The Heritage Rhode Island Red Site

Matt1616 said:

It is not only the amount of points but the structure of the comb. ….. It should also have a clean blade free of bumps and serrations.

Matt

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This is so on target.

If I ever get a male with a comb I really, really like, I'll let you know.

Fred's Hens said:

Let's get back to a more joyful discussion. Here's #3 cockerel, the best of 2015. Here he is at 16-17 weeks and here he is today. His comb was never nice and even less so since being re-sculpted, so that's gonna take some work. Otherwise, he's a pretty good male.

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And he is in MY coop with my pullets! I hope I do well by him this coming breeding session. I want to do well this coming year and get my group in better shape. Thanks to Fred for him and the back up cockerel. Now if I can do a good job picking out the ones to do him justice to breed with.

Here's a cut out close up of Matt's bird from last year (maybe two years ago) that won about everyplace he took him. Yes, as Matt himself said, his comb would be even better had it followed the curve of his head better on the rear. The rest of the comb is pretty faultless. Nice smooth sides, nice "stair stepping" of the points. The points are proportional to the overall size of the comb, something else I like to see. I prefer to see the points be roughly half the combs total height. That is NOT easy to achieve. The points are often 70% of the comb's height (too much) or only 30% of the comb's total height (too small). Very common but not very attractive, all else being equal.

Most of us must hatch 40 or 50 cockerels to find those with a decent comb. This simply is not easy to achieve and getting a "perfect" comb, like getting a "perfect" bird? Not gonna happen. Look at those famous photos of Mohawk V and look again at his comb. It is far, far from a great comb, just being honest. This takes work and it takes hatching and feeding out lots of males. Don't want to rain on anyone's parade, but you gotta match them up right, hatch out a bunch and feed out a bunch of birds. Don't get down. Just enjoy the process of working toward better Reds. Personally, I often find the work frustrating but almost always extremely rewarding. Love the birds. Enjoy the hobby.

Matt1616 said:

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It is not only the amount of points but the structure of the comb.  His comb is irregular in shape and progression.  The points should start out with the first one being the shortest and progressing to the last one being the tallest and it should be uniformed in it's progression.  It should also have a clean blade free of bumps and serrations.  Judges do not judge on the point system any more so that is not really relevant.  They comparison judge so if there are 2 birds that are equal but one has a better comb it will win.
The bird in my Avatar has a very good comb other that it could have followed the contour of his head a bit better but you can see the points progressing in a uniformed manner and the blade being pretty clean.  These are not major problems but you asked for opinions and the comb is something that could definitely be improved on this bird.  It is not terrible but not good either.

Matt
And i appreciate it very much. I genuinely did not know. Thanks

Nanny is right. Our best cockerel is slated to be breeding her top two or three, hand picked females in late winter. So that is why he is there. Nanny will take good care of the breeders, of that I am very confident. She's loves the birds. That's huge, huge in my book.

So, what male(s) might I be using in my pens? I intend to use what might be considered an overall lesser male, but one with features, pieces and parts, that I believe match up best for the three or four top females I have chosen. I have specific goals.

- I'd like to lessen or eliminate the red in the tails of the birds and have tails of purer green. It's a goal for 2016

- I'd like to deepen the red down the quill and lessen or eliminate some of the slate tones still in our line of birds. (thank you Steven)

- I'd like to see our birds consistently show round heads and short beaks. Another goal

- I'd like to maintain their super long, flat backs our birds show but also be well up on their legs, all the birds. I'd like to maintain the full body width we've gained and show that width through those long bodies our birds have. I would really, really, like to harden the feathering on all our birds as well. So??

My choices for males bring different attributes to the party. How will we do? We'll see next fall.

Fred's Hens said:

Nanny is right.  Our best cockerel is slated to be breeding her top two or three, hand picked females in late winter.  So that is why he is there. Nanny will take good care of the breeders, of that I am very confident.  She's loves the birds.  That's huge, huge in my book.

So, what male(s) might I be using in my pens?  I intend to use what might be considered an overall lesser male, but one with features, pieces and parts, that I believe match up best for the three or four top females I have chosen.  I have specific goals.

- I'd like to lessen or eliminate the red in the tails of the birds and have tails of purer green.  It's a goal for 2016

- I'd like to deepen the red down the quill and lessen or eliminate some of the slate tones still in our line of birds. (thank you Steven)

- I'd like to see our birds consistently show round heads and short beaks.  Another goal

- I'd like to maintain their super long, flat backs our birds show but also be well up on their legs, all the birds.  I'd like to maintain the full body width we've gained and show that width through those long bodies our birds have. I would really, really, like to harden the feathering on all our birds as well. So??

My choices for males bring different attributes to the party.  How will we do?  We'll see next fall.  

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Those are all good goals as well as common problems with all lines of Reds. It is quite a challenge to breed and raise quality Rhode Island Reds but as you mentioned earlier it is quite rewarding to try. A lot of people think that Reds are an easy breed but I have found them quite challenging but that is what keeps me interested.

Matt

I was searching online for the SOP on RiRs and found this gem

http://bloslspoutlryfarm.tripod.com/index.html

Wonderful wonderful reading, I cant get enough.
I just may print it all out to make a easy to read referece manual.

Now that my coop is built, I am looking forward to getting to know this breed up close. And if l learn enough to build up my confidence, I may build some breeding pens.

onarres said:

I was searching online for the SOP on RiRs and found this gem

http://bloslspoutlryfarm.tripod.com/index.html

Wonderful wonderful reading, I cant get enough.
I just may print it all out to make a easy to read referece manual.

Now that my coop is built, I am looking forward to getting to know this breed up close. And if l learn enough to build up my confidence, I may build some breeding pens.

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If I haven't said this already

You are correct, that is a great website. Bob the website owner also started this thread. Sadly he passed away a little over 2 years ago but happily his website is still up. Another great website with a lot of super information, http://jimspetsandpoultry.weebly.com/ Good luck and have fun...

Ok got another question. I've been reading the standard, and trying to make sense of it all. I know I'm asking dumb questions, so please excuse me. Matt, would the bird that is your avatar be considered to have a low tail set? I know he has won almost everything, and i wish i had one that looked remotely like him, but thats why im asking about this 20% tail rise thing. Out of all my birds, i have only one cockerel and one hen that carries their tail above horizontal

pathornton said:

Ok got another question. I've been reading the standard, and trying to make sense of it all. I know I'm asking dumb questions, so please excuse me. Matt, would the bird that is your avatar be considered to have a low tail set? I know he has won almost everything, and i wish i had one that looked remotely like him, but thats why im asking about this 20% tail rise thing. Out of all my birds, i have only one cockerel and one hen that carries their tail above horizontal

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Yes, in that picture he was still going through a molt and didn't have the top of his tail in but when he has his whole tail in it is very close to correct. I will post a picture of him about 2 months after that picture and even though it isn't a good picture of the bird you can see how different he looked with his tail in.

Matt