The Heritage Rhode Island Red Site

[rrand5]

Yeah, sorry.  They're just hatchery type, production birds sold in feed stores, etc.  Just being honest. These birds are concocted to be egg layers.  They're often sold as Reds, but they are not. Again, sorry.

They'll make good layers for you, but NO.  There's nothing there to work with in attempting to "breed them up".  The DNA proper to the breed just isn't there and you couldn't pull it out of them if you spent decades trying.

There are pretty good Reds breeders in Canada.  I'll send you the address of some club members, and hopefully, they might point you in the right direction. Best regards.

Thank you for your feed back, they were purchased through the university not a hatchery by myself personally. https://www.heritagechickens.ca/
Even with my untrained eye I can tell that they are nowhere near the chickens on here. I would love any breeder contacts that you have to offer.

 

[waddles99]

Thank you for your feed back, they were purchased through the university not a hatchery by myself personally. https://www.heritagechickens.ca/
Even with my untrained eye I can tell that they are nowhere near the chickens on here. I would love any breeder contacts that you have to offer.

Now theres nothing wrong with production reds like you have. I enjoy having mine around. Every time I check the nest boxes there is always at least one production red egg. They probably lay 6 a week. Their eggs got the best in show at the NJ state fair out of 30 entries.... I would keep yours around as layers if I were you.

 

[cmom]

Quote:
I agree. They look to be Production Reds (RIR) descendants of hatchery stock, by the looks. The website is just a name, the birds are not heritage (Pure Standard Rhode Island Reds). Good luck with your birds, have fun and enjoy their eggs. A friend of mine recently purchased some straight run Leghorn hatchery chicks for a university here for their poultry program. The school wanted Leghorns. He asked me for some eggs from my Leghorns to hatch for the university too.

 

[Fred's Hens]

I would love any breeder contacts that you have to offer.

Sent. Check your private messages in a little bit.

 

[redguinea]

Thought I'd share a pic of my Cock who came first at the show. There was about 6 other cocks entered and about 8 cockerals entered.
Couldn't get a pic with his whole body in.

 

[Fred's Hens]

Thought I'd share a pic of my Cock who came first at the show. There was about 6 other cocks entered and about 8 cockerals entered.
Couldn't get a pic with his whole body in.

He is a handsome bird. By the Standard used here in North America, I'd like to see the back longer and perfectly flat. The tail is very nice, however, the Standard here requires it to be much lower and free of red. A very nice male.


.

 

[Fred's Hens]

Four cockerels put up. Three more to go. These bantams need this time to calm down and settle in to being handled. Meanwhile, they can't fight or injure each other, they stay clean and the chances of feather damage is greatly reduced.

 

[cmom]

Four cockerels put up. Three more to go. These bantams need this time to calm down and settle in to being handled. Meanwhile, they can't fight or injure each other, they stay clean and the chances of feather damage is greatly reduced.

That is a nice setup you have there Fred. Just patched a coop roof that "Hermine" blew some of the rolled roofing off of. Going to re-roof all of the coops with metal roofing but until we can get the metal hopefully no more leak. Now it's time to go out and move and band birds. It's still pretty hot here so not looking forward to that but it must be done. My thermometer says 94 and from being up on that roof, it feels like it.

 

[bluebirdnanny]

NJ soil is just rocky clay. Nothing here supports any sort of color in the legs.

I don't know as much as others or how soil affects them but Fred has been here and judged mine.... some are going with him to Indiana and the horn color on legs and leg color is good. My soil is hard pan clay if dry and slimy/suck you under when wet. In woods though is all black boggy type muck like peat bog.

I feed Amish non-GMO layer mash and non-GMO layer grower which I supplement with Black Oil Sunflower and whatever they can gather on my non chemical managed property as they free-range. I know they eat the dogwood berries, fallen apples, gooseberries, raspberries, sour cherries, tiny frogs, peepers, ants and any baby mice or voles they catch as well as the bugs and critters they find.

Only my old layers are loosing the leg/horn color. Granted mine are not PERFECT specimens but they were good this year. Keeping a few hens for breeding and a few of the young cockerels and pullets for myself/Fred all the rest not making the cut to go for sale with Fred are going to feed me. They are still pretty birds and would make good 'backyard flock" birds but NOT for breeding.

 

[Fred's Hens]

Well, Nanny and I banded a bunch together last week at her place. We looked over 4 dozen birds or more and handled everything younger in age. We used a color code system to help her easily spot the birds and for her to grab them up. Nanny has a small disability but she's quick with her cane, now let me tell you.

As she said, we banded her breeders in one color and the sale birds in another. I'll take the sale birds to Indiana with me as they're already spoken for by folks here and elsewhere. Nice, nice birds, indeed.

Other than all those little late hatch juvies in that small pen, if it's not wearing a band @bluebirdnanny 's place now? Well, it's either a layer for eggs or fair game for her to go ahead and put in her freezer, her choice.


Edited to add: Oh, and we don't sell anything that should just be "de-feathered" and made stiff in a freezer bag.

Golden Rule.