The Heritage Rhode Island Red Site

[cmom]

Any opinions of her? I have at a show right now and am curious how she will do.

How did she place? It's hard to tell from the picture but I do agree with the other assessments. Her tail looks too high and she appears to be rather narrow with a long neck. Can't tell if her tail has an angle or if it's pinched. Fred has some beautiful birds although I have never seen them in person, but from the pictures he has posted they are spectacular.
My current avatar is my girl that won a champion last year.
This male also won a champion before he cut his comb. He has nice length and width all the way back to his tail.



My champion female nice long wide back with a nice angled tail.

This is one of my Rose Comb females, she did well at a show.

 

[cmom]

After the show, ask the judge to give you feedback on your bird. Then, go to the person who wins BB, and have that person come give you feedback, take the bird out and have the winner actually handle your bird as well.


Folks on the scene will give you much better feedback than we can ever, ever do from the internet.

That said, her tail is how many degrees above horizontal would you say? What does your standard say is the proper tail angle on the female? Surely, your copy of the standard is there at the show with you, right?

 

[Ur-ur-ur-urrr]

She reminds of this hen, except with a narrower head, longer tail, and deeper red...



Although... not all production reds carry their tails high, and some even have fairly decent "type"...



With the length of tail on your bird, it makes me wonder if there might be some leghorn genes. It's been rumored that some people have crossed HRIR with leghorns to up egg production. Just another random theory, I'm sure...

 

[waddles99]

Thanks for the feedback everyone. This was a 4H show, so they didn't do Best and Reserve of Breed, their classes were by age not by breed. The pullet class, which is what class she was in, was won Best and Reserve by two other pullets. They did "excellent" "very good" "good" and "fair" ribbons. She got a very good...but I am pretty sure that no one got anything below "very good" since this was 4H. I didn't get a chance to talk to the judge because she left before they announced the winners. The only other RIR there were so light they didnt even look like RIR. I was planning on getting rid of these birds anyway, just wanted to get another opinion. I was planning on buying an incubator and buying from hilltop farm.

 

[Ur-ur-ur-urrr]

Thanks for the feedback everyone. This was a 4H show, so they didn't do Best and Reserve of Breed, their classes were by age not by breed. The pullet class, which is what class she was in, was won Best and Reserve by two other pullets. They did "excellent" "very good" "good" and "fair" ribbons. She got a very good...but I am pretty sure that no one got anything below "very good" since this was 4H. I didn't get a chance to talk to the judge because she left before they announced the winners. The only other RIR there were so light they didnt even look like RIR. I was planning on getting rid of these birds anyway, just wanted to get another opinion. I was planning on buying an incubator and buying from hilltop farm.

Glad she did good at the show, but I think you will be much happier with reds that are bred to the standard. I also think that buying an incubator and getting eggs from Hilltop Farms is an excellent idea! If I may, I highly suggest running a couple of batches of test eggs to get the feel of the incubator before purchasing more expensive eggs. I have SC RIR eggs from Hilltop Farm in my incubator now, and will be moving them to the hatcher this evening. Once you've seen pure RIR that are bred to the standar, you'll see flaws in most other reds immediately. Look at these pictures of two pullets. When you put them side-by-side, the differences become more obvious...

 

[waddles99]

Can anyone judge this bird? I found someone close by and they have pullets they will be bringing to a show I am at. They sent me some pics of the patent stock.

 

[Ur-ur-ur-urrr]

Can anyone judge this bird? I found someone close by and they have pullets they will be bringing to a show I am at. They sent me some pics of the patent stock.

From the initial appearance she seems to have good type, good color, good fluff, good tail angle, and nice yellow legs. The tail isn't as full as I'd like, but that could be caused from roosting with her tail against a wall? One thing that caught my eye is the exposed primary feather. If it's just not folded properly, it's not a problem. If she has split wing, then it does become a problem. I'd ask the seller about that. Other than those two items, I can't see anything wrong with her. I can't tell if she has black ticking in the bottom hackle feathers, but you definitely want to avoid lacing. As always, it's hard to evaluate a bird from pictures, and especially a single picture. If you can evaluate the bird in person without being bound to purchase it, that would be the best thing to do. Only when you have the bird in hand can you check under-color, quill color, amount of smut, length of keel, etc. If they are bringing pullets of this type, they should be worth taking the time to look at. Just my 2c...

 

[Ur-ur-ur-urrr]

@cmom tonight's candling showed 19 live embryos. They're on lockdown in the hatcher as I type. I should see some fluffy fuzz in 2-3 days!!!

 

[BlackwoodHollow]

Hey guys! thought I'd drop in and see how you guys were doing and show off our reds now that they are a little bigger.

These reds are courtesy of Ken Weaver(Weaversrocks). Thanks, Fred. I know they aren't perfect, but I'm happy to have a starting point. They are 5 months old.



Blue band with the girls



Orange band with the girls.

Grey band in front, orange band in back.


This is from a month or so ago. I like the pullet in the front. I think?



We ended up with only three cockerels from the hatch. Here is what I am seeing so far, please let me know if I'm incorrect or missing something:
Grey band is out. Carries his tail way too high. Type isn't great and comb isn't so great either. Pretty bird, but not for breeding.
Blue band has the best type of all of them. His comb isn't that great, though. Not horrible, just doesn't follow the shape of the neck. His tail is also a little too high, but he's the best I have right now. He's probably the one I'll keep.
Orange band has a great comb, but something is wrong with his tail. I've never seen anything like it. I'll try to get some better pics up for critique sometime.
Like I said, not perfect, but better than nothing. I look forward to being able to add new blood soon.

 

[cmom]

Hey guys! thought I'd drop in and see how you guys were doing and show off our reds now that they are a little bigger.

These reds are courtesy of Ken Weaver(Weaversrocks). Thanks, Fred. I know they aren't perfect, but I'm happy to have a starting point. They are 5 months old.



Blue band with the girls



Orange band with the girls.

Grey band in front, orange band in back.


This is from a month or so ago. I like the pullet in the front. I think?



We ended up with only three cockerels from the hatch. Here is what I am seeing so far, please let me know if I'm incorrect or missing something:
Grey band is out. Carries his tail way too high. Type isn't great and comb isn't so great either. Pretty bird, but not for breeding.
Blue band has the best type of all of them. His comb isn't that great, though. Not horrible, just doesn't follow the shape of the neck. His tail is also a little too high, but he's the best I have right now. He's probably the one I'll keep.
Orange band has a great comb, but something is wrong with his tail. I've never seen anything like it. I'll try to get some better pics up for critique sometime.
Like I said, not perfect, but better than nothing. I look forward to being able to add new blood soon.

I agree with your assessments. Be careful about adding "new blood". Sometimes that can be more of a disaster than a help. I got my original birds from Matt and if I need new blood I get another bird from him.