The Heritage Rhode Island Red Site

[hitchyourwagon]

Matt can you share the names of the various lines? Could you also tell me one trait you think of when hear a particular line discussed i.e. size, color, comb, etc. I know that could be debatable but interested in your opinion. Also if you know, which lines are more populated (popular)?
Thanks

 

[Matt1616]

Matt can you share the names of the various lines? Could you also tell me one trait you think of when hear a particular line discussed i.e. size, color, comb, etc. I know that could be debatable but interested in your opinion. Also if you know, which lines are more populated (popular)?
Thanks

Reese, Nelson, Rademacher, Flannigan, Underwood & Anderson. I would not care to comment on the lines that I don't raise because I haven't handled a lot of those other lines and looking at them in the cage only tells part of the story. I would say the lines that are out there in the highest numbers are Reese, Nelson and Flannigan but I don't know if 'more popular" would be the proper way to describe them...maybe "more available" would be a better description.

Matt

 

[hitchyourwagon]

Thanks Matt, very helpful information.

 

[Deasunja]

Hi there,

Where can I learn about buying breeding stock for Rhode Island Reds? My goal is egg production, not show birds.

It's all new to me. People say the RI Reds from Hatcheries are not really RI Reds. I searched for some info about it all but haven't found much of anything comparing or contrasting the Heritage Reds with the birds Hatcheries call RI Reds.

Thanks for any help with this one.

DeAsUnJa

 

[Fred's Hens]

If you want egg layers? You really need not bother with Reds or any of the heavier breeds. You want a Leghorn based, commercial bird that you can normally pick up at your local feed store as chicks. They'll carry all kinds of names, but they all will lay eggs like a broken vending machine,

Cinnamon Queens, ISA Browns, Golden Comets, etc. They'll lay you eggs everyday and of great quality. The poultry companies that have selectively bred/mixed these layers have made egg layers that feed the world today.

No, a truebred Red and the silly little imitation that hatcheries sell are nothing much alike. But even the hatchery versions won't lay like the birds I mentioned above.

 

[JanetMarie]

Who breeds just productive RIRs for eggs and meat, bred to SOP standard, and not a particular line?

 

[Fred's Hens]

Who breeds just productive RIRs for eggs and meat, bred to SOP standard, and not a particular line?

No one. No matter what anyone says or claims.

We have a line of pretty decent Reds that lay pretty well, but they're no where near as nice in type as our Nelson based Reds nor will they ever lay eggs like the commercial layers, like an red sex link type bird.

 

[Fred's Hens]

Who breeds just productive RIRs for eggs and meat, bred to SOP standard, and not a particular line?

Also largely mythology. There really is NO dual purpose bird, if by that you mean a bird that can perform into the top 90th percentile in egg production and also be in the top 90th percentile in time to market meat production.

The "idea" or dream of a dual purpose breed was developed into the agriculture, small farm culture of over a 100 years ago. Since then, Ag science has produced a true table meat bird that provides 99% of all chicken meat for table and resturant in the world.

Ag Science has also bred the spectacular commercial layers of white and brown egg table eggs. They're billion dollar babies, products of millions and millions of research dollars.

These old APA/ABA breeds serve no practical purpose in the modern world. They exist at all because folks with small holdings, niche breeders, and the exhibition hobby keep them from going extinct. These breeds date to a time and era before man could fly and we drove horses, and women washed clothes in buckets in the yard. Science moves forward and antiquities (which is what these birds are) are kept for enjoyment.

 

[JanetMarie]

No one. No matter what anyone says or claims.

We have a line of pretty decent Reds that lay pretty well, but they're no where near as nice in type as our Nelson based Reds nor will they ever lay eggs like the commercial layers, like an red sex link type bird.

Thank you. Planning and slowly converting to only keep 2 pure breeds.

 

[JanetMarie]

Also largely mythology. There really is NO dual purpose bird, if by that you mean a bird that can perform into the top 90th percentile in egg production and also be in the top 90th percentile in time to market meat production.

The "idea" or dream of a dual purpose breed was developed into the agriculature, small farm culture of over a 100 years ago. Since then, Ag science has produced a true table meat bird that provides 99% of all chicken meat for table and resturant in the world.

Ag Science has also bred the spectacular commercial layers of white and egg table eggs. They're billion dollar babies, products of millions and millions of research dollars.

These old APA/ABA breeds serve no practical purpose in the modern world. They exist at all because folks with small holdings, niche breeders, and the exhibition hobby keep them from going extinct. These breeds date to a time and era before man could fly and we drove horses, and women washed clothes in buckets in the yard. Science moves forward and antiquities (which is what these birds are) are kept for enjoyment.

The older non-commercial breeds are what I plan to keep. I'm not interested in super-layers, or fast growing meat breeds. We hatch our own chicks every year, and let the roosters grow fully for meat. Once anyone has had a home-grown rooster that takes 6 months to grow, it is worth all the time, and would never go back to eating the fast growing modern chickens. The broth doesn't compare either.

For the egg layers, I don't need large eggs or birds that lay every day. We had a home bred Production Red that was a nice bird, but she died of blow out, and it's not worth it to keep birds for heavy egg laying in which some suffer to meet demands.