Bob,
Yes I did realize that this bird has the look I consider to be a "Real RIR"
I got lucky with the picture, most pictures don't look as good as real life, and I would say that this bird looks even better in person.
When I bought the last of Ricky's LFRIR from his son Jacob, the pullets and hens were better than the Cock and three Cockerels that I had to start with.
So I started by choosing mates by breeding strengths with weaknesses.
In 77 case, his sire has good type, with a long back and good brick shape. However he had a tail with no lift and a hole at the top. He was still the best I had, so I mated him with 3 pullets and an older hen, all which had very nice tails and nice deep keeled brick shaped bodies.
I use 77's sire and another cockerel to start two family lines.
Hatched around 100 chicks, sold around 50 to 3 friends (who I know I can get birds back from), and kept the rest.
Then I culled down to 3 cockerels and 8 pullets from last year, and retained 2 two year old hens, a 4 year old hen and 77's sire.
I have already hatched around 20 from 77 over the 3 older hens, and have 77's sire with 4 of his daughters.
I know this might sound silly, but there is a chick out of 77(a cockerel) that even at 4 weeks I can tell is going to be something special. The rest are looking good too.
Of the 50 chicks I grew out, 27 were cockerels, 2 of the 3 that made the final cut were banded as chicks because they feathered faster. The band was not considered during the cull, just type.
It is interesting though that 77 was the first chick I banded for this trait.
There is a lot more to tell on my last couple of years working with this line, but it takes me forever to type so it will have to wait.
There is a lot of satisfaction seeing the fruits of labor. It also did not hurt to start out with some very good genetics.
Thank you again Bob for the comments and also the help you have given me over the last 2 years.
Ron
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