Rhode Island Red

Great birds! The roos are very pretty and the hens are very sweet.
These are the birds you think of when you think of a rooster.
Great review, love it, good job!

RIRs are a very good laying breed and I would highly recommend them for eggs. They can also be mean to the other chickens.

I have four RIR hens. they are good layers most times, however they go broody often in my flock. Three of my four hens are friendly and social, but nugget, the mean one acted very agressivly to me and is a bully to Mary Poopins and fuzzy.

I’ve had several RIRs and I must say that these are some of the smartest birds I’ve owned. They are good at avoiding or hiding from predators. I’ve never had issues with them being aggressive towards other chickens; however, they are not friendly towards people and avoid me at all costs. These hens lay a lot more regularly (And a lot sooner in the season) than my EEs.

We had a beloved RIR hen. Her name was Ponyo. A few months ago, she unfortunately passed away from reproductive cancer.

We had tried everything we could to save her; originally we thought it was egg bound. We gave her calcium pills, brought her inside, fed her scrambled eggs, oatmeal, yogurt, and electrolyte water. We even ended up tube feeding her. Unfortunately she didn’t make it.

Sadness aside, she was always fun and quirky. She would jump onto our lap, beg for treats, and just was an overall great bird. She didn’t bully the others, but she could have just been more unique. Again, she also laid a whole lot of eggs (sadly this is probably what led to her issue)

I would recommend them for anyone, but as some can not be as nice (what I’ve heard from others) if you want them as pets, the Rhode Island Red might be to aggressive.

attached are pictures of her during her illness. (She sat on my lap and watched a video.)

I think that Rhode Island Reds are an OK breed, but in my experience, they're not too nice, which doesn't work well if you don't want to get spurred by a rooster. While they look very nice, and even lay a lot of eggs, their temperament just bothers me.

Hands down, I love this breed. My RIR lay brown eggs all year and straight through winter on all but the coldest days, and she doesn't require any supplemental lighting, so if you want brown eggs in the dead of winter, this just might be your breed. My RIR is very friendly and will run up to me, almost begging to be picked up. She'll happily jump in my lap to be petted. She's also very curious, which can occasionally lead to mischief, but she's always the first to try something new. While she can be aggressive to the other birds, I think that all in all, this breed is a great addition to the flock.

I love our Rhode Island Red hen! She is a great lap chicken and layer. Pretty too. It only took her once to learn that the bird feeder held sunflower seeds. Our Red is also a great jumper for any string bean that dares grow outside the garden fence.

One of my favorite breeds! They are beautiful and friendly, and some of the best layers I've ever owned. They are common enough that you can find them at almost all stores that sell chicks. Everybody should have Rhode Island Reds.

I think I have the best rooster. He protects my Golden Comet Hens and they produced 8 offspring last year--4 rooster and 4 hens, I kept them all and they all make for a most enjoyable farm life!

Middle range size among my small flock and is a great egg layer with a personality. Not bossy or easily bullied either. I actually don't have a bully hen. Loves to free range but when they know I'm coming out the door comes running to see if I have a treat for them. A must-have standard chicken. I think this breed is a good food to egg production ratio hen.

I love RIRs! When my family first moved into my childhood home over thirty years ago, it came with a flock of chickens, mostly RIRs, including a roo by the name of Arthur (my mom still talks about what a great rooster he was). When I got laying chickens again about six years ago, I got some RIRs and purposely ordered a roo (one of the hens ended up being a roo, so I had two). They both ended up being sweet roosters (even though I’ve heard they can be aggressive). I have a couple of young hens right now (10 weeks old) in my mixed flock and they are both very friendly and love attention and cuddling (and as young chicks they were the most inquisitive).

I have a RIR who's conveniently named Red(I know, I'm so creative with my names), but she's so beautiful so it's fine. As I mentioned, she's very very pretty and beautiful and her temperament is wonderful. She is the sweetest not so little thing and will always come running up to you when you have treats(or sometimes even when you don't). Mine lets me sit her on my lap and she'll just stand on my leg and stare. However, mine doesn't lay eggs at all! She is one of the two oldest in our flock, around 5 but she's never laid at all, not even when she was younger. I know most RIR are known for their high egg output but mine's just an outlier I guess. I don't care if she doesn't lay because I just feed the eggs right back to my chickens, they're all just pets to me. I'm vegan so I don't eat the eggs.

I really enjoyed the RIR's I raised...they were prolific layers and beautiful to look at. Mine never showed any of the "aggressiveness" others have reported.

I have wanted Rhode Island Reds for a long time, mainly because my Uncle had some and used to bring eggs to us from his home in TN. I always thought those eggs tasted better than any other eggs I had ever had! So now I have 9 RIR's. And I cant wait to get this journey started, well I guess its already started as of 12 days ago now. Lol!

Another one of those good duel purpose breeds . Will lay plenty of large and jumbo large brown eggs . These are in my top 5 of favorite breeds . We keep careful records of feed to egg ratios here because of the sheer number of birds we have in egg production and the Rhode Island red does very well . Roosters are nice looking and very protective of their hens but can be aggressive at times . They will supply you with lots of fertile eggs for the incubator if you like hatching out chicks .

I recently saved a few Reds. They have just started laying and as they are getting the hang of it the eggs are getting larger and a glossy brown. Mine are free ranged during the day and locked up at night. They are friendly and allow me to pick them up to check them out.

There aren't enough words to describe how wonderful these chickens are. We have six hens in our flock of over 150 chickens. These were the first hens I placed in our cart earlier this year from a major hatchery in Iowa. They seem to be on the smaller size when compared to our Buff Orpingtons and Barred Plymouth Rocks, which is fine for us since we run a no-kill farm.

The Rhode Island Reds were not my favorites or even close when we first got them. They seemed a bit blank in the personality department, especially when compared to the Barred Rocks, which are ALL personality and winners. But over these last few months, the RIRs have really won me over.

They began laying at 20 weeks. Their eggs started out quite small in a friendly café au lait color. At about six months old, their eggs went from petite to grande. Always extra-large or jumbo, these eggs have firm whites that hold their shape and yolks that are bright orange and stand at attention. They are truly fabulous layers of works of art.

The hens are soft and personable, loving their cuddle time. They are independent and not beggars for food and treats but more so lovers of affection. They jump into my arms when I bend over and never try to get free. They used to be a bit skittish but not anymore. They were hatched March 26th and it's now November 4th. I'd say this growth in affectionate personality began about a month ago, at about six months of age.

We never see them pecking at other hens or having any pecking order issues. They are just perfect hens in our peaceful flock. All of our hens and roosters love them.

As far as free ranging, they range a respectable distance from the coop without worrying us. Our Buffs tend to range a bit far for our liking. They are always home in the coop safely before the threat of darkness falls upon the farm. This brings peace to our family as we can always depend on the Rhode Island Reds to be counted in full first. They're home early to reserve their nightly roost.

And their plumage...GORGEOUS! They look as though they've been to the salon to get a cellophane treatment. Their feathers shine like the sun with what looks like a liquid gloss. They're dark brown with flame red highlights. To some, they might seem boring. But to a more piercing eye, they are brilliantly shaded and designed to sheer perfection.

I honestly can't say enough good about these hens. They are certainly one of my favorite breeds and well worth the reputation they've earned.