The Heritage Rhode Island Red Site

[catdaddyfro]

Quote:
That should make for a good lesson in breeding 101 let us know the out comes even if you get embarased LOL we can't see you blush LOL J/K but seriously tell us OK Jeff

 

[Tsagirl]

Hey all!

I have not been to this site since joining years back. I have gotten some beautiful show quality(deep mahogany) Rode Island Reds and they were from Pine Grove on here. Since then life has happened and I have not had chickens for a while, but really would like to get chicks or hatching eggs from someone on here with the same kind of great show lines! My kids do the county fair and just love it! Please if any of you have this, please PM me on here and I will get back with you ASAP.

Thanks and take care!

Theresa

 

[Chris Herzog]

This is great Bob... thanks...
I have gone ahead and banded my birds and decided to make "pretend decisions" based on what I have learned from this thread over the last year.
When Steve comes to visit, I will not reveal my choices until he makes his evaluations... that will help me determine if I've really learned anything.
Should be an interesting comparison...

What I do is really simple. At around 4-5 month of age and after spending a bunch of time just sitting outside watching the birds while they free range, I'll use the colored non-numbered spiral leg bands and place them on what I think are my 6 best pullets and 6 best cockerels. Then again at 7-8 months I'll do it again with a different colored band and place them on my 12 best birds. Sometimes I have birds with 2 bands and sometimes not. By 11-12 months I’m pretty sure who I’m going to use as my breeders for the following year so I like to look at the leg bands and see how close my early picks were.
I also toe punch all my chicks by pen number and I only breed one male and one female in any given pen at any given time. This year all the birds that I picked for my 6 best pullets both at 4-5 months and then again at 7-8 months came from the same pen. Now on the males it’s a different story but in time I’ll get better at them to.
Chris

 

[RedRidge]

Quote:
I'd be glad to... although it was not my intent to put Steve on the spot...

 

[RedRidge]

I also toe punch all my chicks by pen number and I only breed one male and one female in any given pen at any given time. This year all the birds that I picked for my 6 best pullets both at 4-5 months and then again at 7-8 months came from the same pen. Now on the males it’s a different story but in time I’ll get better at them to.
Chris

This is what I've been doing to Chris... I used vet wrap in different colors and combinations until this weekend and finally put some numbered bands on the 7 girls...
I'm curious though... why do you think the boys are more difficult?
In my case I figured it was because I had almost twice as many... but that may not be true.
I separated the girls from boys this weekend so I could evaluate them easier (all 20 had been together until now - they are about 4-5 months old).
Much easier to see the "eye catchers" in a smaller group... although the same ones continue to jump out at me.
I simply don't have enough confidence and experience to know if they are jumping out for the right reasons.

 

[Chris Herzog]

This is what I've been doing to Chris... I used vet wrap in different colors and combinations until this weekend and finally put some numbered bands on the 7 girls...
I'm curious though... why do you think the boys are more difficult?
In my case I figured it was because I had almost twice as many... but that may not be true.
I separated the girls from boys this weekend so I could evaluate them easier (all 20 had been together until now - they are about 4-5 months old).
Much easier to see the "eye catchers" in a smaller group... although the same ones continue to jump out at me.
I simply don't have enough confidence and experience to know if they are jumping out for the right reasons.

I get what you are saying and yes the same birds keep jumping out at me as well. What I did differently this year from last year so that I would not forget anything was that I made a list of things to always look at. The simple things like the back, tail spread or tee-pee, leg color, comb, how they carry their wings, chest… you know basically all the things we talk about on here except for their tail angle. I try not to look at tail angle until after their final molt the first year. I don’t know if the pullets develop faster or reach maturity faster or if it’s just me but for me the pullets are easier to pick. However, I’m very critical of my males so I keep as many as I can for as long as I can before I start to cull them. Once I get down to a few birds I compare them to my best two males from the previous year and go from there.
This is an ever evolving process for me and as time goes on I’m sure that I will refine it even more. I do have a few males that look better than some of the other ones but I’m still not ready to get the hatchet out on them just yet. I need to hold out just a few more months!
Chris

 

[Robert Blosl]

This is great Bob... thanks...
I have gone ahead and banded my birds and decided to make "pretend decisions" based on what I have learned from this thread over the last year.
When Steve comes to visit, I will not reveal my choices until he makes his evaluations... that will help me determine if I've really learned anything.
Should be an interesting comparison...

So you are the one he is going to visit. Do you have Gary Underwood Rose Combs? If so any pictures of them we could look at. Are they from this year chicks or have you had them a year or two?

Edit: In reading the above messages you guys are on page three right now in culling. Females are easier to pick as they mature earlier than males. A female can be in her prime for showing when she lays her tenth egg. A male might take one to two more months to be in pick condition. When the old guys put their trios together young trios for shows the females would be laying their tenth egg and the males would be about 7 to 8 moths old and ripe and ready to go.. So you would take males out of the Jan hatch and the pullets out of the March hatch to make the super trios for the October or November shows.



Wish I could be there. Believe it or not I bet we could find two good pair of breeders from your yards in Rose Combs if you have them. What other Reds do you have? bob

 

[SallyinIndiana]

Bob or any of the other breeders are you coming north for the winter? If so would you want to stop by my place and pick out a trio for me.
I'll get some more pictures up instead as i know most times people travel south for the winter and not to snowy Indiana. I'm starting with 3 hens so I'm hoping 2 are good breeder quality if not all three. I'll have 3 roos to choose from too. I've thought of eating one of them but I want a back up for the back up.

 

[Bluetick340]

Hey I was looking for the silhouette breed quiz I saw a while back. Bob it may have been you that posted it. Thanks for the help to find it.

 

[catdaddyfro]

http://showbirdbid.proboards.com/thread/3136?page=1

I found this one but most of the pics won't show up IDK?

Jeff