at me real close I stopped and looked at him, A few seconds later he started to wander off. And before that I started pacing around them to see which one would be more separated from the others Because I was going to pick up one of them to carry around, And surprisingly they started to gather up and went into the coop. That surprised me very much.

My two hens have been a treat to have since they were babies. Isabeak and Chica are two of the friendliest chickens I have ever met! Every morning I open the coop and they run right out and follow me cooing for treats and attention as they've done since they were just ball of fluff. Isabeak even protects my bantam Popcorn from cats and dogs! When I need new chickens for my flock I will be adding at least one RIR.

Are you still looking for that egg producing red hen? Go no farther! Being amongst the best brown egg layers in the world, the Rhode Island Red boasts of its rank in the dual-purpose breeds list. Obviously enough, originating in the village of Adamsville, Rhode Island, by the Rhode Island Red Club of America, this red beauty was developed out of specific strains of black-breasted Malays. This fine work of breeding art became a standard in 1925 and is the base of the many egg laying high-birds. The breed is highly prized for its grand production of eggs. The air of the Rhode Island is a fierce (Cocks) aggressive bird that doesn’t like to be touched or held, which is why they are primarily egg birds. The appearance of the Rhode Island is a proud stately standing chickens, with a large front facing breast and yellow skin and legs. The face of the usual Rhode Island is red with red ear lobes, pointed with a bright yellow beak and loyal red-orange-colored eyes, and is crowned with a splendid comb (Cocks) which climbs to the back of the head. Almost like the New Hampshire, these flashy splendors are feathered with a deep red plumage which ranges from black to almost brown. As said before, being amongst the predecessors of the new egg high birds, they lay 7 eggs a week, a total of 320 eggs a year. Not being very popular for meat birds, the Rhode Island cocks weigh around 8 pounds at butcher size, and the hens weigh 6 pounds. Not being very cold hardy, the hens are unable to lay steadily through winter, which is why they are usually grown in hen houses instead of out in the cold.
I also have a flock of Rhode Island Red and the breed is not my favourite, but are supposed to lay many eggs. The roosters are aggressive to people and don’t like to be held by anyone. They even trace people from the coop! The overall is a good egg layer, but not a pet!

Summary of the Rhode Island Red

Conservation status: Recovering
Popular Names: RIR, Rhode Islands
Country of Origin: United States of America
Use: Dual-Purpose Layer Breed
Personality: Aggressive to humans and pets
Hardiness: Cold
Weight: Male: 8 Pounds, Female: 6 Pounds
Skin Color: Yellow
Egg Color: Brown to Pink
Comb Type: Single
Plumage Pattern: Flat
Plumage: (Cocks) Deep Red (Hen) Brownish-Red
Broodiness: Not often

I love Rhode Island Reds! They are my main chickens and the hens are very kind and sweet (The ones I've had) They produce great eggs and there should be no problem with them. Lovely birds!

Coca

August



Coca is my foot pecker

I hatched out a Rhode Island Red pullet from a bunch of barnyard eggs. This chick seemed sickly. She breathed odd, it was quite loud and raspy. Her feathers took a while to grow in as well.

After giving away eight chicks and only keeping four, she was the only brown one I had hatched. Being the ‘odd’ color against the three other black chicks, she was most noticed. I disliked her at first, she despised being held. She screamed and squawked and pooped everywhere. She grew up with three males. I kept one who I thought was female and hasn’t crowed to this day.

Anyways, the chicks started to smell real bad, so I had to put them in the garage in January. In Michigan, it was usually below zero. I noticed blisters on her feet when she was maybe eight or nine weeks. They were in the coop with my main chickens to help keep warm, my hens were too cold to care, but liked the heat lamp the chick had. None of the others had it, maybe because they feathered faster and could cover their toes up.

The RIR still wasn’t nice, but because I didn’t want to loose her (I had lost one of favorite roosters from her hatch a day or so before) so I took her in my house. I soaked her feet, put antibiotics on the blisters. Everything went away, so when it got to be 40F that weekend, I thought it’d be best to put her outside, I wanted her friends to remember her and not pick on her. A week later, it came apparent she would lose the tips of most of her toes. I worried as on two of her toes, the fourth phalange out was black. And as time went on and hey where to fall off, you could see the the bone of the third phalange out on her toes! I fretted she would get infection, decided to not bring her inside and just wrap up her bleeding toes. Being so cold, infection never came.

I decided this chicken needed a name, all of mine had names. I had gone through several names when she was a chick, none fit. At first she was Clairece, then Thirteen, and after I didn’t want those names, she ended up being ‘that brown chick’, and that didn’t work at all either. I watched a few TV shows at the time, and there was a Cameron on one and a Camille on the other. Both smart doctors. And over the course of time I had been treated the RIRs toes for frostbite, she turned super friendly, and very, very smart. I taught her several tricks, and she loved to stretch out in the sun on me. She talked too. So her name became Cam.

Right now, Cam is 17 weeks. She only has three nails left, and is missing two bones.
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I had to share my Cam’s story. I had two RIRs before for a few months before giving them to a friend, but Cam was different. Rhode Islands are resilient, and super friendly. I hope yours will be as friendly and smart as my Cam.

The RIR is the best chickens I have ever had and if you want chickens you need RIR's. They look out for each other and don't attack if bought up right. Will at least put up with other animals and like being ducks and other breeds of chickens. In my eyes they are perfect and instead of red-brown colouration you can sometimes get golden brown coloured hens. Perfect! If fed right and able to free rome during the day they will have big and great tasting eggs.

We have 4 RIR hens that we have raised since chicks and will be a year old this month. Ours aren't lap chickens, but they love treats and will eat right out of your hand. They are dependable layers. And they are good natured to every chicken in our little flock. I will be keeping these girls for a while!

They are a really good chicken. The rooster is my favorite one. Nothing bad about them except for the aggressive part.

I have 4 wonderful Rhode Island Reds. They lay wonderful brown LARGE eggs. Sometimes we even get jumbo eggs and double yolkers.
Overall, these chickens are very fun to be around and they are very smart hens.
Occasionally, they can be mean, aseptically when they are broody.
A must for for a chicken flock!

Our experience is with a flock of 18 RIR hens, 3 RIR roos, and 2 Production Red hens, all in their first year (will be 1yr this spring).

The Rhode Island Reds took a while to start laying eggs, but once they did have been GREAT layers even in winter. We averaged 18 eggs a day with no supplemental lighting this winter. The RIR hens are laying about ¾ large, ¼ medium eggs with a couple XL thrown in. The smallest number of eggs from this flock on any given day this year was 13, the day after a hawk got one of the hens.

We have found the Rhode Island Reds to be an extremely noisy bird and not really friendly. The hens squawk and talk and blither blather all day and the Roosters love to crow quite often. This would not be a bird I recommend if you live in town with neighbors. We have not seen any people aggression within our flock, but we have found the RIR keep more of a business relationship than a friendship, compared to our production reds whom are very friendly. I don’t recommend Rhode Island Reds for pets because of this.

The Rhode Island Reds are great at free ranging, foraging, and being predator wary. The hens are very alert to their surroundings and the Roosters will warn the flock of aerial predators. (We found they improved on this as the matured). We have only lost two RIR hens. One just disappeared and the other was killed by a hawk. They prefer the covered areas of the pasture and move very fast through open areas, not wanting to linger. We have zero predator prevention measures except for locking them in the coop at night and having roosters.