The Heritage Rhode Island Red Site

[RedRidge]

Now that is just weird! How did the other adult chickens act?

 

[melroseladi]

Now that is just weird! How did the other adult chickens act?

They all seemed fine. I have 3 that are setting on eggs and were still on their nests. The other 2 hens and the rooster were around the feeder eating. I have one hen that is a bit pecky and bossy but I have never seen her be overly aggressive. There was just no signs that it was a predator. No bites on her that I could see, just dead and featherless on her neck area. I just never have heard of anybody saying any of their HRIR were vicious like that so I am really wondering what could have happened.

Penny

 

[SallyinIndiana]

This may have been covered earlier in this thread but there are 707 pages... Does anyone know where I can get a few Heritage RIR in the Central Texas area? Everything I run into seems to be production. I would like to hand raise a cockerel but the age of the hens isn't so important. I kinda want something that could one day be show quality. I don't want to show them myself but I think it would be fun to breed. I don't have a incubator but I have some hens that go broody from time to time so I hatching might be an option. I just can't order chicks in that amount unless it's nearby where I can pick them up.

I'm thinking if you message a few of the posters on here that are breeders they might be able to point you in the right direction.
I have the Ron Fogle line but he is not selling chicks this year last I heard. @RedRidge is not so close to you as she is in TN. There are other breeders of course but I'm more familiar with the ones up North.

 

[RedRidge]

I do have chicks that aren't spoken for in April but don't ship so unless someone happens to be making a trip to TX thru TN I won't be much help. But if I can help at all just let me know.

 

[RedRidge]

Now that is just weird! How did the other adult chickens act?

They all seemed fine. I have 3 that are setting on eggs and were still on their nests. The other 2 hens and the rooster were around the feeder eating. I have one hen that is a bit pecky and bossy but I have never seen her be overly aggressive. There was just no signs that it was a predator. No bites on her that I could see, just dead and featherless on her neck area. I just never have heard of anybody saying any of their HRIR were vicious like that so I am really wondering what could have happened.

Penny

My gut says predator... Or... Could she have gotten her head stuck in something? I can't imagine the other hens would do that just out of the blue... i would think there would be periodic scrapping first - there would have been signs. Keep in mind a momma with a chick will take on and fight a predator she would normally run from if she didn't have a chick to protect. I mention this because if it is a predator it may strike again.
Do you have a game cam you can put in that coop for a few days?

 

[melroseladi]

My gut says predator... Or... Could she have gotten her head stuck in something? I can't imagine the other hens would do that just out of the blue... i would think there would be periodic scrapping first - there would have been signs. Keep in mind a momma with a chick will take on and fight a predator she would normally run from if she didn't have a chick to protect. I mention this because if it is a predator it may strike again.
Do you have a game cam you can put in that coop for a few days?

No, no game cam. I just can't imagine a predator that did not take any bites out of her. Her and the chick were on their nest in the hutch when I locked up last night. I am going to keep an eye open on that bossy hen. My son was in a dirt bike accident so I have been having to spend so much time at the hospital it has been hard to keep my eyes on the birds like I normally do. If it is a hen being overly aggressive she will be in the crock pot. I will not breed aggressive birds.

Penny

 

[Laingcroft]

That's a chicken rule, when you hatch you get 50/50.

No, no, no...you hatch 75% of what you don't want that particular season and 25% of what you do! Well, maybe that's the Murphy Chicken rule...

 

[ronniewayne]

This may have been covered earlier in this thread but there are 707 pages... Does anyone know where I can get a few Heritage RIR in the Central Texas area? Everything I run into seems to be production. I would like to hand raise a cockerel but the age of the hens isn't so important. I kinda want something that could one day be show quality. I don't want to show them myself but I think it would be fun to breed. I don't have a incubator but I have some hens that go broody from time to time so I hatching might be an option. I just can't order chicks in that amount unless it's nearby where I can pick them up.

i have some i am in northeast tx. how many are you lookiing for? there is also a guy close to college station who has some also . i will try to find his name.

 

[JohnsonHomested]

I would like a cockerel and a couple of hens or pullets. I have fifteen hens of various breeds now but I wanted to be able to hatch out something other than crosses. Hillcountry Poultry in Burnet sells Rhode Islands but I don't think they hatch them and they didn't tell me much about where their birds come from.

 

[melroseladi]

Well we caught the culprit that made my little chick an orphan, a big male opossum. He got another of my hens off of her nest but she was able to get into the corner of the coop behind a piece of hardware cloth that was propped against the wall. She is shaken but appears to be fine. Opossum bit the bullet, several actually. Now to find out how he was getting in.

Penny