The Heritage Rhode Island Red Site

[cmom]

A few years ago a person we go to church with had a family member pass away. This family member had just gotten some RSL from a 4H kid. I was asked if we could give 12 of them a home. We brought them home and put them in the laying pen. They had just started laying and boy did they lay! Everyday big brown eggs.
All 12 are gone, over time they died off from problems related to egg laying.
We still have RIR that were here before the RSL and are still laying. I don't think we have ever lost a HRIR to problems related to egg laying.

Ron

Quote:
I have been creating my own RSL's by breeding a RIR male to my Single Comb RIW females and so far so good. I have many hens that are 4 and 5 years old and still laying good. My husband had me move some of the older girls to a separate pen to see how well they were laying. He said if they were not then we should get rid of them. To our surprise we are still getting 4/5 eggs per week per hen. I have had no health issues. I also raise Rose Comb RIW's.

 

[HawaiianRoo]

Called Animal Quarantine today about shipping hatching eggs to Hawaii. The hatchery or breeder must be NPIP certified before shipping hatching eggs. A copy of the NPIP certification must be faxed to Animal Quarantine and a receipt of sale. That's it, or at least that's all I was told. I was doing some research and cacklehatchery.com is NPIP certified and may be willing to work with me. They also claim to have been breeding heritage RIR from their own stock since 1936. Is this indeed a pure line of the RIR? Will their hens get broody? From their pictures, they sure do look like the real deal.

Any more ideas on sourcing hatching eggs would be greatly appreciated. Is it difficult for small breeders to get NPIP certified? If the breeders are not NPIP certified, I'm willing to take the risk that the eggs might be turned back to the shipper.

 

[cmom]

Most all hatcheries are NPIP certified. Most likely their Heritage RIR's aren't true Heritage RIR. They may be RIR but not Heritage RIR. There are several breeders around the country that do have specific lines. My birds are descendants of the Reese line which are now called Mohawk. You can not get these from any hatchery. My birds aren't really broody. I have one HRIR hen that is broody right now but it only happens in the spring, early summer. I am not letting my broody set on any eggs as I am done hatching for the year. The chicks I have now I will grow out and pick out the best to show. Anyone can be NPIP certified. The breeder would need to call their states department of agriculture. They will set up a date and time for a testing agent to come out and test the birds.

 

[HawaiianRoo]

Thank you for the info cmom.

 

[NestingHillsSC]

A few years ago a person we go to church with had a family member pass away. This family member had just gotten some RSL from a 4H kid. I was asked if we could give 12 of them a home. We brought them home and put them in the laying pen. They had just started laying and boy did they lay! Everyday big brown eggs.
All 12 are gone, over time they died off from problems related to egg laying.
We still have RIR that were here before the RSL and are still laying. I don't think we have ever lost a HRIR to problems related to egg laying.

Ron

I just lost a PRIR to Oviduct Cancer/Internal Laying.She wasn't that old either. Hatched last Feb.

 

[Robert Blosl]

If I was shipping eggs to Hawaii I would save up two dozen eggs from two differnet matings and mark the eggs pen one and pen two. The pen two matings would be a outcross from a old strain from Florida and Illinios. The pen one mating would be pure Illinios line. These birds are all still within the old Mrs. Donald Donaldson line which is now 101 years old.

I would wrap each egg in a small day old baby diaper and stack the eggs tightly in this box large cell up. I would back it to the top with white foam peanuts and ship them to you overnight express to your post office. On the outside of the box I would have the copy of my inspection form to please all the folks at the post office that these birds are tested each year and they can open up the envelope and read the inspection form from my inspector. I would let the eggs set one day to get to normal and then put them in your incubator so they would hatch on a day during the month which is the moon sign of cancer. There are dates in the old farmers almanac that say what day would be the best to hatch. I would then go from there.

It is very late for us breeders to do this for you as many of us have shut down our matings. We are not like the hatchery people. This hatchery you talked about that says they have Reds from 1930 or something don't show up on my radar for good quality old fashion Rhode Island Reds.

If you are going to go through all this effort to get a rare breed of fowl into your state get the best you can get and get a person who has expertise shipping eggs so you have a chance to at least hatch 30 percent of the eggs. Eggs shipped is tricky however, the picture I have above is I think the best and safest method you can go with. It costs more but you should have good results.

I am getting requests from you lurkers for hatching eggs every day. I hate to tell you the season is pretty much over.

What we got to do is get organized for next breeding season. If you want H Rhode Island Reds the old fashion ones you got to get ready and get your names on the current supplier lists.

There will be a few people who will have surplus Reds for sale. You might be able to buy some of their older breeders which I love to do or get some young birds that are three to five months old. You may have to make a road trip of 200 to 400 miles to get them but if you are serous in this hobby you will do this.

Let us know so we can help you be part of this exciting breed of fowl.

 

[SallyinIndiana]

Right now it looks like I have 4 female and 7 Male HRIR chicks. The youngest chicks were born the last few days of April. Would the end of November be too soon to choose my keeper roos? I'm thinking that will be the beginning of my food cost jumping since the free ranging amount of food will decrease from the cold weather.

 

[FOGELLY]

Right now it looks like I have 4 female and 7 Male HRIR chicks.   The youngest chicks were born the last few days of April.  Would the end of November be too soon to choose my keeper roos?  I'm thinking that will be the beginning of my food cost jumping since the free ranging amount of food will decrease from the cold weather.

I hope this does not sound rude
When I started raising these birds I had to let go the notion of culling early to save on feed. They will still be maturing at 7 months (November). I am not talking about a bird that has an obvious defect, it should already be gone by 7 months.
My first year I am sure birds were culled that would have been very nice if given the chance to mature.

So I took a good look at all the chickens on our place. Checking for older "freeloaders" and getting rid of them if all they did was eat and take up space. If they stayed they earn their keep.


Ron

 

[Chris Herzog]

I’m going to ask this here but it really applies to all my breeds and not just my RIR’s.

I am having an issue with leg color on my older birds. All of my chicks and Juvenile birds have great leg color but somewhere along the line they lose the bright yellow leg color and it’s of course right about the time when I’m ready to start showing them.

Last year I fed everyone Purina Show Chow and Broiler Complete. My chicks got the medicated feed from hatch to about 4 months of age and all the other birds got the non-medicated feed from then up until February this year. I also keep oyster shell available at all times for the birds 4 months and older. This year I changed my feeding up somewhat (in February) whereas from hatch to about 4 months everyone eats the medicated Show Chow then after 4 months of age I give them a mix of non-medicated Show Chow, Flock Raiser and Scratch, 2-parts /2-parts and 1-part. All my juvenile bird’s leg color looks great but my birds that are over a year old have a dull looking leg color with less yellow and almost a pale white color compared to the younger birds. This is the same thing as last year. Other then the leg color….all the birds look great, nice weight, good feathering ect ect. I also just ordered marigold power this week and I plan on giving it to the older birds mixed in with their feed to try but my question is this…..Am I missing something with my older birds? Could their feed be lacking in something that the younger birds don’t need but the older birds are missing out on. (Scratching my head!!!)

I had a Judge tell me at a show in February to feed more corn but I don’t want to give my birds to much corn through the summer months because of how hot it is down here in South Louisiana.
Also I have a few months before I have to show again so I have time to play around and try a few different things but was hoping some of you old timers might be able to comment on this problem.

Thanks,
Chris

 

[mrheinz77]

Chris,
I've never tried the marigold but cracked corn has made a difference in the leg color of my Reds and Welsummers. I'm not an old timer though. Just speaking from my limited experience.