Rhode Island Red

My RIR (Rhode Island Red) cockerel was the sweetist rooster ever. He'd let you hold him, he would NEVER hurt his hens or his owner, and he liked to sit in my lap. But when he turned 3 months he was VERY mean. One day he pecked and bloodied my little Polish pullet's head. ( who's only 2 1/2 months old and very small) He also pecked my knuckle on my left hand and it bled a little. Bottom line being roosters should only be kept for breeding purposes. Not companionship.

I bought 12 RIR "girls" from a local feed store, and one turned out to be a roo. I am new to having chickens, and I love my flock. They are not aggressive at all, and the rooster does a great job taking care of his girls. I am very pleased with how many eggs they lay, and the size of them. Happy to own Rhode Island Reds

My RIRs are the most vocal and curious birds in the flock. Unfortunately, one become an internal layer at 24 months of age and had to be put down (purchased from Healthy Chicks and More). The other RIR hen (purchased from Ideal Poultry) is feisty and often tries to peck my leg. I would probably not get RIR hens again due to internal laying issues and aggression.

My RIR hens are a true pleasure. They have big personalities, are friendly and like being near me while I'm working outside. Mine are very vocal, sing a great egg song and often seem to be trying to tell me something. They were timid as chicks/pullets but have become outgoing and earned their way to the top of the pecking order. Oh and they can be quite bossy! Great layers rarely missing a day.

I really don'y have anything bad to say about my girls. Currently I only have 2 RIRs' - Buggy & Red Sonya. They are both very friendly, personable girls. Buggy loves to help me gardening, she's a demon for bugs & worms. Red Sonya is very curious about everything and loves to be scratched under her wings!! They fit in well with all the other girls. I plan to get more peeps next year and certainly RIRs' will be among them.
Added 6 more pullets this year. Fabulous layers, nice personalities - very outgoing, pushy at times and very curious about everything!

Rhode Island Reds are beautiful chickens!! Some of them are mean to other chickens!!
They are wonderful egg layers! They lay large light to dark brown eggs!!
This breed is not really an affectionate chicken.
But I do recommend this breed!

I have had a Rhode Island Red for 2 1/2 years. She is a good bird that is not mean, and forages well when I let her roam around. She is lead hen in my flock, but is not overly dominating to the more submissive birds. Out of my four chickens, she is probably the second best egg layer, following my Columbian Wyandotte. In her first year, she laid about 260 eggs, and hasn't slacked off very much in her second year of laying.

In terms of temperament to humans, my Rhode Island Red is not aggressive, but is not overly friendly. She prefers to wander around on her own, though she will come to you when you call her, and enjoys getting treats. One drawback is that she is quite noisy when she lays an egg, whereas my other birds are usually silent.

Overall, if you want a good layer of eggs, and a bird that is easy to find (most hatcheries sell them), choose a Rhode Island Red. But, if you want an extremely friendly, personable bird, you might want to look into another breed.

We have 8 RIR and so far they have been okay. At first they were rather docile and easy to handle, but as they got older they've turned into rather stubborn and ornery! When I sit with the girls at night I have to frequently remind some of them to be nice and if not you will be smacked. They are good layer so far although they were the last to lay of all 23 hens, they are good layers and started laying within a week or so of the BR, and BO. We have a RIR rooster and well as two BO roosters and I LOVE the RIR too! He never goes out of his way to be mean to the hens or us and has the cutest crow ever! He kinda does a YAHOOOOO instead of a COC-A-DOOTLE-DO, but I LOVE it! He's not the top rooster in the flock of 26 total, but he still gets his girls. He has about 6-7 hens that are his and still does ones that aren't. I don't care for the hens much but I do like the roo a lot!

My roo is a great forager and does more to ease my grasshopper problem than any other chickens.

I have two RIR's.
Best chickens I have.
Very friendly and very beatiful.

I have 3 RIRs in my flock, and they are the best. They always swarm me when I go into the coop in the morning. They even eat straight out of my hand, unlike the other birds in the flock. They will peck out my leg hairs, and peck at my freckles. They are the nicest birds I know. They even kind of guard this young Guinea Hen I have from the others. Plus, they have great nice size eggs; and lay an egg a day.

the Rhode island reds are the only chicken that I have had I got mine this year from tractor supply all are still living they layed their first egg 2 nights ago and I got another egg this morning they like to play around and fly so have a good area for that they are a lot of fun and they will keep you entertained I promise

I have 5 Rhode Island Red pullets. They are really pretty, sweet, and have quirky personalities. A couple of my girls are flighty though.
They are really pretty. I just love their shimmery, dark red plumage. And they show it off by strutting around like they are the cutest hens in town all of a sudden!
They are also sweet. One of my girls, Sally ( the only one I can tell apart from the others because the top of her shanks are dark purple and red ), loves sitting on my lap and she will until I put her on the ground! All except 2 openly let me pet them.
They are hardy birds. When they were chicks they survived a power outage that lasted for about 5 hours.
They have quirky personalities that I just love! One runs around like a cannonball that has had to much coffee and ends up crashing into things. Another likes to forage along the perimeter of our property, where there is an overgrown wire fence. She'll walk along the fence and look up in the vines and go "bwawk... bwawk" like she has imaginary friends!
A couple of my girls are flighty. They won't let me get a couple inches away from them without scurrying a foot away from me each time I try.

Pictures of my girls to come, and I will update this review when a first egg is layed!

Hope this helped!
- Eliza

I have eight and they are such sweethearts... also very snoopy!

They are good chickens for egg laying and for being food wise. But when holding them you'll have to be careful, my chickie pecks me in the eye and the mouth (she even ate food out of my mouth when i was eating a muesily bar ). They are pretty bad when it comes to introducing new chickens and they peck other chickens when it comes to food.

We have had some wonderful road island red girls. They have been very calm and quiet happy birds. They lay beautiful large brown eggs and are one of our favorites out of the six breeds we have owned. I am surprised that they are not higher on the ratings list.

I think these Rhode Island Reds are the best chickens. I have had them for years now. Started with a flock o 10 hens and two roosters, Now down to 5 hens (3 originals) and one original rooster. These birds are great foragers, they go all day hunting bugs and scratching, laying in the sunshine. They lay eggs like clockwork. They are streetwise to predation and when the rooster (who is always vigilant) squawks, they scatter. They have never shown any inclination to go broody which is unfortunate IMO because I would have liked to have raised some for more hens and also to eat the roosters. I got these birds from the IDEAL Hatchery in Texas and they have been great birds. Healthy, smart, friendly, they come running when I am walking around in the yard, I turn around and they are all right behind me including the big rooster. As far as the rooster being aggressive... he is very aggressive and he never ceases his vigilance protecting his flock. I have never lost a bird to a hawk or other predator. (My chickens were kept by a friend for a year while I was moving and in that time, predators broke into her coop that was not very secure and took some of my hens. , but if given the proper support and infrastructure, the rooster is a very capable guardian of his flock. They are a cohesive unit as they move about the yard. I would recommend the Rhode Island Red chicken especially for a beginner because they are very hardy and forgiving. And they lay a great egg.

Of all my hens, she is the only one who will not let me touch her. She also made my new chicks lives hell when they were introduced to the flock. She is lovable nonetheless.

She has layed an egg a day since her point of lay, even during the winter, without supplemental lighting. She loves to eat the live spiders that I catch in the house, as well as dandelion flowers, and she is quite vociferous while awaiting her turn in the nest box.

Where do I begin? My little Redhenley, nicknamed Mink (it's a long story), was the best girl I've ever had or will ever have. She died of cancer last year.
She was an excellent egg layer, but since I don't eat eggs, I didn't care really. She was plucky and hardy, but most of all, she was the best companion in the world. She ruled the roost and kept every other girl in line. She kept peace within our flock for five years. Tillie, our Ameraucana (and Mink's best mate), would peck our Buff Orpingtons. Mink stopped it as soon as she could. She could chew you out a mile away, but would cuddle in a heartbeat if you openend your arms. I'll be getting another RIR next week, and can only hope that she'll be a little like my Mink.
Here are some pictures:






(at a few weeks old)

Have a feeling that my 6 RIR's are not normal. They are mellow and just want to be loved on. They do become pests when the feed scoop comes out, but other than that have not had any issues with them or do they pick on the other breeds.. The girls all give an egg a day - even through winter (no added light and only turned on heat lamp when it was 15 or lower outside). My flock will always have RIR's in it.