The Heritage Rhode Island Red Site

[ronott1]

Yes, I see, we bought these eggs as Reese Mohawks. I can find the sellers name if that could help, but they don't seem to look like some of the birds in this thread. That could be bad luck with what happened to hatch(I imagine with just a few chicks, most if not all would be culled by a serious breeder), the seller messed up the line, or the seller was a fraud. I'll post better pics and maybe you guys can tell me if you see any genes possibly in these birds from that line.

The pictures posted showed RIRs that had been crossed with Production Reds or possibly brown leghorns. It is the same result--the shape is just too messed up.

Practice with these but if you want to work with Standard based RIRs, get on a waiting list here for a Pure line and stay with that line. There area lot here with great experience and advice. Sometimes it is hard to hear but well worth following too!

You have a good start!

 

[chixmix]

I do want to start on the right foot, if these aren't them, nothing I can do about it. Thanks for the input, i'll be on the hunt for the real McCoy haha.

 

[catdaddyfro]

Yes. It is characteristic of most pure bred chickens period. There are some breeds that were developed to lay through the winter but most were not.

Matt

right on Matt, winter is breaktime for most everything alive. No leaves on the trees, the grass don't grow, the birds eat to stay warm and renourish their bodies for a productive springtime re-population period, its au'natural.

Jeff

 

[FOGELLY]

Hello everyone.
Been a while since I have logged in. I have been very ill since around Thanksgiving. My boy has made sure that the birds have been fed and watered.
I hope to get back going soon, but most likely won't be doing any thing but maintaining my flock for a while. No big plans for large hatches.
I need to spend a few hours catching up on the thread, it sure looks as though it has been active. Hope all is well with y'all and your birds.

Ron

 

[SallyinIndiana]

Hello everyone.
Been a while since I have logged in. I have been very ill since around Thanksgiving. My boy has made sure that the birds have been fed and watered.
I hope to get back going soon, but most likely won't be doing any thing but maintaining my flock for a while. No big plans for large hatches.
I need to spend a few hours catching up on the thread, it sure looks as though it has been active. Hope all is well with y'all and your birds.

Ron

I hope you are better soon.
The chicks I got from you are doing great. The roosters are mating and the hens are laying about 4 eggs each a week. They started off as two yolk eggs but I think that was to do with some of the feed I was using. I now also have a week old chick in the basement hatched from them too. These chickens are great.

 

[immyjay54]

Rhode Island Reds are only suppose to lay 200-250 eggs per year. I hear people say all the time that show people are breeding the production qualities out of these pure bred birds but most of these breeds didn't lay 300+ eggs a year to start with. If you want production order from Murray McMurray but if you want pure bred Rhode Island Reds don't expect them to lay eggs like Leghorns because they never have.

Matt

Hi Matt,
I sure hope you didn't think that I was talking down on the red's. I was just trying to enlighten some that have them and not getting lots of eggs. Geez, today I have 5 girls in one pen 11 months old, have laid earlier, today nothing, 5 girls in another pen almost 2 years, nothing today, 35 girls in a layer pen 5 eggs today, 4 in another pen nothing, 6 in another pen, 1 today, 4 in another pen nothing and 3 in another pen. These are just the girls that are all of laying age. But for the past 3 days we have been from 3 to 6 degrees below zero and wind chills at 12 to 15 below. Today it got into the teens. Don't know if I'd lay either if I was a chicken. ha,ha,ha. I lost one of the girls 2 nights ago that hadn't been fully feathered since she had a late molt. The summer was so different here this past year that all the girls were all mixed up. Don't know what this year will bring. Two of my Underwood boys got their combs frozen 3 nights ago.
We are supposed to have a heat wave this weekend. Sure will be nice to see spring come.
Jimmy

 

[immyjay54]

Hello everyone.
Been a while since I have logged in. I have been very ill since around Thanksgiving. My boy has made sure that the birds have been fed and watered.
I hope to get back going soon, but most likely won't be doing any thing but maintaining my flock for a while. No big plans for large hatches.
I need to spend a few hours catching up on the thread, it sure looks as though it has been active. Hope all is well with y'all and your birds.

Ron

So sorry to hear you haven't been up to par there Ron. Sure do hope you get to feeling spry real quick.
Take care. Your birds need you.
Jimmy

 

[BGMatt]

Hi Matt,
I sure hope you didn't think that I was talking down on the red's. I was just trying to enlighten some that have them and not getting lots of eggs. Geez, today I have 5 girls in one pen 11 months old, have laid earlier, today nothing, 5 girls in another pen almost 2 years, nothing today, 35 girls in a layer pen 5 eggs today, 4 in another pen nothing, 6 in another pen, 1 today, 4 in another pen nothing and 3 in another pen. These are just the girls that are all of laying age. But for the past 3 days we have been from 3 to 6 degrees below zero and wind chills at 12 to 15 below. Today it got into the teens. Don't know if I'd lay either if I was a chicken. ha,ha,ha. I lost one of the girls 2 nights ago that hadn't been fully feathered since she had a late molt. The summer was so different here this past year that all the girls were all mixed up. Don't know what this year will bring. Two of my Underwood boys got their combs frozen 3 nights ago.
We are supposed to have a heat wave this weekend. Sure will be nice to see spring come.
Jimmy

Yikes that sounds rough. Curiosity makes me ask if you use lights on the birds during winter months to try and get better laying or just let them go naturally?

 

[SallyinIndiana]

Quote:
We have had the negative temps here with the really neg wind chills too. It is rough when it is not the standard winter weather. Most of the area basically shut down for 2 days. Even the mail did not go the normal paths and most of it got delayed. But keeping fresh water in the pens was the second hardest task for us. The hardest was clearing the driveway. Since we don't typically get a foot of snow plus drifting at one time, we don't own a plow or decent snow blower. It had been almost 10 yrs since our drive needed plowing. For the most part all of the birds survived. I lost my chick today due to hatching issues from the humidity issues caused by the extremely cold drying our our house. I lost a few started eggs too when the incubator dropped a few degrees.

 

[ronniewayne]

Hello everyone.
Been a while since I have logged in. I have been very ill since around Thanksgiving. My boy has made sure that the birds have been fed and watered.
I hope to get back going soon, but most likely won't be doing any thing but maintaining my flock for a while. No big plans for large hatches.
I need to spend a few hours catching up on the thread, it sure looks as though it has been active. Hope all is well with y'all and your birds.

Ron

Hi Ron glad your better . I hatched my first batch 12 hatched on the 2nd.. hope you and your birds do well and keep warm
Ronnie