The Heritage Rhode Island Red Site

[Ur-ur-ur-urrr]

Early sunrise lighting, Added some funky golden tone to her, but anyhow. Shown for the type. 2016 pullet, hatched early in April.

Nice looking bird, Fred. I really like the back on this girl!

Thank you. I'll show her again in a few weeks when it is in fully. It's fair. There is a pencil thin, I mean fine point pen thin, red outline her tail feathers, but that's the best I could do this year. She'll be shown, but MUCH more important to me, personally, is her breeding future.

I'm glad you posted that picture, because it put my mind a little more at ease. I made a statement on FB about the red-rimmed tail feathers on my pullets https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10208423903174040&set=gm.652891798199617&type=3&theater . In the comments, I questioned if these were the tail coverts. These are my first reds, so I've been basically guessing that the coverts come in before the main tail. Seeing those same red-rimmed feathers on the tail of your bird makes me feel a lot more comfortable. I'll definitely follow Bob's advice and keep an eye out for red in the "main tail".

 

[Fred's Hens]

Over the almost 5 years of this thread, the female tail has been shown, discussed and wrestled with many times. The reality is we'd all love to breed females, consistently, with pure black beetle feathers with only the top two lightly edged in dark red, as per the standard, pg 52, 2010. It is an extremely difficult challenge, as is the standard's call for black in the female hackles limited to merely a small tick at the tips, forming a necklace or the option is for no ticking on the female hackles.

These are both incredibly difficult challenges. Focus on the type first, second and last. These tiny nuances of the standard are a bugger and yes, we still work tirelessly on them. Remember always there has never been a "perfect", flawless specimen. The concept of "perfection" in the title of the Standard is there as the carrot for the horse, always out there and never quite achievable. This keeps us forever in pursuit.

 

[Fred's Hens]

I'm glad you posted that picture, because it put my mind a little more at ease.......... I'll definitely follow Bob's advice and keep an eye out for red in the "main tail".

Joey, what makes this 7 year old thread worthwhile and perhaps why it has lasted is because the Red is honored here and it's Standard is paramount. There are hundreds and hundreds of threads on this site with "see my pretty bird", followed by the requisite gushing. No standard is mentioned, as most wouldn't even pass muster of any breed standard. That's all fine. But here, we deal with reality and work hard in setting a high bar of quality, promotion of the true bred, pure bred, Standard bred Rhode Island Red, the regal breed that it is.

If we are to have such Reds, just buying some simply isn't enough, we must continue to breed them. They don't drop from the clouds nor come in the mail from a mass production hatchery. Really great Reds are as rare as diamonds. I hope everyone understands that we really, really, really need breeders and where is the future generation of breeders of the Reds??? Without breeders, they're gone in a flash and the gene pool will be empty, forever. All you'll have left is the scrub bird posers. As Bob stressed from the beginning, there are probably less than 300 quality large fowl breeder birds alive come January in the US. That's pretty scary for a breed that once numbered in the hundreds of thousands birds strong. Anyone can propagate and flock reproduce birds, but breeding, real breeding is artistry, similar to learning to paint and/or sculpt masterpieces. It ain't easy. I've been at it for now almost 7 years with these red birds. One of these days, maybe I'll figure out a little something about breeding them. LOL

 

[Ur-ur-ur-urrr]

Over the almost 5 years of this thread, the female tail has been shown, discussed and wrestled with many times. The reality is we'd all love to breed females, consistently, with pure black beetle feathers with only the top two lightly edged in dark red, as per the standard, pg 52, 2010. It is an extremely difficult challenge, as is the standard's call for black in the female hackles limited to merely a small tick at the tips, forming a necklace or the option is for no ticking on the female hackles.

These are both incredibly difficult challenges. Focus on the type first, second and last. These tiny nuances of the standard are a bugger and yes, we still work tirelessly on them. Remember always there has never been a "perfect", flawless specimen. The concept of "perfection" in the title of the Standard is there as the carrot for the horse, always out there and never quite achievable. This keeps us forever in pursuit.

The first lesson I learned is there were three things that made a Rhode Island Red: type... type... and type. It doesn't matter if they have perfect color or markings. Without type, you don't have a Rhode Island Red. Everything else is secondary. Work for type first, then work on color, feather quality, etc. I know there's no such thing as a perfect Red. All we can strive for is to get as close to perfect as possible. This I understand.

Joey, what makes this 7 year old thread worthwhile and perhaps why it has lasted is because the Red is honored here and it's Standard is paramount. There are hundreds and hundreds of threads on this site with "see my pretty bird", followed by the requisite gushing. No standard is mentioned, as most wouldn't even pass muster of any breed standard. That's all fine. But here, we deal with reality and work hard in setting a high bar of quality, promotion of the true bred, pure bred, Standard bred Rhode Island Red, the regal breed that it is.

If we are to have such Reds, just buying some simply isn't enough, we must continue to breed them. They don't drop from the clouds nor come in the mail from a mass production hatchery. Really great Reds are as rare as diamonds. I hope everyone understands that we really, really, really need breeders and where is the future generation of breeders of the Reds??? Without breeders, they're gone in a flash and the gene pool will be empty, forever. All you'll have left is the scrub bird posers. As Bob stressed from the beginning, there are probably less than 300 quality large fowl breeder birds alive come January in the US. That's pretty scary for a breed that once numbered in the hundreds of thousands birds strong. Anyone can propagate and flock reproduce birds, but breeding, real breeding is artistry, similar to learning to paint and/or sculpt masterpieces. It ain't easy. I've been at it for now almost 7 years with these red birds. One of these days, maybe I'll figure out a little something about breeding them. LOL

Funny you should mention that. When I started raising a few laying birds, I looked at all the pretty chickens on hatchery sites and thought, "Those are cute." "Wow, I'd like to have some of those". Then I'd look at pictures that people posted on this and other sites, and realize everyone had them. Then I got to thinking about how those pretty feathers would be of any benefit to me or my family. Sure, I could breed them and sell them... perhaps... and maybe even break even. Suddenly, the appeal disappeared. I wanted something that every other person didn't have. Something that would provide me with eggs and/or meat, and if I wanted to, I could sell a few to help cover the cost of feed. About that time, I ran across this thread and I knew I'd found what I was looking for. I can't explain why, but I knew this breed was exactly what I'd been looking for. While some other breeds had caught my eye, the Reds reeled me in... hook, line, and sinker. The more I read about them, the more intrigued I became. I'd find myself drooling over pictures of purebreds, and dreaming of the day I would have some of my own. I fell in love with them without ever seeing a live one... and now that I have some... I'm head over heels about them. I can't seem to stop looking at them when I'm outside, and when I can't see them, they're on my mind. I painfully count the weeks off, anxiously waiting for the day when I can start matching up breeders in anticipation of what my selections will create. I so want to do this right, but I know there will be a price to pay no matter how well I do. That price is to cull, and to cull heavily. I didn't enjoy it much when I did it with my Barred Rocks, but I did it with no regrets... and I know it will be for a far greater cause with my Reds. I have to raise the best birds possible, so with that in mind, I will cull any and all birds that don't make the grade. That's simply how it has to be. I'm not raising pets...

Once you figure out a little something about breeding them, I hope you'll throw some crumbs down to the bottom rung of the ladder...

 

[cmom]

This is from my experience for what it's worth.
This is Wallace I got from Matt. (actually Matt's dad). He is not my top male but makes very nice chicks.

 

[waddles99]

This is from my experience for what it's worth.
This is Wallace I got from Matt. (actually Matt's dad). He is not my top male but makes very nice chicks.

I have heard that before that really not so great birds can make some fantastic offspring! I forget who was telling me this, but someone said their best breeder hen is totally off the standard but somehow makes some winning chicks.

 

[cmom]

Probably Matt.

 

[waddles99]

Probably Matt.

No, it was someone at a show I attended. I don't know if they were even talking about reds but the same concept could be applied to any breed.

 

[cmom]

Quote:
Actually I think someone may have posted something similar on here.

 

[waddles99]

Actually I think someone may have posted something similar on here.

Maybe, I don't know. I guess it is sort of a universal concept. Genetics of all species can be like that...in goats, a plain red doe can throw dapple kids if she has the gene for it. Even if the sire isn't dapple either and doesn't carry the gene for it.