The Heritage Rhode Island Red Site

[MumsyII]

Question concerning cockerel... at what age are you finding you have to sort cockerels off due to fighting?
My experience with other breeds is that by 3-4 of age the cockerels all start acting like jerks and I get tired of dealing with them and them starting to fight.
But I still have all my HRIR birds together... all 20 of them... and everyone gets along so nicely and they are all so very sweet.
I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop and for one of the cockerels to decide his "*&(^%" doesn't stink and start being a twit... can I hope that won't happen for a while.
I really have no patience for nasty roos. I'm just surprised how easy these guys are to deal with still.
So when should I expect that a large cockerel pen for all of them will be too much and they'll need to be separated?
How do other folks manage this?
I do not want to begin to cull until they are older, but the thought of managing more than a dozen of them separately does not thrill me either.
With the other breeds I know who my keepers are by 3 months... I'm determined to keep these for much longer, if for no other reason than learning... watching them change and grow is so fascinating and educational.

I have fourteen five month old cockerels of Ron Fogle's line. They squabble among each other on down the pecking order but I free range them all day with the layer flock and Silkie flock. I have to put all the feed dishes out all over the yard to make sure everyone gets groceries. I don't see any squabbles yet that I would think is a 'fight'. Love the disposition of these birds. Big easy going birds.

 

[riftnreef]

Okay...so I may have a problem, but I'm not really sure how to handle this one. Got a group of 13 LF reds back in Feb. and have grown them out. Cut the group down to 3 cockerels and 4 pullets to keep back for breeding. Removed one more cockerel to create two trios for fall breeding. All the birds we kept look fantastic, however we have now lost two of the pullets. The first was after a single day show, so we just reintroduced her and the cockerel we showed back to the group, and the second cockerel injured her treading her and she ended up passing. Most recently, we had the birds seperated for fair, and when we returned, we put the cockerel that was at the fair in with the three remaining pullets in a completely different coop and just kept the extra cockerel with the layer flock since he is a good protector. We found one of the pullets again dead (susptected broken neck) yesterday and I have a hunch it was the cockerel again violently treading her for breeding. I've never had a roo get overly rough with the girls, so I'm not really sure what to do. He is by far the better type bird, but out of 13, we are down to a single trio to start our breeding flock, and that leaves us just one coop invasion away from having to start over. We spent almost three years finding the right birds and I'm really not up to starting over, so please feel free to share your thoughts and experiences with this.

 

[Fred's Hens]

It is painful and disheartening when losses occur and set back your plans.

When we first got our "starter" chicks of the JWhip/KathyinMO Barred Rocks, we kept every breathing bird. We didn't make up our breeding pens and cull until December 1st. Now, we probably have 80 birds and have sold that many as well.

This year, we had set backs with our Reds. (pitbull. don't ask) We'll be OK, but we cannot stand anymore losses either.
This is just part of the deal. Get enough birds on the ground, between you and your breeding partner, to have 30 quality birds between you. Then, perhaps you can exhale. That's the way we feel about it anyhow.

Another immediate option is to approach someone here with your line and offer to pay the freight for another couple of birds. That might cost $150, but if that is what you feel the need to do, well, you'll have to weigh that out for yourself.

 

[Robert Blosl]

Found the picture tht I think Greg sent me above.

notice the difference in the tail?
this is the other picture that I ;thought I got from mike wagoner from the Michigan show. The picture I got from Greg I cant find right now but it had a frame around it. They are similar in shape so no big deal and the male had more length of tail or bushy this this guy which was a male that came from one of my old ckls I sold a junior in Texas and he bought and he crossed onto my old eight year old hens he still have. None the less splendid shape and I think very symmetrical. Whish the bantams had a top line and brick shape on them like this guy. bob

 

[cmom]

Okay...so I may have a problem, but I'm not really sure how to handle this one. Got a group of 13 LF reds back in Feb. and have grown them out. Cut the group down to 3 cockerels and 4 pullets to keep back for breeding. Removed one more cockerel to create two trios for fall breeding. All the birds we kept look fantastic, however we have now lost two of the pullets. The first was after a single day show, so we just reintroduced her and the cockerel we showed back to the group, and the second cockerel injured her treading her and she ended up passing. Most recently, we had the birds seperated for fair, and when we returned, we put the cockerel that was at the fair in with the three remaining pullets in a completely different coop and just kept the extra cockerel with the layer flock since he is a good protector. We found one of the pullets again dead (susptected broken neck) yesterday and I have a hunch it was the cockerel again violently treading her for breeding. I've never had a roo get overly rough with the girls, so I'm not really sure what to do. He is by far the better type bird, but out of 13, we are down to a single trio to start our breeding flock, and that leaves us just one coop invasion away from having to start over. We spent almost three years finding the right birds and I'm really not up to starting over, so please feel free to share your thoughts and experiences with this.

I have had males that were rough on the girls and like you found a couple of dead ones with nothing apparently wrong with them. Maybe save a few eggs now and stick them in the incubator before you have no birds. That is what I have done and you will have to grow them out or maybe buy another nice male for breeding. Are you concentrating on a single line of birds? My birds are now being killed by predators. a about 3 days ago one of my RC RIW males vanished and yesterday morning when I went out to their coop there were 4 pullets missing. This really bummed me out as these were birds I have been raising for showing and they are about to start laying. I rally haven't had much lost to predators over the past years but this year I have lost more birds than the previous years all together. I have seldom closed their pop doors at night but I have electric fencing around my coops and pens. Now I have been closing the pop doors. Have gotten owls, foxes and coyotes on my game camera. Caught a fox and owl and relocated them far away, but lately I have seen another owl on video from my camera but the owls haven't carried off the bodies and have eaten on them on the videos. Something lately has carried them off with no trails.

 

[Fred's Hens]

Maybe save a few eggs now and stick them in the incubator before you have no birds. That is what I have done and you will have to grow them out or maybe buy another nice male for breeding.

Such good advice. When our ringlets started laying, we only waited two weeks and we started incubating every single egg that dropped. We were soooooooo anxious to hatch out everything we could. I really believe this to be what I'd do if I was in the position of being down to a trio. I'd not wait another day. Borrow an incubator from a friend and alternate hatches every 10 days, hatching out every single egg laid.

 

[Jharper]

I think my pullet is fine. She is eating and drinking just fine. I reckon her hock is swollen. It's a little blue, too.

 

[RoseMarie1]

The feathering coloration is still far too light, in spite of the dark color on the beak. They look to be fairly common hatchery type stock to my eye. Did you see the seller's parent stock when you purchased these chicks?

no I didn't see his but that's ok. I just wanted eggs anyway.

I'm sure they'll lay me some.

 

[Fred's Hens]

no I didn't see his but that's ok. I just wanted eggs anyway.

I'm sure they'll lay me some.

That's a good attitude. Those little production red roosters don't often produce much meat and can be ornery. The hens will indeed lay well for you as this is why they are bred. When you're ready for some really nice Reds, come on back and ask around. Late winter is the best time to get eggs or chicks. This time of year, a pair perhaps, is about the best you can hope for.

 

[cmom]

Quote:
I have been working on my birds too trying for show quality. I have been at trying to improve my line for about 3 years. In January I bought a rooster and 3 pullets from Matt1616 to add to the flock I already had. I was originally given some eggs and purchased some birds at the Florida Sunshine Classic Poultry Show in Lake City, FL that I was told at the time were descendants of the Reese line. Later I found out that Matt also had some birds from this line. At the last show I had shown my birds at I got a Reserve Breed and Reserve Variety (my Heritage Rhode Island Reds). I have some nice potentials for the shows coming up this fall and winter. It does take a long time to breed and raise to get the quality you want. I had several of my RC RIW's killed by a predator and had one male and 2 females left from them so I collected every egg and into the incubator they went. Here are my birds now the the next show season. I have some younger ones growing out in other coops and pens.



Here are my birds that survived. They were attacked by an owl. The girl in the middle had her comb pretty destroyed by the owl. She had gotten Best of Breed and Best Variety at the last show I took her to. (before the owl attacked them)