The Heritage Rhode Island Red Site

[Chris09]

Okay BREEDERS.
I have different lines of the RIR. Here is a problem that I've seen in them. NO, I did not produce any of them yet. Most of my pullets are reaching the age where they should start laying and since they are, I've really been looking at them very close. I know that I've read on here some time back that we shouldn't worry about color, go for type, type, type. Now, here is a problem that I see in almost every line that I have except one.
The pullets tails have the red lacing around the edges of the black feathers in the tails. I'm new at trying to get these birds to the SOP and all my birds either came from eggs or chicks that I've bought on line. Most came from well known folks on this forum. There is no way that I would sell eggs from these birds to anyone for incubation "unless they were expecting to really work on the lines." The thing is this, if there are no pullets at all in any of these lines without the lacing, do I just throw them in a laying pen for egg production and forget about trying to get good ones or do I mate these birds and try getting a few good from what I have.
I will say this and hope no one gets to aggravated with me. Of all the different lines, the only pullets that I have at this time are the 3 that came from NYREDS. They do not have one black feather in the tail with lacing on therm. I already got Bill's answer to this question and agree with him 100%. Just wanting to see what others have to say.
Jim

Which tail feathers are laced in Red?
The two top tail feathers can be laced in Red.


Chris

 

[melroseladi]

Jimmy, you can send me some of those eggs and I will be more then happy to work on them with you.

Penny

 

[immyjay54]

Which tail feathers are laced in Red?
The two top tail feathers can be laced in Red.


Chris

Chris,
I thought it easier to show you then try and tell you. These pictures are from different birds. Some are not quite as bad as others. I'm not a perfectionist but I don't want to start causing problems before I get started. lol

 

[FOGELLY]

Jimmy,
I have a couple from last year that have a little of this on their tail, not much at all but it is still there. They have really good type and I will be using them.
Would it be correct to breed them back to a bird that has black in the hackles and wing feathers?

I have spent all my efforts so far on type, and will continue to do so for several more years. Color is looking good, I just want to learn how this would be corrected

Ron

 

[immyjay54]

Jimmy,
I have a couple from last year that have a little of this on their tail, not much at all but it is still there. They have really good type and I will be using them.
Would it be correct to breed them back to a bird that has black in the hackles and wing feathers?

I have spent all my efforts so far on type, and will continue to do so for several more years. Color is looking good, I just want to learn how this would be corrected

Ron

Ron,
The problem that I'm running into is I don't want to do anything to mess anything up. It seems to me though that for me to get eggs/chicks from so many different places as I have that for me to end up with this is all these lines that someone has to be breeding this type of bird and selling eggs. ?????? At first I was thinking to go ahead and hatch eggs from these and see if I get any without it and only keep them but I didn't know what to do. An old time breeder said to not breed any of the pullets/hens with the lacing in the tails. If this is the case, I've only got 3 birds out of all these different lines that don't have any at all. Seems strange to me.
Jim

 

[catdaddyfro]

Hey there guys I too am interested in what is to be said here, but I'm in the same boat as Ron I have a few more areas of concern right now than the tail lacing, still would like to have the input for future reference though. My males are a lot better than my females at this juncture, it seems, and I will be working on them to improve their types for a few more generations it looks like to me, with all hope in that I can succeed in doing so. I've never had this type challenge before and I can see that in the afore mentioning of breeding these reds and getting them in shape is not for the "average Joe" so to say. LOL

Jeff

 

[Fred's Hens]

Ron,
The problem that I'm running into is I don't want to do anything to mess anything up. It seems to me though that for me to get eggs/chicks from so many different places as I have that for me to end up with this is all these lines that someone has to be breeding this type of bird and selling eggs. ?????? At first I was thinking to go ahead and hatch eggs from these and see if I get any without it and only keep them but I didn't know what to do. An old time breeder said to not breed any of the pullets/hens with the lacing in the tails. If this is the case, I've only got 3 birds out of all these different lines that don't have any at all. Seems strange to me.
Jim

Jimmy, you're first and last photos, re-posted below, look pretty much like my hen and one of my two pullets. The other pullet is more like your middle photos. Since I only had three females, I had to start this winter with what I had. No choice. I'll be very interested to see what some of the guys say to you, as it will surely apply to me. I've hatched out 15 chicks and got another 20 set to hatch in a 12 days. We'll see what we get as they grow out.

 

[immyjay54]

Hey there guys I too am interested in what is to be said here, but I'm in the same boat as Ron I have a few more areas of concern right now than the tail lacing, still would like to have the input for future reference though. My males are a lot better than my females at this juncture, it seems, and I will be working on them to improve their types for a few more generations it looks like to me, with all hope in that I can succeed in doing so. I've never had this type challenge before and I can see that in the afore mentioning of breeding these reds and getting them in shape is not for the "average Joe" so to say. LOL

Jeff

Hi Jeff,
Please don't think that I'm saying that this is the only fault that I have in some of these birds, it is just that this is a very noticeable fault that I see every day and was wondering what we do about this. If this is a disqualification then do we mate them and try to breed it out or will it keep getting worse? I agree with you also Jeff that these are not for the average Joe. We either have to be awful devoted or just give up IF we are trying to do what the SOP calls for. Gosh, I could not do every year like I did last year and buy all these eggs/chicks every year to end up with the same thing. I'd be living in the chicken house. I can't think that this is just something that pops up every now and then for me to get so many with it. lol
Jim

 

[mrheinz77]

Jim,
The only thing I can add is Mr Underwood told me this was something he was working on breeding out of his line.

 

[catdaddyfro]

Hi Jeff,
Please don't think that I'm saying that this is the only fault that I have in some of these birds, it is just that this is a very noticeable fault that I see every day and was wondering what we do about this. If this is a disqualification then do we mate them and try to breed it out or will it keep getting worse? I agree with you also Jeff that these are not for the average Joe. We either have to be awful devoted or just give up IF we are trying to do what the SOP calls for. Gosh, I could not do every year like I did last year and buy all these eggs/chicks every year to end up with the same thing. I'd be living in the chicken house. I can't think that this is just something that pops up every now and then for me to get so many with it. lol
Jim

I got ya and see where your coming from, sorta like me with these straight backed boys and cushioned back pullets

I figure there are plenty of them out there and not just the few I have here. My measly numbers are only a small percentage of Reds for sure. I feel there is still too much emphasis put into the tail section(same as the fad in the German New Hampshires) and folks(breeders) are getting too far out in left field on other more important areas.(hunch-back reds?) but I got nice tails though JMHO LOL

Jeff