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Rhode Island Red

Rhode Island Reds are one of the most popular and oldest known breeds of chicken and was developed mainly in Rhode Island and Massachusetts in the mid 1840's.
Friendly
Pros: friendly
gorgeous
even rooster friendly
Cons: none that I can think of
My rir is 4 weeks old today. She/he ( i bought straight run and think it's a he) is very friendly so far.
Purchase Price
5$
Purchase Date
sometime in june
Pros: Great for eggs and meat
Stereotypical roos
Very pretty
Not very broody
Cons: Males are kind of aggressive
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!
Pros: Friendly
Easy to hold
Good laying production
Cons: Scaredy
RIRs are a very good laying breed and I would highly recommend them for eggs. They can also be mean to the other chickens.
Pros: Good layers

Friendly ( most times )
Cons: Can be VERY agressive

Broody often
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.
Purchase Price
Free ( from neighbors )
Purchase Date
2022
Pros: Excellent free rangers
Very productive layers
Predator smart
Longevity/ disease resistance (in my experience)
Calm towards other chickens
Cons: Flighty/wary of people
Panic when separated from flock mates
Have a tendency to hide nests/ lay eggs outside of nest boxes (perhaps due to free ranging instincts)
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.
Lovely, popular birds.
Pros: Very sweet, curious, and fun

They seem to have their own, amazing personality

Gorgeous color

Majestic

Good egg layers
Cons: Can have reproductive issues

Sometimes are unfriendly (but not in my experience)
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.)
Purchase Price
5.00
Purchase Date
February 2019

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Pros: Very majestic
Great egg layers
Good for all weather
Cons: Not very friendly
Roosters are VERY aggressive
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.
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Reactions: WalnutTree
Pros: Lays brown eggs all year long, is a winter layer. Very friendly, curious, and smart. Beautiful red plumage.
Cons: Can be aggressive to those lower in the flock.
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.
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Reactions: ChickenGirl300
Pros: Great Layer, Friendly, Smart
Cons: Mean to Plymouth Rock at the bottom of the pecking order
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.
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Reactions: Starburst
Pros: Amazing layers, friendly, cheap and can be found at just about any store.
Cons: None that I can think of.
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.
Purchase Price
$2.00 (for young chicks)
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Reactions: Starburst
Pros: He has been a wonderful rooster, not aggressive at all, and wonderful with his hens. He just risked his own life with a dog, and saved all his hens.
Cons: Nothing
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!
Purchase Price
$8.00
Purchase Date
May 2017
Pros: Great egg layer and friendly too. Never fails to come into coop when performing daily cleanup to talk to me and just hang around.
Cons: None that I may think of.
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.
Purchase Price
$3.00
Purchase Date
March 2019
Pros: Good layers forage well
Cons: Some times aggressive
Purchase Price
2.00 chicks
Pros: Friendly, smart, inquisitive, nice red color, good layers
Cons: Can’t think of any!
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).
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Reactions: Jac Jac
Pros: She's very sweet and loved to be cuddles, eats out of your hand very gently
Cons: My hen doesn't lay, I know most do but mine just doesn't for some reason
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.
Pros: Good layers
Cons: I never had any cons with them
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.
Pros: Pretty, Protective
Cons: Aggressive, massive, messy
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!
Pros: Large brown eggs , Fairly quick growth , can make a good roaster if fed well .
Cons: Roosters can be aggressive .
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 .
Pros: Good layers. Friendly. Get along with other breeds.
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.
Purchase Price
Free
Purchase Date
10/2018
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