RED STAR OWNERS

[red star11]

Im lookin for any one who owns RED STARS to share info on the Wonderful World of Chickens. I also wanted to talk about behavioral patterns of Stars. Thanks For Writing

 

[ChickLuver]

I have red stars. I love them. My girls are too funny. There one of the sweetest birds I have. But they are my head girls as well. They run the coop. And the other girls know there the top hens!

 

[glassparman]

My Red Star pullets are going on 2 years old now.

1. They seem fairly friendly with the hand that feeds them. Some will even sit on my hand or shoulder.
2. They lay lots of very LARGE brown eggs.
3. They will lay through the winter if you supply artificial light.
4. They don't seem to want to set or go broody.
5. They seem to setup their pecking order fairly well.
6. They do seem to have a problem pecking on another if a problem arises or blood shows. They will peck the singled out hen to death.
7. They are smart birds and pick up fast on any simple training such as - this means eating time. One example is after feeding them fresh cut grass, the very next time they heard the lawnmower, they were jumping over the pen fence to come and get grass.

Hope this helps.

Michael

 

[ChickLuver]

I agree with everything you just said! They are exceptionally smart but can be a little mean to one who is underneath them in the pecking order. I have 2 groups made into one flock. The "girls" and the "babies". The girls will not let 2-3 of the babies eat till there done, everytime the babies walk past the girls they get a little peck in the head. Kind of like a reminder peck I guess. But there so sweet to me. They know I'm the food lady.....

 

[walbarbsa]

I don't know what Red Star looks like. Anyone have photos?

 

[Nikki28]

I love my girls so far. They are due to start laying in March they follow me around and are very very goofy Of course these are the first chickens that I have ever owned so I don't have much to go on. But I am def. glad to have them!

 

[CovenantCreek]

My first flock was a half dozen Red Stars purchased as started pullets. They're coming up on 2 yrs next spring. I've lost 2 to hawks, but the remaining 4 are "my" girls (as opposed to the rooster's girls). They still lay extra large to jumbo eggs almost every day, though it seems they're taking more days off this winter than last.

They've learned that the sound of the tractor means good things -- when I do the mowing they get in the way as they chase after all the displaced bugs. Meanwhile, the Delawares are hiding from the noisy monster.

When I first let the Delawares start to free-range, there were occasional scuffles as they all sorted out pecking order. They had separate coops so they didn't have as much adjusting to do as they would have living in one coop. As of a few weeks ago, a couple of the younger hens decided to move out of the Delaware coop and into the big girl coop. After a few nights on the lower roosts, they've been allowed to move up and sleep with the big girls.

For photos go to my BYC page -- at the bottom there's a link to my chicken photo album.

 

[Redtopranch]

I have a redstar... we named her Little Red Hen. She is smaller than our others because when she was about 14 weeks old she was attacked by a hawk (we think). She lost ALL her tail feathers and had several puncture wounds to her torso. I just knew she'd be dead by morning. We nursed on her and today she's about 29 weeks old and has grown her tail feathers back and started laying 2 weeks ago. Right now her eggs are on the smaller size but we cut her LOTS of slack for what she's been through.

I have not found her to be as friendly as my other pullets but I'd be happy to have several more just like her. Hope that helps.

Paul

 

[77horses]

Red Stars can get pretty far sized. They are about the size of RIR hens? Not a very big breed, but they are way bigger than bantams. They have clean legs(no feathers), single comb, usually yellow/light yellow legs, very friendly(ours loves to be held and carried around), they are "egg-laying machines!" LOL They really are! They usually lay eggs earlier than other breeds(our red star pullet, Cinnamon:<<<avatar) started laying as early as about 3-4 1/2 months!) They usually lay large to X-large brown eggs. This breed can go by different names, like Cinnamon Queens, Red Sex-Links(there are also black sex-links), Red Stars.... You can tell the difference of gender by looking at their color; Male= white/cream colored body with some brown on wings,(http://www.feathersite.com/Poultry/CGP/Sex-links/Eric.JPEG) Female=varieties of brown colors(light brown, darker brown, etc. Usually a copper color)http://www.feathersite.com/Poultry/CGP/Sex-links/Cheryle.JPEG However, if you mix the breed with another breed and hatch out the offspring, then you will not be able to tell gender by color. You can only tell gender by color with the first generation(They are hybrids) To get a "true" Red Star, you can breed Rhode Island Red rooster with a white Delaware hen. There are other ways to get a red sex-link from other breeds, but i don't remember them all. roll
This breed is VERY friendly(from my experience with them) but they can sometimes be dominant over more docile(mellow) breeds, such a the Buff Orpington.
Oh and this breed is very easy to raise usually. They are hardy in cold or warm weather. Right now, we have been getting temperatures in the one digit numbers at night and sometimes during the day, yet our Red Star pullets are still laying medium-large eggs(one is still about medium because she started laying a little while ago. But her eggs are getting bigger!) cool

Here are a few links that can better explain about Red Stars:
http://www.feathersite.com/Poultry/CGP/Sex-links/BRKSexLink.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sex_Link
http://www.mcmurrayhatchery.com/product/red_star.html


We have 2 Red Stars and we hope to hatch some chicks out this Spring!

<<<<<My avatar: That's my Red Star pullet, Cinnamon!

She's 5 1/2 months old. will be 6 months old in January.

She lays large brown eggs everyday(sometimes 2 a day, not just 1)

She's the sweetest hen ever!!!!(At the time when i took that picture, she was sitting on my lap. LOL so gentle! When i open up their coop and call to her she runs over and hops up on my lap, looking for a treat.

 

[esjro]

My Red Stars Esther and Olivia are my favorites. They started laying early (4 -5 months) and lay very reliably. The high here today was in the low 20s and still I get 6 eggs a week from each lady! They have good personalities too - they are friendly towards humans, especially those that have food! Both of mine are big talkers too, always "bwaaaaawk"-ing about something.

Res Stars do seem prone to mischief... on nice days they fly over their poultry fence and go wandering around the yard. Sometimes they will convince the Barred Rock or Easter Egger to go with them, but often I will just see the two of them coming towards the house looking for a handout.

Edited to say:

6. They do seem to have a problem pecking on another if a problem arises or blood shows. They will peck the singled out hen to death.

This is true. I had to keep my EE in the basement for a while because of the pecking - she had a bloody spot on her bum and they wouldn't leave her alone!

Also, mine are still laying and I don't have artificial light.​