They have very good color. These look like Radamahers Rose Combs from a few years ago. Tail angle to high to low what can you do about it you must breed it over time correctly. There is a push or desire by some judges to have R I Reds with tail angles as stated in the standard. That is great however, if you are a breeder and have a tail angle of 20 or 25 degrees on your cockerels what will they be on your cock birds a year or two down the road. Normally with my experience with Reds they will be higher and shorter in tail. Do this over a period of three to five years and you will screw up your strain of Reds. The bantam people have joined this fad club and today most red bantams have no back length lost their brick shape and they have elevated tails like a New Hampshire or a Plymouth Rock. How could this happen you may say. People do not know the history of the Rhode Island Red bantam. Mr. Perron Johnson in the 1930s crossed Cochin and Old English bantams onto his large fowl Reds to make the Red Bantam. So when you push for nice WIDE feathers in your Reds or high tail angles the Cochin blood comes to the surface and that is what has happen. In large fowl the standard calls for all this level in degrees in a 18 month old cock bird. The picture you are looking at in the standard is not a Cockerel he is a 18 month old cock bird. Get your cockerels to look like this bird is great but will this male molt back looking like that at two to three years of AGE? Most of the time they dont if they do you got a killer breeder that is why I like to breed from proven cock birds and hens who maintain thier type as a young bird. Think about this do you see a 6foot two inch high school line backer at 240 pounds playing no. But when he is 22 years old he will fill out and be like that.
Many guys will be 165 pounds in high school and at 21 they may weigh 200 pounds and at 40 weigh 220 or more pounds. You will see a hand full of men who will maintain that youth full look. There are a few women who still maintain thier high school weight when they are older this is a gene if found in chickens which is a great trait to keep but it cant be done by breeding young birds year in and year out. This is a secret from Harold Tompkins who had a great strain in the 1950s. His show birds at Madison Square Garden was from his older lines.
Some one asked can I cross a Rose Comb onto a Mohawk Rhode Island Red. YES. But if you choose a Rose Comb with a short body say 20 to 21 inches in length to one of the long body type Mohawks you will take on the Rose Comb and you can start a new Rose Comb line but you will also bring on board the short body fault from this strain. Aaron our new R I Red Club sectary has some long back Rose Comb males and one of those males or their chicks crossed onto this line will give you a better frame in the long run. Think about this issue. Introduce a fault and then raise 100 chicks to get five good ones. Do this over five years. How much have you waisted in feed money alone. Start with the correct body type then improve the type the color is normally there anyway on a good line and you will have faster and better success. Maybe this is the secret to why people give up Reds. They screw them up and they can not turn them around.
Build the barn then paint it was the secret taught to us kids in the 190s from the old timers. Its the same today in any breed. Mix two breeds to make a new breed and you are talking about a ten to 20 year project. Cross two R I Red strains and it will take you about six years to get back to ground zero.
That's my Rhode Island Red Tip of the day. I am off to the Panhandle Poultry Club chicken show at Pensacola Fair Grounds.
Will see some of you who write on this site.
Hatching Reds this weekend. Have five half and half Mohawks from eggs that I put in a few weeks ago.
May keep them to see how they turn out and then share them with someone this October or next February in New nan Georgia.
Thanks for the pictures of your Reds they all look great in color. Just remember to look for the length and the dept or the BRICK shape.
