Thanks for the conversation! Lots of good info. I have a childhood love of RIRs. One of those visceral things. I am sure the hens we had were not fancy or heritage. Probably production hens.
From what I read, the production rir are genetically RIRs, just a variation selected for production rather than size and color. That works for me. Like I said, my dogs would be considered ugly and most definitely built wrong by some in the show field, but they work their legs off! I appreciate balanced utility animals. I will get some more I am sure and will probably look for a breeder who breeds a little more towards the production side.
I also have 3 red star hens and wont get any more even though they are fantastic egg layers. Their eggs are too big, and they are too small. I worry about their health. They did put weight on after we got them--they have adapted well to free ranging--except all 3 got bumble foot at the beginning of the winter. I take that as weakness. We have 9 of their eggs with the barred rock roo in the incubator and look forward to seeing what we get.
I got my 3 from a breeder in NJ. I have no idea where they got their original stock from. No sign of broodiness...but one of my BOs went broody and did a fantastic mommy job.
Attitude wise--they are a bit bossy, but man, when the Red Stars came in, one schooled everyone! She kicked the lead RIR's butt and everyone else backed off. My rirs are not mean at all, but not friendly either.
