The Heritage Rhode Island Red Site

[NestingHillsSC]

Anthony and Ron,
I hope I have made myself clear on my opinion on this subject. If not I would like to now...I don't see this as a serious fault and for that matter when I got the RIR's that I have they were culls, not nearly as good as what you have Anthony. It took me a couple years of listening and learning and breeding to get them where they are today and they are still a long way from where I want them. I have had a bit of success showing RIR's the last couple of years but I could take you out there right now and show you faults in the birds that I won with. A friend of mine told me the other day that a beginner asked him... if I got birds from you how much of an effort would it take to breed them to the standard. Well, that is a loaded question because the full name of the Standard is the "Standard of Perfection". The key word there is "Perfection". What that means to me is that it is a description of the "Perfect" bird which in my mind doesn't exist. I also feel like that if you are a show person that the Standard is whatever the Judge that is judging them that day thinks it is. This is not a huge deal...just raise the birds breed them and enjoy them.

Ron, RIR males should have no black in the hackle. The females should have black "ticking" on the base of the hackle but males should not. If you are seeing black in the male hackles you are going to have striping in the females and potentially smut on the back and peppering in the wing. The only reason you should consider using a male with black in the hackle is if your females have none in the neck and poor wing color.

JMO

Matt

And that's exactly why I ask all these questions. I want to try to breed to the SOP. Or as close as I can get. I just want to have the best HRIR's. I don't want to make a mistake early and pay for it and have to spend years fixing my mistake.

 

[SallyinIndiana]

Quote: I'm glad my posts were not the ones causing an issue. But I have reread my post that you quoted above. I feel that it is not nicely worded to the point that it was mean. I'm sorry for that.

 

[NestingHillsSC]

I was down feeding everybody this morning and was really looking at the tails. Don't know why I'm so hung up about this. I guess because so far that's all the bad people saw. I noticed that they are molting there tail feathers again. The girls. I have never seen chickens molt so much as this year. Was talking with Ron and he said the same. Not just the Reds, but all 5 breeds I have. Anyways, I noticed that as the tail feathers are coming back, the main feathers really don't have the red lacing. When they come back in I will take some updated pictures. Plus I have my eye on 4 girls out of 8 for breeding. So then I can get maybe an idea of the ones I should use. The type on these 4 are very nice brick shaped. And there size is great.

One of the ones I was going to use for breeding has a bad swollen foot, due to those dang plastic bands. She has a knot in her webbing. I got some puss and then blood out of it once. Don't know if I should lance that knot a squeeze the junk out of her foot. Should take a pic of her foot also. Always something. lol

 

[NYREDS]

Jim I saw a program on the Christian broadcast network the other day and they were talking about making the best choice in hiring employees. What was said was that if you, as an employer, had a choice between someone who had failed and someone who had no experience, the best choice would be the one who had failed because he had seen the result of doing things the wrong way. When I was a teen I worked with my brother in law. He let me nail boards on a deck rail and when I was finished he showed me all the ones that the cut sides were facing different directions and told me to take them all off and make them match. His reasoning; “you’ll never make that mistake again”.
I don’t have any heritage fowl yet. I am learning and researching, gathering information, questioning what I don’t understand. If I can ask questions and trial and error here in print before I even get heritage chickens, that’s good right? I would hope that when I am fortunate enough to have some quality fowl, I will be well versed, a good steward of the breed and able to effectively communicate what I have learned to other new comers. I have visited your site several times and I really think you are a good guy. I would like to be your friend. I’m sorry if my way of learning doesn’t translate well to everyone. Maybe if you understand where I am coming from and maybe make a few allowances for my learning curve we can be friends. I think I’m a pretty good guy too even though I ask the hard questions. I believe that in asking these questions I am not only helping myself, but maybe others as well. I really don’t intend to inflame or irritate anyone.

If more people "did their homework" as it appears you are doing there would be fewer people who got discouraged & abandoned the fancy. So many people rush out to buy birds with no idea of what they should be looking for & then are stunned when it doesn't work out. They then want to blame the person who sold them birds w/o realizing it was their lack of knowledge the was at the root of the problem.
On the one hand they're just chickens & keeping them alive & reproducing them is pretty easy but breeding them in any meaningful way requires some understanding of the breed & of reliable breeding practices.
Keep doing your homework. It sounds to me as if you're on the path to becoming an asset to the fancy.

 

[FOGELLY]

I was down feeding everybody this morning and was really looking at the tails. Don't know why I'm so hung up about this. I guess because so far that's all the bad people saw. I noticed that they are molting there tail feathers again. The girls. I have never seen chickens molt so much as this year. Was talking with Ron and he said the same. Not just the Reds, but all 5 breeds I have. Anyways, I noticed that as the tail feathers are coming back, the main feathers really don't have the red lacing. When they come back in I will take some updated pictures. Plus I have my eye on 4 girls out of 8 for breeding. So then I can get maybe an idea of the ones I should use. The type on these 4 are very nice brick shaped. And there size is great. 

One of the ones I was going to use for breeding has a bad swollen foot, due to those dang plastic bands. She has a knot in her webbing. I got some puss and then blood out of it once. Don't know if I should lance that knot a squeeze the junk out of her foot.  Should take a pic of her foot also. Always something. lol

Anthony,
Although I have not been breeding RIR nearly as long as many of the others in this thread, I was raised in a farming family and have a very good understanding of breeding. We had chickens, pure breed cattle, rabbits, hunting dogs.... As far back as I can remember.
Knowing the tendencies of a new comer to stress over wanting their animal to measure up, I should have never mentioned the lacing. It is our human nature to want absolute perfection. It won't ever happen with animals.
I went thru the same stresses and it almost ruined the joy of breeding these historic birds.
Maybe it would have been better to call the Standard of Perfection the Pursuit of Perfection.

It is good to know that the lacing seems to be molting out. I just mention it to get some opinions from some of the experienced breeders. It's time for you to get your enthusiasm back, and move forward.
How much fun would it be if you could just run them off like a coping machine. Anyone can do that.

On the infected foot. If you can, lance it and soak the foot in hot (not scalding) water with Epsom Salts. Then use some antibiotic.

Ron

 

[Chickens Naturally]

I'm glad my posts were not the ones causing an issue. But I have reread my post that you quoted above. I feel that it is not nicely worded to the point that it was mean. I'm sorry for that.

It was an honest mistake. Don't you worry about it Sally, I'm not

 

[Chickens Naturally]

If more people "did their homework" as it appears you are doing there would be fewer people who got discouraged & abandoned the fancy. So many people rush out to buy birds with no idea of what they should be looking for & then are stunned when it doesn't work out. They then want to blame the person who sold them birds w/o realizing it was their lack of knowledge the was at the root of the problem.
On the one hand they're just chickens & keeping them alive & reproducing them is pretty easy but breeding them in any meaningful way requires some understanding of the breed & of reliable breeding practices.
Keep doing your homework. It sounds to me as if you're on the path to becoming an asset to the fancy.

Thank you! I want to be an asset

 

[NestingHillsSC]

Anthony,
Although I have not been breeding RIR nearly as long as many of the others in this thread, I was raised in a farming family and have a very good understanding of breeding. We had chickens, pure breed cattle, rabbits, hunting dogs.... As far back as I can remember.
Knowing the tendencies of a new comer to stress over wanting their animal to measure up, I should have never mentioned the lacing. It is our human nature to want absolute perfection. It won't ever happen with animals.
I went thru the same stresses and it almost ruined the joy of breeding these historic birds.
Maybe it would have been better to call the Standard of Perfection the Pursuit of Perfection.

It is good to know that the lacing seems to be molting out. I just mention it to get some opinions from some of the experienced breeders. It's time for you to get your enthusiasm back, and move forward.
How much fun would it be if you could just run them off like a coping machine. Anyone can do that.

On the infected foot. If you can, lance it and soak the foot in hot (not scalding) water with Epsom Salts. Then use some antibiotic.

Ron

Just so you know Ron, I'm really not stressing. I love my birds. All the breeds I have. Not just the Reds. Even though the Reds are my favorite. LOL. Just trying to do what is best for them on down the road. I have a lot of enthusiasm. Trust me.

 

[immyjay54]

These are 3 of my 5 month old Reese birds from Matt that I am watching really close. Reason for liking these are as follows: #1 Boy, I really like this boys long level back and the extended keel that he has developed so far. I know it is hard to tell by the angle of the photo's but 1 and 2 both have decent width to their backs. The other boys are a lot more gangly and don't seem to have as much width to the backs. I'm not planning on getting rid of any of them right now but just wanted to give my thoughts on these 3. These are the ones I've really been watching closely.



# 2 boy I like for basically the same reason. lol



Pictures 3, 4, and 5 are the same bird. He is the one that is the most heavy built one and width of his back look really good.; He sometimes seems to be more round then brick but I'm really watching him. I would love to see the extended keel pop out on him. I really like him.

 

[SallyinIndiana]

Here are some pictures of my HRIR. With the exception of one hen in these pictures, all of the chickens are 23 wks 5 days old.

My three girls and my fastest feathering / largest roo #2 Prince Tuesday. But rooster #3 is quickly catching up and may end up being the breeder rooster. Rooster 1 or King Friday looked the best at week 6 but has gradually slipped to 3rd place. As for the hens #4 is the fasted feathering and largest. #5 is close but her tail is still not in, she has always been smaller than the others chickens her age. Then #6 is 4 weeks younger and too early for me to say if she will be a good breeder or not. I'm hoping for at least 2 of the 3 to be great breeders.



Same 4 chickens but the sun really messed with the picture.


The three girls.



Rooster #2 or Prince Tuesday.


Rooster 2 and his girls.


Rooster 2 again not letting me get too close to the girls.



Rooster 1 and Rooster 3 (closer to the garage)



Rooster 1 and 3


Rooster 1 starting to get annoyed at the camera

Right now Rooster 3 has the darkest leg coloring but it is not clearly showing up in these pictures.

I have 3 other younger HRIR roosters not pictured here. They are looking great for their age but I did not get their pictures tonight.

Any thoughts? I realize the pictures are not the best but I'm hoping some things can be pointed out.