You are welcome to jump in! This breed is winter hardy, beautiful, and similar to its game bird ancestry has a semi-upright in its stature and great human relationship. I have found even cockerels seem very tame with each other. They should be tall with thick hackles [neck feathers], beard, muffs [feathers that are fluffy around and under their beak] friendly and with yellow legs and lay a light brown egg. Some call this cream others tinted. They are meant to both meat and egg producers but they have not been worked or kept to the same degree as many other 'heritage' breeds so they do need some work. At my place they are the worst chickens for being under foot. Last year we had one pullet called Fido by my son because he could go out in the yard and call her and she'd come running. It was a little silly.
Yesterday was lockdown for set #2, 2 eggs were rocking within hours. This morning I found that one that was moving yesterday has turned around and moved its position in the incubator as well as the egg beside it! I'm guessing there's a cockerel in that one... I have a question for those that have hatched quite a few ROs- have you noticed a difference in sex of chicks based on markings? I may have read a bit about this on earlier pages but do the cockerels or the pullets feather out faster for ROs? I've made my feather tip guesses with the first set and was pretty good at it with RIR chicks but am wondering about the diamond pattern on these guys' heads. 4 have the same diamond pattern, 2 have a 'reverse' chipmunk stripe pattern with more of just a tiny spot on their heads.
