The Heritage Rhode Island Red Site

[tenstrike123]

I just found this site and love it. Rhode Island Red are the best breed of chickens that I have ever had.
I am very fortunate to have met Gary Underwood and to be able to obtain his line of Reds. Since we only live 30 minutes from each other he has helped me set up my breeding pens every year. We sit down and discuss the birds and say why we like this one to go with that one. Of course Gary is the one with all the knowlege. I am learning!!

I have been showing poultry all my life, I started in 4-H. I never got into the Rhod Island Reds until I took in a Rescued Hen. Henna was found in downtown Rockford. She had the most personality that I have ever seen in a chicken. She really inspired me. I then had to get her a boyfriend- She never really liked him though. After Henna was gone I continued with the Reds but never achieved what I wanted to breed. I then Met Gary while at a show in Warren, IL. I was fortuate enough to get some of his birds. I sold all my Rhode Island's that I had and have not had another Rhode Island Red on my place except for the Underwood lines. I truely believe that to get consistency in your birds you need to line breed and not bring in different lines. It only messes things up. Every chick is toe punched according to their breeding pen and kept track of. In the Fall we look them overand decide who will be paired with who.

 

[Chris09]

Quote:
Only if Rose Comb has been breed in to them.
If you are getting Rose Comb out of your Single Comb birds that would mean that rooster and your hen at one time had Rose Comb breed into them at one time, not all that uncommon .

Chris


I'm not to knowledgeable on the Underwood line but I know it is a good line.

I myself have crossed a very "strong" single comb R.I. Red rooster over 3 rose comb hens about 5 or 6 years ago and every once in a wile I will get a single comb pop up out of my rose comb line and vice versa with my single come line and I haven't crossed comb types in 5 or 6 years.

This Single Comb rooster is out of Rose Comb parents and is now in one of my Single breeding pens.

Chris

 

[tenstrike123]

I have crossed Rose combs into my Single combs (all are 100% Underwood lines of course). I gotsome of each type of comb but If I then take a chick that came out Single cob I have NEVER gotten a Rosecobs back out of it unless I cross it with another Rose comb bird. Rose cobs are recessive and you need at least 1 Rose comb parent to produce a rose comb. That is How Gary explained it to me.

 

[Chris09]

Quote:
If you breed pure Rose Comb to pure Single Comb all offspring will/should be Rose Comb.
I you cross either of the offspring back to the opposite comb type then you will get a "mixture" of both Single and Rose Combs. (Both comb types will suffer greatly from the cross)


Chris

 

[western edge]

Quote:
If you breed pure Rose Comb to pure Single Comb all offspring will/should be Rose Comb.
I you cross either of the offspring back to the opposite comb type then you will get a "mixture" of both Single and Rose Combs. (Both comb types will suffer greatly from the cross)


Chris

so your saying in the first cross the comb type wont be affected(and the offspring will all be rose comb) and as long as they are bred back to rose comb, comb type should be pretty consistent? In your opinion Chris, is this an ok way of adding new blood or would you recommend staying with the same comb type?

 

[denniselk]

Quote:
You cant get a RC bird out of SC parents. SC is recessive to both RC and PC. If you are getting RC offspring that means that either something RC is getting in your pens or you might have a mis marked egg.

I only have RIR and White Leghorns
Brown eggs in incubator and white eggs in frying pan

 

[Chris09]

Quote:
If741 0you breed pure Rose Comb to pure Single Comb all offspring will/should be Rose Comb.152
0I you cross either of the offspring back to the opposite comb type n you will get a "mixture" of both Single and Rose Combs. (Both comb types will suffer greatly from the cross)


Chris

so your saying in the first cross the comb type wont be affected(and the offspring will all be rose comb) and as long as they are bred back to rose comb, comb type should be pretty consistent? In your opinion Chris, is this an ok way of adding new blood or would you recommend staying with the same comb type?

If you are crossing pure Rose Comb to pure Single Comb all offspring will/should be Rose Comb offspring with little to no affect to the comb. (if they are pure)
Now if you cross the F1 crosses that are Rose Comb back to a pure Rose Comb (with good comb type) you should not have any problem with the comb type.
Now keep in mind that if you breed a Rose Comb (that has Single Comb in it's background) to another Rose Comb (that has Single Comb in it's background) you will have a chance of getting Single Comb.

is this an ok way of adding new blood or would you recommend staying with the same comb type

It would depend on the breed and the breeder, but in most cases (8 out of 10 cases) I would not recommend crossing comb types and would recommend staying within comb types.
Even though Rose Comb is "dominant" over Single Comb, breeding to a Single Comb can kill a good Rose Comb by reducing the amount of point, removing the spike, adding hollow centers and narrowing the width of the comb.

Chris​

 

[western edge]

I have a year old group of rose combs from Adrian Rademacher that I plan to work with. what I plan to do is to introduce new blood, tearing them down I guess, and rebuilding my own line eventually. I also have a very nice line of RIR sc therefore the questions. Good rose combs are kinda hard to come by, especially where Im located. I will just have to be patient and work on getting a few from Duane Urch. I may go as far as trying shipped hatching eggs again. Thanks for the advise Chris.

 

[Chris09]

Quote:
If you the time and the will what you could do is,
Take your best Rose Comb Rooster (that has a very good comb) and put him over a Single Comb Hen and work off that pair, line breeding and marking every chick so that you know that there out of the RC/SC cross. (you will have to keep a eye on combs and cull heavy for poor comb)

Chris

 

[Jake Levi]

I am doing basically the same thing, replacing my hatchery production reds with some RC RIRs from Duane Urch and next year looking for a trio or so from Gary Underwood to develop apart, I want to work with Duanes closely for a year or so, I will just be keeping a couple of roos of this years.