Rhode Island Reds

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Hi my daughter is in 4H and they are getting chicks soon. The choices are RIR or Barred rocks. Which do you suggest??? I now have Cornish rocks.. Who will get along the best??
 
RAGEFarms1 said:
Hi my daughter is in 4H and they are getting chicks soon. The choices are RIR or Barred rocks. Which do you suggest??? I now have Cornish rocks.. Who will get along the best??
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Between the two breeds I would suggest going with the Barred Rocks. On rare occasion I've had a Barred Rock that was aggressive and had to be culled from the flock, but they are generally quite docile, more so that the RIRs are (especially the RIR roosters). Also you want a docile breed in with your Cornish Rocks. Cornish Rocks (or Cornish Cross as they are often marketed as) are large birds that are excellent as meat producers as they grow abnormally rapidly and are ready to be butchered at 8 weeks. In fact, if you wait too much beyond that period of time, they begin to develop health problems due to their abnormal growth rate. Because of these health problems, Cornish Rocks are very sluggish, docile birds which tend to be picked on by other breeds despite their massive size.
 
Thanks for the info.. I have 7 roosters and 1 hen left. They are getting a little hateful to the kids. No one wants roosters. Guess I will have to take them to the flea market.
 
RAGEFarms1 said:
Thanks for the info.. I have 7 roosters and 1 hen left. They are getting a little hateful to the kids. No one wants roosters. Guess I will have to take them to the flea market.
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Either that or make chicken pot pie from them. :o) Hopefully you can reverse that ratio of roosters to hens. Actually the recommended ratio (no matter what breed you have) is 1 rooster for every 10 hens. As they mature, too many roosters will become very hard physically on your hens; over-breeding them, biting and plucking the feathers from their necks and backs, battering them, and potentially, seriously injuring them. The only reason you need a rooster is to fertilize eggs for hatching, and 1 rooster can easily handle 10 hens in this regard. I currently have 25 hens and no roosters in my flock, and I get loads of eggs without all the aggression, fights, biting and feather plucking, feeding of non-productive mouths, crowing in the middle of the night, drop off in egg production, and over-breeding and battering of hens that goes along with having roosters (especially too many). My hens are stress free and enjoying life without a rooster around. Good luck in getting rid of all those roosters.
 
Thanks for the well wishes. A friend is looking into a few people who might just make a pot pie with them!!!
 

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