The Heritage Rhode Island Red Site

[cmom]

My hen I got from Matt at the a knoxville show started to lay a few days ago. Nice! Time to think about putting up a breeding pen in a few weeks.

They will be beautiful chicks. Here is a cockerel I hatched out from birds I got from Matt a few years ago with some hens that were also originally hatched out from the birds I got from Matt. He won Champion American at a show here. Unfortunately he cut his comb and after the scab fell off I noticed the cut was deeper than I originally thought so I can't show him anymore. The picture makes them look washed out.


Here are some other males from the same hatch.

 

[NestingHillsSC]

They will be beautiful chicks. Here is a cockerel I hatched out from birds I got from Matt a few years ago with some hens that were also originally hatched out from the birds I got from Matt. He won Champion American at a show here. Unfortunately he cut his comb and after the scab fell off I noticed the cut was deeper than I originally thought so I can't show him anymore. The picture makes them look washed out. Here are some other males from the same hatch.

Wish I was closer to you. I would get 1 or 2 of those cockerels u have.

 

[mcknightdave]

Is there a group with the same passion for RIR working towards pasture/foraging genetics?

Thank you!

 

[Fred's Hens]

Is there a group with the same passion for RIR working towards pasture/foraging genetics?

Thank you!

A group? Do you mean a thread here on BYC? I don't think so.

However, what you use your birds for and the style in which you raise them is up to you. I can tell you this. I was just talking with my friend down in the Tennessee who is a top breeder of Rocks, but someone who I have gotten started in Reds. He mentioned it in passing that the Reds are the first ones who bolt off when being let out to range. They're off in a dash to forage and scratch and will traverse an amazing amount of ground in search of a fresh pasture area to work.

The birds, in my experience, with our lines, are excellent, excellent foragers. And, welcome to BYC.

 

[Fred's Hens]

Our birds, all of them top, standard bred, excellent exhibition examples of their breeds, Rocks and Reds, are all FARM BIRDS. Every last one of them.

Please make no mistake. Yes, once or twice a year, they're dipped and dried, put up in a conditioning pen and taken to a show, well, a few of them anyhow, as I am not gonna wash 3 dozen birds, LOL. They get judged and exhibited openly against the finest birds and toughest competition around. I do not wish to be just some imagined, internet virtual breeder, but a real breeder without "barn blindness". i want the birds judged for how well they meet the Standard. It is encouraging to spend time with good poultry folks and judges, some of the best folks you'll ever meet.

Then, those birds get taken home and they go right back to work. They roll in the dirt and scratch and forage and within an hour or two one would ask, "What show birds?". I don't really keep or breed "show birds". I breed birds to the Standard and take them to a show or two, but they are unequivocally just farm birds.

And when folks come by our place to maybe purchase some produce from our farm, they may know nothing about poultry, but these birds often stop them dead in their tracks. They turn and stare, and finally say, "I know nothing about chickens but those are most gorgeous birds I've ever seen".

That.

.

 

[cmom]

Quote:
I think it is mostly how you raise them. My birds are let out most every day into a pasture. They all scramble to get out of their gate when I open it but they don't venture very far. I think they feel safety when not too far from their coops. I would also like to welcome you to BYC.

 

[mcknightdave]

Fred's Hens, thank you for your reply! It could be a thread , farm, hatchery, etc. I would like to find other folks that are breeding their own RIRs for life on the pasture and ability to forage.
I am interested in bringing those genetics into my flock by adding their roosters to my current hatchlings.

 

[Fred's Hens]

Fred's Hens, thank you for your reply! It could be a thread , farm, hatchery, etc. I would like to find other folks that are breeding their own RIRs for life on the pasture and ability to forage.
I am interested in bringing those genetics into my flock by adding their roosters to my current hatchlings.

Well, welcome aboard. You won't find these birds, the real, genuine, the real McCoys Rhode Island Reds at a feed store in a bin or from a mail order hatchery. They only have their production oriented, mass produced, scrubby Wanna-Be birds as Bob, the founder of this thread, used to call them.

If you want REAL Rhode Island Reds, you'll have to get them from someone you meet at a show or from someone you find on this thread or someone who maybe we can recommend to you. I'm quite sure getting some cockerels would not be difficult. I might even suggest you keep and breed the real birds and not "blend" them into your existing stock. I think you'd be happier in the long run.

 

[SallyinIndiana]

Quote:
I will second the plan of breeding these instead of blending in a rooster only.

 

[cmom]

Quote:
I will second the plan of breeding these instead of blending in a rooster only.

I have experimented with breeding one of my real McCoy Rhode Island Red cockerels to some Production Reds just as an experiment. The chicks I hatched out from them when they grew out went into one of my general population pens, but it was interesting to experiment. I do show my pure birds and thus want to keep them pure so they have their own coops and pens but it's always fun to experiment. If you want a pure flock then I also suggest to get a quad or trio from a breeder. There are several breeders on this thread.