Rhode Island Red

My chickens are fully free range in close proximity with weasels, foxes, coyotes, dogs, raccoons, and hawks. My one Rhode Island Red has survived several holocausts and still lays though she is several years old. Gotta admire that toughness.

they are pretty good for holding. none died over an awfully cold winter. i am worried about their occasional aggressiveness. there aggressiveness is not a problem now because they are the youngest chickens, but it might be a problem with my 4 new silver laced wyandottes. i get around an egg a day from each of them.

I have 3 and they lay almost everyday. My favorite hen, Ginger, is very friendly and sweet. Shes the sweetest and smartest chicken I have. She follows me around, everytime I turn around shes right there. If you want a breed with lots of eggs, this is for you.

I only have 1 RIR hen. I have had her for a year.

She is my dominant hen.
She is:
smart, inquisitive, bossy, prone to moodiness, alert to dangers

What a producer of eggs she is!
She lays about every 25-26 hours.
eggs are big! beautifully shaped, great shells (I can compare her egs to the other breeds I have because they all eat the same things), reddish brown in color.

She is a beautiful bird. Rectangular in shape. lean and fit (not skinny). low to the ground.
She has been the healthiest of my birds so far.

She has convinced me that I want to keep this breed as part of my future flocks.

Update 1.5 years later:

My sweet RIR is 2 1/2 now.
She went broody and hatched eggs. She was a PERFECT mother. Instincts on what to do was spot on . She was a FIERCE mother. she protected the eggs from me and the other girls but when the little fluffers hatched, she was a proud mama and let the people play with the babies but the other chickens were not allowed anywhere near them. She even attacked the sweet neighbor dog because he got within 8 feet of her area.
when the babies grew and i kept a roo, she did NOT like the roo and attacked him often - not aggressively to kill him but to keep him in his place and from mating her.

She has slowed down laying just recently but not by much - get 6 eggs a week and one every other day in winter.
She is not a snuggly bird but is very trusting of me and comes when called and lets me pick her up and handle her.
She will jump HIGH to get the treats from you.
She can get moody especially before she lays and egg or is in molt. I have seen her bully the alpha of the new hens when she gets too confident and tries to out-alpha my Red.
She will make and hide nests in the summer.
Once it took us an hour to find her in her hiding hole ( i thought she was taken by a hawk).

i'm now just starting to get into one breed

i love this breed they are so sweet and calm very plumb chickens wonderful egg layers. however the roosters love to fight and scratch you must be very gentle with them as they grow up

I really want these, and i attempted to buy some at one point, but the seller lied to me about the breed, and gave me New Hampshire Reds instead.

We have 2 RIR's. One of them is a fairly aggressive bird, the other is curious, intellegent and an escape artist. They tend to be shy with people - at least ours are.

I understand RIR's to be good layers, and so far this has been true. We are getting 1-2 light colored eggs from them per day (with a little 'tinge' of pink in the color). Since they have only been laying for the past week or so, it will be interesting to see if this continues.

The aggressive bird is only aggressive with the other breeds, but leaves the older BO's alone - so far. I had to separate 1 RIR and a GLW/SLW bird, becuase the nearly killed an Ameraucana. I integrated these 3 aggressive birds into the main flock after our 2nd brood had integrated (8 BO, 2 Am, 1 RIR, 1 ea GLW/SLW, 2 BR). This seemed to work well, becuase they are not nearly as aggressive as they were before (the older BO's put them right in thier place).

The curious bird is the one that is the escape artist. She almost immediately found a weak spot in the fencing of the run and got out, then a few days later found another. Both have been fixed since so the escaping has stopped. Plus I let them free range in the afternoon when I get home from work.

They tend to be a little smaller then the other birds, but apparently size dosent matter in the chicken world. However, if the bullying continues - she will be called drum sticks, or maybe flourintine...

I got 2 RIRs for their good egg laying and they have definitly lived up to their reputation. Since they have started laying consistntly, they have both given me 6-7 eggs a week. This has been the 4th week since.
They are very smart birds and were the first in my flock to find the nesting boxes and roosts when they were moved to the coop.
The only problem is that they are at the bottom of the pecking order and are picked on by my Barred Rocks a lot.

I bought a RIR pullet in March of 2012, though at the time she and the other chicks in her bin were being sold as Welsummers. Had I known she was a RIR, I probably wouldn't have gotten her. It's funny how things work out, because she's now one of my favorite chickens out of the 12 or so different pullets I have.

I had never really wanted to get the RIR breed because I had read that they were aggressive birds, and I didn't want any born fighters in my flock, if I could help it. The pullet I have does have some competitiveness to her, but I've never really seen her start a fight with any of the others. She's clearly the head of the flock, and she's one of the boldest birds I have, as she's often one of the first to check out new things or new people. She has always been friendly with me and my family, though I've noticed a few times that she feels the need to nip at my pant leg or hand when she thinks I'm not getting her food fast enough. This behavior is pretty short-lived, since I get after her by either picking her up and carrying her, or poking her in the head to "peck" her back. So far as her being a "mean" chicken, though, I have seen my sweet little Wyandottes pick at the other birds far more than she has done.

I listed noise as a con for this breed because I've noticed that she is the loudest chicken I have. Her noise actually doesn't bother me, as I like chatty hens, but if you're in a small yard with easily irritated neighbors, beware.

The pros of this breed definitely lie among the outgoing personality (with reasonable handling) and a good egg laying ability. Of the three birds I currently have laying, my RIR is the most reliable, laying better than either my Buff Orpington or my Black Sex-link, though all three are still new to laying.

Over all, if you're looking for a good egg layer, I would consider this breed. Be mindful of their aggressive streak, especially if you don't handle them on a daily basis, but also be aware that they are not bloodthirsty chickens.

My Penny is my biggest girl, but she is almost on the bottom of the pecking order. she hangs out with my 2 smallest girls and they have their own little click! so cute! She is calm, but freaks out when people try to touch her. Sheis getting better every day in terms of her being scared of humans! She does lay delicious eggs, and lots of them! She was the first one to start laying at 5 months old. I like the breed, and would defineatly get more for the eggs.

mine is still young. only 3 months. keeps its own with older birds. no problems raising it so far. i heard they can be aggressive, maybe thats just the roosters.

I only have one RIR. She is 2-3 months old. I got her from one of the chicken ladies around here. Her name is Sasquatch. Sassy for short. She sprained her ankle the third day I had her and had to stay in a box/ cage for a few days. I gave her some antibodies and she healed right up. Her best buddy is a Barred Rock named Baby. They love to run around in the garden and catch bugs together. I love Sassy for so many reasons. Whenever I call for her, she comes a'runnin' She usually runs into my leg if I don't grab her up. We like to take half hour naps together in the shade.( She doesn't even poop on me!! ) We also have our secret cuddle, it's kind of like a secret handshake except that Sassy usually falls asleep before we finish I definitely want more of these awesome birds!!!

We bought 10 RIRS, But had to sell the rooster. He was tearing out chicken feathers all day long... prior to breeding age. Stressing our crew out something awful! Once he was gone they were happy, but we have found that the RIR's aren't curious, kinda stick around the same spots all day. They don't seem terribly smart compared to our other chicken breeds and they really don't care for children or being held by people in general (at least ours don't). Not one of my favorites, probably won't buy these again.

I have a couple of them with my ever expanding flock they are very good layer very friendly and beautiful
love their color and disposition just stuning very good girls will get more if posible

She's a good girl, doesn't take her role as oldest hen though and never has. Still laying most days. She was found wandering outside my property. And, she is the only who has survived raccoons, coyotes, hawks, etc and age all these years. The coop is much more secure now and has been made progressively so, after each attack. They are free range during the day though and that has some hazards.

Our birds came from a hatchery, and are smaller than the standard. Great producers of large eggs. My hens have nice personalities and not very vocal. They seem to be more personable as they get older.

Can be a very aggressive bird

A wonderful Bird who is the best egg layer ever. Mine started laying at 4 months old!
They are also exetremly healthy and nice.

I'M KINDA LAZY AN ONLY WANNA CRACK 1 EGG TO MAKE MY BREAKFAST.MMMMMMMM

PS THE GIRLS LOVE WATERMELON