my rhode island reds are so mean!!!!!!!!!!

[Robert Blosl]

Painting that was sent to the Govenor of Rhode Island in 1950 to celebrate the 100 years of Rhode Island Reds in Rhode Island.

a high egg proudution commerical red.

Common Single Comb Rhode Island Reds non Prouduction or Commerical. Owner is Gary Ramey of South Caolina. Did any of you get eggs from this man last year?
Hope you can see the differnece in color and shape. bob


There are two kinds of Reds. Commerical production reds which have been breed year in and year out to lay lots of eggs for the hatcheries and over the last 30 years their traits have changed from the original Rhode Island Reds. That is why some of the females are aggresive and many males will spike your legs or attach your children. Its normal for these lighter colored hatchery chickens to do this. Its not their fault.

The problem the Original Rhode Island Reds which I will post a picture of from the 1950s get a bad rap. They are breed for heavy flesh, medium egg production dark color with green tails and docile as can be. Many females still go broody today in our rare Single Comb and Rose Comb Rhode Island Reds. They are just so rare today we can not supply the demand to the beginners who have been emailing me or sending me personel messages from this site.

If they are mean they are like a bad dog who bites . You should get rid of them so they wont hurt you or your small children. bob

 

[ilovechickens]

I have 12 RIR Bantams, the roo's are really mean, they would attack me everytime I went in to collect eggs, now I go i with a broom, and they scat out of the way, the hens are decent, one will attack. I have 3 Beautiful LF RIR Rose combs, I bought them from someone who showed them, they are very docile, not one egg from the two hens yet and they are 1 year old, baffled!!!

 

[Robert Blosl]

Quote:
do you have pictures of your rose comb large fowl. They are very very rare i have people begging for some eggs or chicks from them.bob

 

[quintinp]

wow i didn't realize that their were more than one breed of rhode island red chickens,

after seeing the pictures shown i am convinced that my ""rhode island reds"" are fakes i am so mangry, but i am so naive about these types of things, i have became smarter though

 

[mons02035]

Quote:
I ditto this. I had one that was very aggressive towards me. I would open the door and she would run over and start with me. But after about 2 weeks of laying, she and I are best buds.

 

[Sinfonian]

So happy to hear that most of the time the behavior after a few weeks of laying. RIR is one of my top pic breeds. Of course I am only getting 3 or 4 birds but if it's just pecking order, I have no problem letting a RIR be the top bird. Thanks, very informative.

 

[Robert Blosl]

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Dont be up set. It happens to all of us. I worked ten days as a boy picking blue berries and then cashed in my tickets to buy six light brahams. When I showed them next to the the real original Heritage Light Brhams I found out that what I thought I had and what I got was different. They have benn telling us that we have such and such breed for 60 years then you find out thier are production chickens.

Real Rhode Island Redsare not agressive. The lay about 170 eggs in their pullet year, they can go broody and raise you chicks, they have good flesh if you want to eat them and they are dark and pretty to look at. They are very rare and need help to keep the old gene pools going.

bob

 

[tammyd57]

About 30 years ago, I got a trio of LF Single-comb RIR's. These were Heritage RIR, very dark red, meaty and so very sweet tempered. They came from an old man who had been breeding them for many years. I carefully line bred them for the next 6 or 7 years and built my flock up to about 35 really nice birds. Circumstances forced the sale of all my flocks at that time and two years later when I could have chickens again, I couldn't find the people who had bought my RIR's or I would have tried to buy some of them back. Those were my favorite chickens of all the breeds I've had. I have since had Production Reds, and had to eat them because they were so mean. Not the same bird at all.

 

[Robert Blosl]

Quote:
Do you remember his name. It would be interesting I may have know him. I use to live on the west coast as a kid.

There is a fellow in Calif named Dave Anderson who has your old kind of Rhode Island Reds.

Also, I found a strain in South Carolina where this fellow has raised his Rhode Island Reds for over 40 years and his strain started in Calif. He said he got them from a friend who bought out a old timer poultry from a estate sale after he died. He was given a few of these and still has them in his 70s. They look just like the ones in the 1940s.

If you would like to get some I would be happy to get you some eggs some day. There are not alot of these birds left anymore but if you look hard you can get started.

Like you say they are not mean either. bob

 

[Cacciatore]

In the 1970s I had a flock of about two dozen RIRs and they were the sweetest hens. Once the pecking order was set there was very little conflict amongst them. A few years ago I had another flock with six RIRs among other breeds and these were incredibly aggressive. They would gang up on a couple of chickens and almost killed them. They pecked one so badly that her eye was swollen shut for over a week. I got these from the local feed store. I'll never do that again.

I don't own RIRs at this time and my flock of 25 has only the normal pecking order activity. I was beginning to think that RIRs are too aggressive so I'm pleased to learn that it's not all of them. I may try them again in the future.