The Heritage Rhode Island Red Site

[flowerchild59]

Here are a few of my RC RIR's. I purchased them in late april from Gary Underwood. They are 8-16 weeks in these pics. These birds are maturing nicely. I just picked up a few yesterday evening and couldn't believe how solid they are. I have 24 total, and will cull down to two males this fall and the best 8 to 10 pullets. We purchased a killing cone and plan to process them in about a month when it is slightly cooler. I might need some help choosing my keepers. So far they are all good natured and haven't had a poor tempered cockerel yet, will not tolerate any thing that is aggressive. They are hard to get a pic of, they are moving all the time.

 

[immyjay54]

Hey Jimmy, 'round these parts we call the girls that shape "pleasingly plump"

LOL nice looking girl there.

Jeff

Ha, ha, ha. Wouldn't expect anything less from you my friend. Quite a few pleasingly plump chicks up around here too. Oh gosh. Whatever we want to call her, I really everything about her.
Jimmy

 

[immyjay54]

Here are a few of my RC RIR's. I purchased them in late april from Gary Underwood. They are 8-16 weeks in these pics. These birds are maturing nicely. I just picked up a few yesterday evening and couldn't believe how solid they are. I have 24 total, and will cull down to two males this fall and the best 8 to 10 pullets. We purchased a killing cone and plan to process them in about a month when it is slightly cooler. I might need some help choosing my keepers. So far they are all good natured and haven't had a poor tempered cockerel yet, will not tolerate any thing that is aggressive. They are hard to get a pic of, they are moving all the time.

The third picture looks like race horses leaving the gates. lol I think you will be 100% satisfied with these birds. They have matured quicker then any other line that I have/had and other then getting feisty with each other when they get a little older, you won't find one aggressive toward you. At least this is what I have found with mine. I hatched babies when my parent stock was just 8 months old. I have the second hatch in a brooder box right now that were a week old today. I can't say this with any other line that I've had. Love these Underwood's.

 

[AletaG]

Bob, can I get a clarification. Few days back I'd accidently gotten you a bit riled. Been puzzling this out ever since (edited for brevity :
"I am going to make three 7 1/2 pens by 3 feet wide in my 9d large fowl 8x8 breeding pens to put my bantam bre3ders in. I am going to divide it in half with a wall of rabbit wire and put one hen in each pen. This will give me 8 little pens to rotate the male to each female. Then I am going to make a 2x2 foot divider between the whole pen with a gate and put a female in catch one of these on tthree pens. This will give me a total 12 pens ten which will have a female and two empty to let a male rest one day then rotate him to the pens of then females. I plan to toe punch each egg and wing band them as I go along. ..... This is how I am going to do it with my R I Red bantams. "

So,
1. 10 female, 2 males
2. 12 pens, 2 for resting the male on the 6th day... (...trying to sort why not 12 females so he can rest on the 7th... NOT making a joke... really, really trying....)
3. Can't puzzle out the dimensions. I THINK each pen is 3x7 1/2 ft except the male resting pen, which is half the size? Can't quite picture this...
4. How long do you keep them this way? year round? Run free late summer thru Fall? I'm still trying to grasp the 'when'.
5. "toe punch each egg"? I think you meant the chicks? Do you mark your eggs with pencil? Sharpie? Like, A/1 is Cock a and Hen 1 ? Some such? Then appropriate wing band and toe punch? Thought you wing band "keepers" later? I'm probably over thinking this... I'm looking into getting vet-wrap in different colors for the chick legs (not happy with zip ties, and can't make myself punch holes between the toes, sorry), and trying to figure out when to wing band... since they come in so many different sizes.
6. Is this for that complicated breeding project you will be working on, or just for maintaining 'regular' HRIR bantam lines?
(I've still got that plan for 30, push and natter and annoy for fewer with the people that make you reach for the wood glue... Still dying over that one...)

 

[NestingHillsSC]

On the leg color, about what age does the dark red line really just pop out at you? I have noticed that the line is getting darker on my birds that are about 20 weeks old but I'm thinking it will keep getting darker as they mature. I have some birds that are only 16 weeks old and the line while somewhat there is not nearly as striking.

All mine have it. Hard to tell from this pic. But you can see the horn color on the one in the middle. Took them a bit to get it.

 

[RedRidge]

Quote: I haven't paid too much attention yet due to the young age of mine... but here is a leg pic I "accidentally" shot of my double banded pullet last week.
I wasn't trying for a leg shot. LOL But you can see the horn coloring developing... she is about 14 and a half weeks old in this shot.

 

[Robert Blosl]

AletaG
I got a little fired up on the Politicians and we got this problem all over the country right now it does not make a lot of sense and in a blink of a eye we end up losing or rights that we have just for political correctness. I hope this is not going to get me into trouble.

My line breeding program is NUTS. I got to do it to locate two traits from my large fowl cross I put in 24 years ago. I am tiring to get the black quill color in my bantam line I don't have it I have a dark quill color like many of you have in your large fowl lines. Before I go to Red Heaven I want black Quills on my miniature Mohawk bantams. DO NOT DO WHAT I DO RIGHT NOW. THIS IS 106 breeding.

I also want high egg production and fast feathering genes in my bantams and I have two males and two females who are coming back to my farm that I farmed out to a friend four years ago and I want this perfect head on my bantam line. So I am going to this approach.

Now let's say I was a beginner. I would have two nice males and two nice females and hatch 20 chicks from each female. I would punch a hole in one chick for pen one and maybe leave the toes alone on the other. You can also take a pair of shape tissue scissors I use a straight Iris Surgical Scissors and make a small v notch in the toe it works the same way.


I wing band them on the seventh day. Log that into a book and watch the chicks in the brooder box. Let's say I have ten chicks in a 2x3 foot box. I look for the tail feathers shooting out of their tails and then write on a index card how many days did it take. Say it was 20 days. Then the next one is 21 days then 22 days ect. I raise these guys up and watch their growth. You may have a male that takes off like a race horse feathers fast, first to crow ect. He may be my star male to mate out of. Females start to get red in the face early start to lay first. Some may lay late. Go with the ones that mature crow lay fast. When they molt as hens they molt fast not slow and then come back laying a month later than their sisters. You do this for five years and your strain of any large fowl dual purpose chickens will have a 20 to 30 egg plus rate for a pullet. All kinds of stuff show up when you do this better type, fantastic feather quality and a great all around strain of Reds. Who does this ME only. No one will put the time into such a project because it takes to much work. But that is how you can do it but you don't have to. But why breed from culls, low egg laying females or males that take a month to mature than their fast feathering brothers. That the good traits you look for in your R I Reds.

Look at this Rose Comb male above. This is a super start to be. He has it all over him. He needs to be in the breeding pen and then you look next year for sons like him or maybe better. Not a whole bunch better but maybe a half a point better and each year you keep putting breeding pressure on traits you want to improve length of body width of back leg placement combs that are neat ect.
Hope this helps you. If someone gave me a bunch of money and told me to go out and get five breeds of dual purposes large fowl that is how I would do it trios but better if I could two good pairs. Line breed them for three years and hatch about 20 chicks per female. Hope this helps you. You could hatch ten or 15 chicks in your set up from a trio and have a nice line of Reds. Just don't go to big too fast and you will be just fine.

I am on my 25th year with shrinking down my large fowl from bantams. Don't pay any attention to what I do with these reds I normally do not do this but this year I have orders for chicks and the ones that I don't keep with perfect heads are going to my friends who want my bantam line. I will only raise about 75 chicks and the meat cleaver will be coming down hard till I get 40 that I like. I will put together a simple how to get started line breeding chart and method in a day or two and send it to you. All you have to do is get you some good stock and raise them up and it will be easy as falling off a log to get a breeding program together. I think I would worry more about you getting started then selling eggs to people around the country for now. Glad you don't have to have 30 chickens on your property to have a poultry set up. You can have the inspectors come out when you reach that number with whatever kind of fowl you would like.

 

[FOGELLY]

AletaG,
Toe punching is the easiest most permanent way to mark your chicks. I do it as I pull them from the hatcher.
It really is not that bad, for you or the chick. The toe punch tool works well and quickly. As soon as you show the chicks water and food, they have no thought of the toe punch.
If you can't make yourself toe punch you also won't be able to make yourself wing band, which is a much bigger hole.

Ron

 

[RedRidge]

... I will put together a simple how to get started line breeding chart and method in a day or two and send it to you. ...

Bob, please share with all of us... I've seen your line breeding chart before, but it's always nice to review and exercise brain power...

Thanks for sharing all you do.

 

[MumsyII]

All of mine have the dark horn on their legs and beaks. The legs started really darkening up in the three and four month mark.

I like every thing about this five month old Fogle pullet. From top to bottom.