Rhode Island Red

Buy them and try them. Rhode Island Reds are my easiest chickens to handle, and they're always excited to see me. They don't get into trouble and don't stress as easily as some of my other chickens. Hardy and kind.

I think that birds vary greatly, as far as personality is concerned. I have known many Rhode Island Reds, hens and roosters, and I have never known an aggressive one. I have had many, many New Hampshires and there too, they were always nice until I did get one aggressive male, but he wasn't too bad. In my experience my most aggressive male was a buff Wyandotte and that is not a breed known for aggression. I am an avid believer of keeping roosters with hens. I find their life more natural that way and the hens seem happier. I have a black Minorca rooster now who is somewhat aggressive. I have had many minorcas and he is the 2nd to be like that, while all the others, including my champion Mediterranean black Minorca, were really easy going birds. They were somewhat flightly, but the breed is not a calm breed. Hope this helps in understanding that chickens are really individuals. I believe the game birds are more aggressive, but look at the disgusting cruelty done to them when they are dubbed, having their combs cut off for style......because they used to be fighters before it became against the law......and that is horribly painful and cruel, no anesthesia is used. The APA still allows that by keeping it in the standard; it is truly sadistic and maybe that is why the birds get nasty...... Probably not, but it would be a good reason for it. Animal cruelty is always wrong.

I have 3 hatchery RIR- 2 that I've had since chicks and one that my friend found in the parking lot earlier today. Obviously the personality of the new hen is impossible to judge, but with the two I have they are both very good layers. One of the Reds-Ginger is the top hen, the other is more middle of the pecking order. Ginger will chase and peck at the others, but so far as long as they don't try to fight her she won't do too much to them. She's never truly hurt any of the other birds. They are both very good layers of large eggs. They can be a bit aggressive towards people if they view them as below them in the pecking order- Ginger doesn't mess with me but she bit my mother earlier and drew a bit of blood. As long as you are viewed as they view you as their leader they'll respect you. I can say that mine haven't really messed with either my Polish or the Silkies that I had, apart from chasing when they were introduced. I don't have the Silkies anymore but the Polish are left alone by the Reds.

We handled the chicks and they all come around us. The RR's are the dominant ones in the flock and really pick on the other 6 girls.
When we are outdoors, the reds follow us like dogs, which we don't mind, but they peck at the others when we show attention to them.
They chase away the Bantams from the feeders. They also crowd out the other birds when roosting. Not very nice, wish they were more
friendly with the other girls and us.

The positive is that we get more eggs from the RR"s and are comparable in laying with the ER's.

I used to own a few RIR and I loved them for their friendliness and egg production.

Just a basic backyard chicken. Mine are quite friendly but wont take crap from everyone, least aggressive birds I have, but only have 2. They are winter hardy, and mature in about 24+ weeks. They were my most skittish chickens but have warmed up and now occasionally let me pet them. They will not be the most attractive addition to your flock, but they serve a purpose. Highly recommend at least 2 in your flock.

I have had two batches of RIR's. The first batch, while laying great amounts of large brown eggs, they were the worst cannibals I have experienced. They were not friendly, and were very mean to all other birds, however the second batch, which includes a rooster, is quite the opposite. They have been great flock mates, have not picked on anyone, and the rooster is not aggressive. He is persistent in servicing the hens, however he doesn't over do it like some others I have had. These also are very economical and lay well for the amount of food it takes to produce them. They forage well and (so far) have always laid in the coop, so I do not have to search for eggs. I will continue to raise these as long as they are like my second batch.

I have 23 Rhode Island Reds right now, I have 11 hens 1 rooster, and 11 in the brooder. I got my first Rhode Island Red over a year ago, and she has laid almost every day sense I have had her, every once and awhile she misses a day but that happens, I slowly expanded my flock and they are all very good layers, they all come running to meet you in the mornings and I rarely handle them, but when I am around they prefer to be near me, they are very smart, I even trained my first girl to jump from different places like from perch to perch or perch to a big box or onto the top of a dog kennel, and the others caught on quickly, they will do almost anything for meal worm treats. I used to put them in a chicken tractor every day and even with a limited amount of space they foraged great needing almost no pelleted feed from me (1 red solo cup for 13 full grown birds). They are also hardy birds we have crazy weather where I live and they have done good through both heat (Upper 90's for days) and cold (around 0, some days -20) so they are very hardy when it comes to weather. I know roosters are all different, but my rooster is just a sweet heart, he is calm and has never attacked me, the worst he has done was peck my hand once when I was late for feeding and I was putting feed out for them, he is VERY protective of his girls, but not with people. He is quite loud however and his crows usually start around 5:30 and they can be heard from inside of the house very clearly. I have no experience butchering them, so I don't know how they taste and such but overall they have been very good chickens for me.

I am lucky enough to have two of these wonderful chickens called Penny and Masie. Penny is low key and super cute. Masie on the other hand is always right there when you bring food and is willing to fight the other bigger chickens in my coop for it. Penny is the smallest so she usually just slips in between everybody. They are great layers and cold hardy. I would recomend them to any body, whether you have had chickens for years or you are just starting out on the adventure of a lifetime.

2 RIR's
1 male (by mistake)
1 female

While many people say the males are aggressive (they sure are! ) I have seen our one female be aggressive at times, too. Around the age of 5 weeks old, the male would constantly be chasing around our buffs and continue to peck them every time they tried to eat. The buffs would then run to the top of the waterer in constant fear of being picked on. While the bulk of this was the male, the female would take part in it, too. The female would wait for the buff to jump off the waterer when we refilled the food and placed it back in the brooder and then chase them around. The result of these skirmishes would result in the reds getting hit with a roll of paper towels. (Not hit hard, just hit enough for them to get the point). Eventually they stopped after we picked up the towels. Our rooster (now 14 weeks old) is still living with us and it may stay that way for a bit. I haven't seen much fights occur, but I am keeping my eyes out.

They are smart for a chicken! Our reds run for cover when they heard a predator since the day we got them! Then they quiet down, while the others are just standing there making noise. (They've all learned now) They were the first to learn how to use the ladder in and out of the coop. They seem to only scold other chickens when needed, at least since they were 10 weeks old. I kind of see them as the parents of the other chickens.

They were the first to make, well I don't know how to put this, "adult chicken noises." Not your average chirp or peep, but a "baagaaaa" around 6 weeks old. Their combs (especially the rooster) grew in fast! The rooster had huge waddles by the time he was 7 weeks old! (We weren't thrilled about that!)

They are some bold chickens! The first to walk into the run from the ladder, first to eat something other then their normal food, first to eat out of my hands! (The other chickens don't eat out of my hands, they're pretty afraid of me after seeing the towel beating) So far, we have had close to no issues. We got the female at the age of 2 weeks, and after 3, we noticed something wrong with her leg. She would constantly jump on one, but the other she avoided and held in. We quickly put her in a different brooder with one of our barred rocks, and they're friends even now! The both always need to be sitting together wherever they go.

Good chicken, get get get. Don't get if you have sensitive, low pecking order chickens. Not sure about eggs, YET. Hopefully soon!

I have 2 Heritage RIR's that my husband wanted when we bought chicks. I have to say I didn't. All the RIR's that I had ever been around were bossy, noisy, broody, pecking little brats and I really didn't want any but the husband won out! Our breeder had both PR's and HR's and so we went with the HR's. I am so glad we did. They are both sweet birds who are not bossy at all...except with my one cockerel that keeps trying to mount them. They let him have it! They are only 3 months old so they haven't started laying yet but I can't wait for some lovely brown eggs from them. I read a review on here that was very helpful in describing the real differences between the HR and PR. By the sounds of it there can be several differences including temperament which may be why I didn't like RIR's when I was younger and mine are so much nicer. I will update my review when they start laying or if I see any changes!

Thelma and Louise when we first got them.



Thelma and Louise at about 7 wks

I love the deep Mahogany color of these girls!

I really like Rhode Island Reds. I have three: Sunny Side Up, Providence, and Black-Eyed Susan. Sunny (as I like to call her) has gone broody four times in her four years of life. She's an okay(ish) hatcher, but once she's off the nest she chases and pecks her babies. Now I think she's gone a little crazy, because she follows my broodies around pecking their babies. And she doesn't only do it if a baby gets to close. She does it entirely on purpose. And she got into one of the boxes yesterday and was clucking to imaginary babies! Here are some pictures of her:




Providence is also slightly crazy. She chases cars. She lays huge, lumpy eggs and has a great personality. Here she is:



Last but not least, there's Black-Eyed Susan. She's a beautiful, sweet hen who lays well, and is the most normal out of the three.


Overall, I love Rhode Island Reds and highly recommend them to everyone.
-TwinsLoveChicks

RIRs were my first breed(along with ISA Browns). They are nice to have around and fair tempered. The rooster crows pretty loud but isn't too mean. The hen (Natasha) is a beautiful shade of red.

I have 3 Red Sex Links and 4 RIR's. The two breeds are very similar, and nearly everything I write here about the RIR's applies to the RSL's except that the RSL's lay bigger eggs.

First, let me say that each bird has its own personality. Overall, the RIR's have very good personalities, and I think that has a lot to do with how I have treated them since they were little (just feathered out). My neighbor's birds -- including his RSL's and RIR's -- are all terrified of humans and basically feral/crazy.

None of my birds have had health issues that couldn't be corrected with yogurt. I feed them "layer" feed, scratch, oyster shells (just a little...the feed already has calcium), and some dried meal worms. Most eggs from my RIR's weigh about 60g -- "extra large" at the grocery store. One RIR was the first of my flock to start laying, at 17 weeks, but all were laying by 6 months.

They love to forage and eat grasshoppers, stink bugs, millipedes, crickets, worms, creepy-crawlies, mouse/vole corpses, grass, leaves, seeds...you name it. They enjoy free ranging -- they are curious and like to forage all over the property, but they also like getting back in their "home" and really chowing down on feed and then rehydrating before hittin' the hay. I generally free range them for 2-4 hours in the evening and make sure they're back inside before sunset.

Like most/all chickens, they are naturally fearful, though they'll peck at my leg if I loiter in their run without feeding them...kind of like, "Hey! Hey you!" They did that with the electrician who was wiring the place, too.

Their "inner coop" (where they sleep), their food, and their nesting boxes are all about 30 inches off the ground, and they have no problems flying up to them even though they are pretty chunky birds.

They are very cold-tolerant, though they don't like snow and will go pretty far out of their way to avoid walking through it. So it's not like they like snow and cold, but they can handle some pretty cold temperatures. Admittedly, they sleep in a coop that has a heater that kicks on at 32 degrees and turns off at around 48 degrees, but they've been outside on days that never got up to 32 degrees and did fine.

They REALLY don't like heat! So even though they LOVE chasing down grasshoppers -- I think they like the thrill of the hunt as much as the taste of their prey -- they'll sit in the shade all day rather than deal with direct sunlight. I would not get these birds if I lived in a desert-ish climate -- that would just be cruel.

i got one with a production red at auction and the RIR is so nice and she lays good

This breed is an amazing breed that lays brown eggs. Our experience with these hens is that they are very friendly and calm around people. We haven't noticed anything bad about them in the four years we've kept them (ours was still laying eggs about 3 times a week at age 4) except that they may be a little braggy about their egg they just laid in the coop. They like to come out squawking like many other breeds we've kept. Other than that this is a great family bird that my younger sister and I raised as kids. They're super easy to work with and not flighty.

I have a Rhode Island Red named Peep. I've had her for four years, and has basically ever. single. day. since she started. She is definitely the "rooster hen" (we don't have a rooster). She gets along with the other hens as long as they don't challenge her authority. If I irritate her though, she will bite my toes and/or fingers! She's just guarding her flock though.

I have a six year old hen named Cookie. She is an ongoing wonder to us, she also has spurs now. The greatest thing about this? She is still laying and is still thin. This is a very hardy breed. They will pull out of just about anything. Not good mothers. They lay pretty consistently and are feisty. They also are very good foragers for free ranging. They are good at avoiding hawks and predators.

Unfortunately, our RIR's were not as great as we thought they were going to be. They attacked us on numerous occasions, and were not very good layers; we gave them the same type of feed and the Austrolorps were laying 10-15 eggs from 20 hens and RIR's were laying 5-10 from over 30! We will probably stick to the Austrolorps from now on. We realize that it may of just been bad breeding strains though.