RIR info please

[ebonykawai]

It's getting narrowed down, folks! My daughter's friend's dad has....CHICKENS!! And he's getting babies in the spring and will even keep them for me until they are old enough to put in my coop. **WH00T**

Originally I was wanting sex links. He has RIRs. Does anyone know about their personalities? I've read the gamut, from being mean as snot to sweet and friendly. I'm not really looking for these birds as pets, mainly eggs, but I would like to like them, lol. They'd be all hens, no roosters. Also, are they flightly? Noisier than usual? Pecky? Will my daughter get mauled if she steps in the henhouse?

Any input is much appreciated. Thanks!

 

[cockadoodlemom]

I love RIR's I have one who lets me hold her and cuddle with and the other 4 like being around and are nice but don't like to be messed with. As far as egg laying to me they are great. Hopefully someone else will be on soon that knows more than me.

 

[FutureChickenMan]

If you're getting them as chicks, make sure to handle them a lot. This will help them get use to us humans and be less agressive. Personality wise, they're not going to be too much different than a Red sex link.

 

[LinckHillPoultry]

I have lots of RIR's. I highly reccomend them to any beginner. They have good dispositions. Very gentle, my one hen just lows to fly up and sleep on my shoulder. Roosters will get along better with other roosters if theyre raised together. They will still fight though. Our RIR roosters havent squared off with one of us yet. They are brilliant birds though and will provide you with a bounty of brown eggs.
Good luck.

 

[ebonykawai]

Are they broody?

 

[Kentucky~Momma]

We have some, our main breeders, that won't let me pick them up, but we can go in their run with the kids and they are fine, even with the rooster in there, and he is sweet as can be. Our little girls, we have close to 25 of them outside now will let me pick them up and hold them without a problem, but we had more time handling them. We got our breeders from some other person and they were already 4-5 months old when we got them, so not used to people. They will let me go into the nest boxes when they are laying and not have any problems.

Broodiness... mine have not gone broody and I have heard that they are not a broody bird.

 

[FutureChickenMan]

Quote:
They can be, I've had one go broody before, hatched out 4 chicks.

 

[Backyard Buddies]

I only have two of them and although they're different from one another, each is great in her own regard. Penny is the one that the kids call "the rock" because she's strong, curious, and inquisitive. She loves to talk to you and loves to be held, usually when you're holding someone else (jealousy, maybe?). She's the first one to the door when she sees you, first to beg for treats, and often picks a sunny spot to stretch out, right outside the French slider next to my computer. Ruthie is a snuggle baby. She's shy and timid and loves to be held. She'll sit in your arms forever, often falling asleep in the process. She'll let you scratch her neck until her eyes close and her head droops.

As for egg laying, having only three girls, I've kept a calendar since they were babies. From onset of lay to one year later, Penny laid 301 eggs and Ruthie laid 307. Not bad for one year of time!

 

[ebonykawai]

I'm sold, then! Thanks so much for all the input, this is great news for me. I was originally going to get started pullets from Meyer, but I am so against debeaking, I couldn't possibly go ahead with it. My next plan was to order chicks and I was sort of nervous about that. I've never raised chicks before. But now, with my daughter's friend's dad being big into RIRs and doing babies in the spring, I won't even have to order! And they can stay there until they can move into my coop, which is just great. He's real close, too, so I can visit all the time, lol. I'm so happy about how things worked out!

 

[Backyard Buddies]

I think if you hold them a lot as babies, it'll go a long way toward them being friendly. That was certainly the case with ours. Mine will not only let us hold them, but will allow the friends of our kids hold them as well.

As for noisiness, Ruthie can be noisy at times, but usually when she's lonely which may not be your situation if you have more than we do. For some reason, if Penny is in the nest box, Elsie (our EE) will sit on the roost until Penny lays which leaves Ruthie by herself. If she gets lonely, she'll make an Errrr errr errrr noise until she's rejoined by the other two. Since Penny is a quick layer, it only lasts a short while which is a good thing since we have 5 neighbors within 75 feet of their coop! No one has complained especially since they enjoy the free eggs that come their way!