The Heritage Rhode Island Red Site

[Fred's Hens]

My first and lasting passion is still Rocks and it may be important to know, I suppose, that a similar things has happened to the real, old fashioned, solid Rocks of long ago as well. Folks have blended in so much Dominique and Leghorn blood into them to make 280+ egg layers out of them that the type is almost unrecognizable. We get folks complaining that their Barred Rocks are muddied up cuckoo patterned, flighty, dying of ascites and ovarian blowouts, roosters are mean, and all the while they had read that Rocks were supposed to a more docile breed. They get all disappointed. which is a shame.

This thread has encouraged me to keep Reds and all I know is that until seeing them here, even this old 50+ years in poultry guy hadn't ever gotten the chance to enjoy real RIR until now. Like the Rocks, night and day, night and day, once you have the real deals. For egg laying and a kind of single purpose red? Hard to beat those high flying production reds.

 

[immyjay54]

When I saw this post Ron I just said to myself WOW.

This tread was started to promote and try to encourage people to realize there is such a breed of Old Fashion Fowl called a Rhode Island Reds and that in todays standards of the name they are very rare to the common backyard poultry owner. In fact up to about three years ago it was difficult for me to locate and get stock to the folks that wanted a true Rhode Island Red which was very famous 30 to 50 years ago. Today we have many who have just posted who are sharing their strains to beginners. I am so happy and proud of this and more will have these chicks or eggs this coming spring. In fact Jimmy in Penn is going to send my friend Anthony and I some Rose Comb started chicks I hope this spring for us to breed and raise.

There is a difference in the common hatchery production red than these fowl. They are not considered show Rhode Island Reds as many do show them but most of the Preservationist do not and that is fine. I have owned production reds and raised them next to my old Mohawk line and used them as a gage for feathering and development. They are great fowl for selling eggs to people who want brown colored eggs but they do not have the longevity in the guts to live very long. They lay eggs far to high for their dual purpose guts or insides and many end up with blow outs and die.

They have leghorn blood in them like Fred mentioned and that was to cheat in egg laying contest many years ago. Some males can be very aggressive and will attach children and adults where the darker old fashion true to breed ones are docile and are not mean to children but docile. Great discussion that comes up about every six months or so. Looking at the little chicks with their dark beaks, the birds with the dark horn color then the birds with the dark even color and brick shape shows the real Rhode Island Red that we are trying to promote and preserve.

Thanks for your posts very educational. That's what makes this tread such a great one.

Hey Bob,
I'd bet that when you started this thread that you never in your wildest dreams thought that it would grow like it has. lol When I read this on Ron's post I really had to laugh thinking that it couldn't be made any plainer. (When we look at a Zebra we know it is a Zebra. Take those stripes off their body put them on a horse or a donkey and we would know something was not exactly right about it, even though it looked pretty much like a Zebra.)
I was just thinking a few days ago how things have changed in the past few years with these Red's. Gosh I tried for almost 3 years to find the Underwood line then I finally got them. Now, it seems like they are all over. lol Same with the Old Reese birds (Mohawk)..They have become very prominent. The RIR's in the next few years ( if folks just keep up with them ) should be one of the larger numbers again. Shoot, I'm even planning on using all my cull pullets in the layer coop just for eggs. I have a few different breeds in there now but as they leave, the red's will replace them.
Love these birds. Everyday is a different challenge with them. BUT I love it.
Jim

 

[Chickens Naturally]

Soy and Corn are heavily genetically modified. Being the self proclaimed conspiracy theorist that I am, I took the last two cans of corn out of the cupboard wondering what to do with them. Corn in America is 86% genetically modified. The food chain around here is; if we don’t eat it maybe the dogs can and if the dogs don’t eat it maybe the chickens can and if the chickens can’t eat it maybe it can go into my worm bins. I wouldn’t feed the corn to the dogs or the chickens and I actually debated about the worms before reluctantly deciding to put it in my experimental worm bin, but if I dug a hole and buried it I guess the worms would have gotten it anyway, hehe. This is why I am now planning to seek out two varieties of LF heritage breed chickens (Barred Rocks and Rhode Island Reds) to help preserve as well as provide us with meat and eggs.
My plan is to maintain two families of each breed so that in the future, barring some sort of disaster, I won’t need to outsource fresh blood of unknown breeding. In this day and age I am concerned about Frankengenes entering backyard flocks as well, and I will be depending upon the integrity of the breeders of heritage breeders to provide me with unmolested stock and it has been my experience that most chicken folks are good folks.
I hope to have stock by spring of next year if not before. Some of you are familiar with me from the Plymouth Rock thread and know my goals I have never shown a chicken and probably never will but I want quality stock and plan to breed to SOP, also with utility in mind. Ideally one day I could produce a good utility heritage strain that someone (not me) could also proudly enter into a show. I prefer straight comb, but not opposed to Rose comb LF. I am in upstate South Carolina and if anyone could point me toward a good breeder in my area I would appreciate it. Hopefully someone no further away than say upper Georgia or lower North Carolina. I would consider mail order, but would rather pick up. Bob I am still interested in the contact information for the Barred Rocks also. Thanks.

 

[desertmarcy]

As long as we are talking about toe punching...I have done a lot of it as I raise a bunch of birds each year but I stopped doing it this year because I always had a problem with the hole growing back. I always had to fight with that for a month or 2. Another problem I have had is when you punch it, it doesn't completely cut the circle out. About 70% of the time it leaves a flap. If you guys know something I don't know let me in on it.

Matt, I was having this problem also. I started making sure the flap was gone by using my fingernail to scrap it off. I still had the holes growing back. When I got the Reese 1/2 and 1/2s from you, I wanted to make absolutely sure I didn't get them mixed up with the others, so after a week, I toe punched the chicks again and made the hole bigger. They are about 3 months old now and the holes have not grown back and are nice big round holes. I did the same thing with some turkeys that I had different bloodlines of the same breed, wanted to make sure they didn't get confused and their toe holes look good. I think the key is to punch when they first come out of the incubator and redo within a week. At least that is my current theory

 

[catdaddyfro]

Soy and Corn are heavily genetically modified. Being the self proclaimed conspiracy theorist that I am, I took the last two cans of corn out of the cupboard wondering what to do with them. Corn in America is 86% genetically modified. The food chain around here is; if we don’t eat it maybe the dogs can and if the dogs don’t eat it maybe the chickens can and if the chickens can’t eat it maybe it can go into my worm bins. I wouldn’t feed the corn to the dogs or the chickens and I actually debated about the worms before reluctantly deciding to put it in my experimental worm bin, but if I dug a hole and buried it I guess the worms would have gotten it anyway, hehe. This is why I am now planning to seek out two varieties of LF heritage breed chickens (Barred Rocks and Rhode Island Reds) to help preserve as well as provide us with meat and eggs.
My plan is to maintain two families of each breed so that in the future, barring some sort of disaster, I won’t need to outsource fresh blood of unknown breeding. In this day and age I am concerned about Frankengenes entering backyard flocks as well, and I will be depending upon the integrity of the breeders of heritage breeders to provide me with unmolested stock and it has been my experience that most chicken folks are good folks.
I hope to have stock by spring of next year if not before. Some of you are familiar with me from the Plymouth Rock thread and know my goals I have never shown a chicken and probably never will but I want quality stock and plan to breed to SOP, also with utility in mind. Ideally one day I could produce a good utility heritage strain that someone (not me) could also proudly enter into a show. I prefer straight comb, but not opposed to Rose comb LF. I am in upstate South Carolina and if anyone could point me toward a good breeder in my area I would appreciate it. Hopefully someone no further away than say upper Georgia or lower North Carolina. I would consider mail order, but would rather pick up. Bob I am still interested in the contact information for the Barred Rocks also. Thanks.

Steven Gribble (sgribble) maybe can help you on here he is in the vicinity you are aiming for northwest Ga just south of Chatanooga. he and JamesA both have the same good "real" SC reds James has some RC reds also.

Jeff

Jamie Duckworth 919-915-5789 [email protected] NC
Buckeyes, Barred Plymouth Rocks

 

[catdaddyfro]

Steven Gribble (sgribble) maybe can help you on here he is in the vicinity you are aiming for northwest Ga just south of Chatanooga. he and JamesA both have the same good "real" SC reds James has some RC reds also.

Jeff

Jamie Duckworth 919-915-5789 [email protected] NC
Buckeyes, Barred Plymouth Rocks

Jamies call name on here is Ducktang but he doesn't visit very often

 

[RedRidge]

Soy and Corn are heavily genetically modified. Being the self proclaimed conspiracy theorist that I am, I took the last two cans of corn out of the cupboard wondering what to do with them. Corn in America is 86% genetically modified. The food chain around here is; if we don’t eat it maybe the dogs can and if the dogs don’t eat it maybe the chickens can and if the chickens can’t eat it maybe it can go into my worm bins. I wouldn’t feed the corn to the dogs or the chickens and I actually debated about the worms before reluctantly deciding to put it in my experimental worm bin, but if I dug a hole and buried it I guess the worms would have gotten it anyway, hehe. This is why I am now planning to seek out two varieties of LF heritage breed chickens (Barred Rocks and Rhode Island Reds) to help preserve as well as provide us with meat and eggs.
My plan is to maintain two families of each breed so that in the future, barring some sort of disaster, I won’t need to outsource fresh blood of unknown breeding. In this day and age I am concerned about Frankengenes entering backyard flocks as well, and I will be depending upon the integrity of the breeders of heritage breeders to provide me with unmolested stock and it has been my experience that most chicken folks are good folks.
 I hope to have stock by spring of next year if not before. Some of you are familiar with me from the Plymouth Rock thread and know my goals I have never shown a chicken and probably never will but I want quality stock and plan to breed to SOP, also with utility in mind. Ideally one day I could produce a good utility heritage strain that someone (not me) could also proudly enter into a show. I prefer straight comb, but not opposed to Rose comb LF. I am in upstate South Carolina and if anyone could point me toward a good breeder in my area I would appreciate it. Hopefully someone no further away than say upper Georgia or lower North Carolina. I would consider mail order, but would rather pick up. Bob I am still interested in the contact information for the Barred Rocks also. Thanks.

Welcome to the thread. We're just across from you over in East TN. Love our Reds!
We are a self sufficiency farm and raise most of what we feed our livestock. Anything we barter or buy is always gmo free. We grind all our own grains. My chickens get a fermented mixture of non-gmo corn, oats and peas. Never soy. I sell a lot of eggs in the Chattanooga area and customer demand is high these days for non-gmo, soy free eggs. We also raise BSF and those are fed to the adult chickens year round. They are rotationally grazed with the cattle and sheep and are moved daily.
Your goals are quite achievable. Carcasses are great on the HRIR. You wi be quite thrilled with them.

 

[Matt1616]

Steven Gribble (sgribble)  maybe can help you on here he is in the vicinity you are aiming for northwest Ga just south of Chatanooga. he and JamesA both have the same good "real" SC reds James has some RC reds also.


Jeff



[SIZE=10.4026px]Jamie Duckworth 919-915-5789 [email protected] NC[/SIZE]
[SIZE=10.4026px]Buckeyes, Barred Plymouth Rocks[/SIZE]

No reason to contact Steven. All he has is GMO eating Mutants over there. I know because he got them from me and that is all I have. Some of them have 12 toes, 3 heads and speak Spanish. That GMO stuff is bad news.

 

[Chickens Naturally]

Welcome to the thread. We're just across from you over in East TN. Love our Reds!
We are a self sufficiency farm and raise most of what we feed our livestock. Anything we barter or buy is always gmo free. We grind all our own grains. My chickens get a fermented mixture of non-gmo corn, oats and peas. Never soy. I sell a lot of eggs in the Chattanooga area and customer demand is high these days for non-gmo, soy free eggs. We also raise BSF and those are fed to the adult chickens year round. They are rotationally grazed with the cattle and sheep and are moved daily.
Your goals are quite achievable. Carcasses are great on the HRIR. You wi be quite thrilled with them.

Thanks Sheri. I'm looking into a couple of breeds right now. I'll bet you have pictures of your fowl on here somewhere. I'm tying to make my way through a couple of threads and I'm driving my wife nuts at the amount of time I've been on here. May I ask what line you have, any pics? Thanks again!

 

[Chickens Naturally]

No reason to contact Steven. All he has is GMO eating Mutants over there. I know because he got them from me and that is all I have. Some of them have 12 toes, 3 heads and speak Spanish. That GMO stuff is bad news.

Matt I'm studying up on you, hehe, and I may be interested in you mutants. Man, I'm surprised more of you guys with the good stuff don't have websites??