Rhode Island Red

My RIR is the sweetest hen. She let's me pick her up, and she eats food out of my hand. She is by far, my favorite. She's not a great layer, but hey, she's 5. So I don't mind.

We kept Rhodes for years - about four generations all stemming from the first pair we had. Found them to be good layers, beautiful chickens, and friendly. They all had definite 'chickenalities' but none were ever mean. The cockerels lived quite well together if they were brought up together, though they did tend to over-tread their poor hens, so eventually we didn't get any more roos. The hens were happier without them.
The Roos also all went lame or lost their ability to walk completely in their old age - probably due to the amount of weight they have to carry, they are big boys. They wouldn't suffer very long though, and we're tame enough they let us carry them round the garden at this point to keep them comfortable.
The hens were always fine though, difficult to stress out - even surviving multiple dog attacks from a neighbours badly kept Labrador!
Though I did notice they do not take kindly to new chickens - the pecking will only last a couple of days (less when the new hen is submissive) but they always ensure a tight pecking order, if you only have one RIR living with other breeds, you can bet she'll be top dog.

Our 2 Rhode Islands are not the most aggressive in our flock, as some have mentioned theirs are. The largest of the two however is certainly the boss Hen of the flock, but she does it without aggression, though sometimes at the food dish she will chase a few away.

I have been very pleased with our 2 birds, they are great with people, and our boss hen looks out for the whole flock, she will stand by the coop door in the evenings till every last girl has entered the coop, if one is missing she will stand and call them to come.

They are a bit noisy, especially our smaller one, she honks like a goose when she is unhappy, or startled which she startles a lot. But we still love her! I will have Rhode Islands again for sure, of our flock they are my favorite birds.

I've only had them a couple weeks so it's still too early to tell. They do seem more skittish than my others.

My dad has RIR's and we kept his with ours during their chick stage. They were always dominant in our flock and would be fine with humans, but definately on the top of the flock. They are thankfully now with him and are always puffing up their personality with one another. Dad recently added some bantams and the RIR's are big bullies cornering the bantams, ganging up one them and will not let them to the water. I will not have them in my flock.

Great layer of huge eggs, great birds, my chick cuddles on my lap when he is being held. Great breed for handling, showing, and having.

I currently own 6 chickens. 3 pullets, 2 cornish rock and 1 rhode island red. My RIR seems to be the most intellegent, and friendlest of the group. I would recommend this breed to anybody who wants a friendly great egg layer if tamed. He is still a juvilile and will probrably be a rooster. Do rhode island reds crow loud??

My red girl, Ginger, has always been patient enough to be held, but she does squirm and has pooed on me twice! I suspect in revenge. She is a good layer and fairly quiet and gets along well enough with the other chickens. She is 4th in the pecking order. BUT, she chases my poor ducks for no reason and loves to hover over their food even if she's not hungry. She's gotten to be a brat. We've nicknamed her "Crockpot" because of all the times we threaten to cook her. I suspect it's just her, because all my other chickens are very sweet and pretty much accept the ducks. They got their dominance established and pretty much let them alone. I also hear so many good things about other people with RIRs....oh well.

I have four Rhode Islands reds and they are pretty friendly birds. Though, if chased they do run away which is good! (Less likely to be snatched by a predator) They are good chickens for free-ranging.

Great layer... friendly chicken...

I know these may seem like ordinary birds to some, but we are really enjoying them in our first ever flock! They are friendly & I love the dark red color!

shes the highlight of my flock! she follows me on my routine walks! she makes me smile every day. This is my diego, i just want to say shes full of personality, curiousity and spunk. Everybody needs one of these adorable chunks.



But her big man L.C. is different you see, he is quite mean to everybody but me. I am the hand who feeds him and he knows that quite well. If anyone else approaches they will regret it and yell "this rooster is evil he made my leg bleed" I reply "hes a good boy, just doing his deed, protecting his ladies from all possible harm, even if that "harm" is your leg or your arm" once you give him a nudge he'll understand that your the shepherd and hes the lamb His personality is still quite great with his beautiful song and companionship trait.

We got our first two reds from a friend of my wife. My wife said she was tired of paying high prices for eggs on a social media site and then the phone rang and her friend said come outside handed her two chicks. my wife said where am I going to put these and her friend said what ya doing with that dog kennel, then a year later we bought four three more red hens and our flock grew from there.

I love my Rhode Island reds they are very sweet to me . They quickly show new birds there place in the coop they want to be the boss. they have laid me eggs from normal to large size brown eggs. I had one that would sneak into the bed of the truck to lay her eggs under the tool box she has traveled to the store with me a few times and once to the doctor. when people come over they jump on the truck to say hello. they even come in the house to lay eggs. one hen jumped into a open window and sat there looking at me before she flew into the house. They follow me around like I was there mother hen. I have to check my friends truck before they leave to make sure there are no hitchhikers.

I had six RIR's in my first flock, four are still with me. They have more distinct personalities than the other breeds I have, and they're all friendly. None have been aggressive to other birds, although, since their flock mates are mostly Leghorns they're sometimes picked on. One was lost to cannibalism, one to a cat while young, and one is currently suffering ovarian cancer. One is my dog... or so she thinks.

They are relatively consistent layers, but only at about 4 eggs a week. Almost every meat spot I've found was in a RIR egg, and the eggs soon became jumbo size and are gradually becoming more misshapen. (they're over 2yo) The hens bought their retirement plan with personality, not production.

My flock is free-range, so I don't know how they react to confinement - they don't usually leave the barn lot area (2 acres).

I have never had a chicken but this is the best pet. He is easy to get along with and he loves to be hugged and rocked. I love this little boy like he is a child. The only thing is I am nervous about my Friends next to me. This is not the county only dogs,cats, and birds are welcome so when when he crows I get nervous about his noise other wise hes my heart. His name is Stewart.

Doris

I got these Reds for free (at 2-4 years old) and although they are friendly with me (the food lady), they pick on other hens, peck eggs (both theirs and others).

I have one Rhode Island Red hen.

Just got 2 pullets. My first chickens! Learning this raising chicken thing.