The Heritage Rhode Island Red Site

[cmom]

Quote:
Heritage (pure) Rhode Island Reds can only be gotten through a reputable breeder. Standard and Production Rhode Island Reds are available through most hatcheries. There are people that breed Standard and Production RIRs. Good luck and have fun... Here are some pictures of Pure Heritage RIRs. A couple of these pictures were taken at shows the birds were entered in.





Heritage chicks in a grow out coop.








There are also some Red Sex-Links in this grow-out coop with the heritage RIR pullets. They are waiting for me to open their pop door and let them out into their pen.

 

[RedRidge]

We have a difference of wording I believe. Standard bred RIR are those bred to the SOP - Standard of Perfection.
What makes a breed, any breed, heritage is the origin of that "breed", not the origin of that bird.
RIR are a heritage breed, but Standard Bred RIR cam only be obtained from breeders, not hatcheries.

 

[cmom]

Myself personally I line breed, which is all of my birds of a particular breed are all descendants of that particular line.
http://bloslspoutlryfarm.tripod.com/id64.html

Here is a good example of line breeding from this threads starter. He used White Plymouth Rocks but it will work for any breed.
http://bloslspoutlryfarm.tripod.com/id65.html

 

[Beekissed]

I have plans for doing Bob's style of line breeding as well. I'm limited as to resources, space and available bloodlines, so it seems to me to be the best way for me, as an amateur, to develop a particular line in a small way. I'll only be doing 3 pens, though, and only 2 of the pens will have pure WRs in them, while the other is my wild card pen for playing around with improving the utility of the rest of my flock.

 

[cmom]

I use Bob's way too except I have had only 2 coops and pens, but this year I have 3 coops and pens.

 

[RedRidge]

I breed 4 pens each winter of RC RIR, but have double that in cockerel pens. So basically 8 pens specifically for cocks, 4 of which double as breeding pens in Jan and Feb. I have 3 large coops where all the hens stay each winter. Then they all co-mingle and rotate all summer. That doesn't count the large grow out pen that is setup temporary each summer just for cockerel grow out. The inside/outside coops that house hens Dec thru Feb are then used as grow out pens for chicks after they leave the brooders until all the keepers are chosen in the fall.

 

[Fentress]

I breed 4 pens each winter of RC RIR, but have double that in cockerel pens. So basically 8 pens specifically for cocks, 4 of which double as breeding pens in Jan and Feb. I have 3 large coops where all the hens stay each winter. Then they all co-mingle and rotate all summer. That doesn't count the large grow out pen that is setup temporary each summer just for cockerel grow out. The inside/outside coops that house hens Dec thru Feb are then used as grow out pens for chicks after they leave the brooders until all the keepers are chosen in the fall.

What is an acceptable age range in a large cockerel grow out pen. Or maybe it's just a minimum age required if there are older birds in the pen? I will hatch out with broodies within the main flock. The hatch will be late and drawn out, but I will separate some of the K's at least from the earlier hatches, just to see how that works, in terms of fattening up the K's, and promoting a good evaluation becasue they are all together in a more confined space. Thanks.

 

[RedRidge]

I breed 4 pens each winter of RC RIR, but have double that in cockerel pens. So basically 8 pens specifically for cocks, 4 of which double as breeding pens in Jan and Feb. I have 3 large coops where all the hens stay each winter. Then they all co-mingle and rotate all summer. That doesn't count the large grow out pen that is setup temporary each summer just for cockerel grow out. The inside/outside coops that house hens Dec thru Feb are then used as grow out pens for chicks after they leave the brooders until all the keepers are chosen in the fall.

What is an acceptable age range in a large cockerel grow out pen. Or maybe it's just a minimum age required if there are older birds in the pen? I will hatch out with broodies within the main flock. The hatch will be late and drawn out, but I will separate some of the K's at least from the earlier hatches, just to see how that works, in terms of fattening up the K's, and promoting a good evaluation becasue they are all together in a more confined space. Thanks.

Mine span a 60 day period. The trick is to combine them as young as possible and to make sure they are away from the hens and pullets. If they are less than 4 or 5 months old and get combined in groups, instead of one at a time added, they will not fight. If you add only one or two to a larger group, you are asking for trouble much beyond that age. I combined my early spring hatches last year about May. They were all butchered in Oct. I had probably 75 cockerels from 2 breeds in the pen.
Now... that's not to say there isn't one who tends to get picked on every once in a while. And usually when I really have some lookers about august that I'm watching I'll pull them out to make sure they don't get injured in case want to keep one. I usually pull out about 3-5 by the end of summer and have a much smaller cockerel area for observing them for potential shows in the fall.

 

[Fentress]

Very helpful. thanks. One concern will be will they honor the 42" electric net fence. I already had an issue with my first breeding pen/pasture, at dusk the K flew back over to the flock that I had removed him from. That was all my fault though, I should have known to keep him in the coop for a couple days before letting him range. After I did that there were no problems. Separating as young as possible, as you suggested, should also help. Something new to do this year, always an adventure to look forward to. Thanks again.

 

[cmom]

After I separate the birds in the growout coop and the females are all moved to other coops, my growout coop becomes a batchelor pen and coop. This is where I end up putting the males that are going to be processed. The rest go into another coop and pen and from this pen I decide who to keep and who to not keep. Once in awhile one boy will get picked on by the others, but if they are raised together the males get along ok as long as there are no females and they have enough room to run around.



Theses are the males that were processed. All young males.