The Heritage Rhode Island Red Site

[Robert Blosl]

Sounds like Mr. Bennett wants to get back being a breeder and stop being a hatchery man so he won't be selling chicks like he has done in the past. With all the people who bought them where are they now?
The fellow in North Carolina that got 50 chicks from him a while back is your best source so I have sent him a private message and hope he contacts me. I lost contact with him by email as our computer lost allot of data after we put Windows 7 in it and all the emails where lost.
If this does not work out you will have to wait till spring when folks can share eggs or chicks with you from this board. There just is not enough good breeders left in the USA to supply the demands of the beginner on this board. Some of you do not plan to show your birds or even breed them to a standard so it's not necessary to get them from a guy like me who only hatches a few chicks per year and only has maybe five to eight females. Like I told you before to be a big supplier of eggs or chicks people put ten to fifteen female in a pen with two to three males and flock mate them. This is how you get high fertility. That's all right for people who want to have the breed and do not plan to breed them or maintain them. Most of these people will be out of these dark Heritage Chickens anyway in three to five years. Why they like to play with different breeds. They say they want to help preserve a old breed but they just don't stick with it. Will be waiting to hear from him and will let you know what we find out.
Again where are the people who suppose to purchase eggs and chicks form people like Greg Chamness, Mr. Bennett in Georgia, Lloyd Flanagan in Texas, Mr. New York Reds in New York , Don Nelson and Mr. Radamaker in Minn. These rookies or beginners are the folks that have excess birds right now and can also help supply the beginner with a start. Unless you are going to be a big time breeder and show them there is no need to pester these folks as they are not able to supply the demands of a commercial type operation. Look forward to your replies.

 

[cmom]

In November I will be showing some of my Rose Comb Rhode Island Whites and some of my Heritage Rhode Island Reds at a local show and if they place pretty well take them in January to the Florida Sunshine Classic in Lake City, FL. I am anxious to see how they place. I have been working on them for nearly 3 years now.

 

[melroseladi]

I am looking forward to seeing you and your birds in Lake City!!!!

 

[Pidgey104]

My reds have just got out of molt. Got my first eggs from them in the bator. . Hoping for a good hatch rate. I will be looking to buy another rooster

 

[cmom]

My reds have just got out of molt. Got my first eggs from them in the bator. . Hoping for a good hatch rate. I will be looking to buy another rooster

I just recently sold some nice looking boys. These are Rose Comb Rhode Island Whites and youngsters from
my Heritage Rhode Island Reds. I have been picking out the better shaped birds for breeding. Once I get the
shapes right I will concentrate more on the coloring.
Here is one of them. This picture was taken a couple of months ago.

 

[grsday]

I've been around chickens or raised chickens for most of my life. About a year ago we read an article on how a lot of the heritage breeds have become endangered or extinct. Because of that article we have spent a full year doing research on the different heritage breeds and have been working on culling out any birds that we had that were not a heritage breed or worth breeding. We also have spent that year building new pens and trying to make everything perfect for breeding and maintaining good quality, healthy heritage birds.

We finally came down to deciding that there were two breeds that we really wanted to work with. The heritage RIR and the true rumpless Aracauna's. In deciding this we also decided to do some research on breeders and trying to find birds that are true to standard. We do not wish to raise a bird simply because it is designated as heritage, we want to make sure it is true to standard. I do not see any reason to raise the Heritage RIR if you are not going to keep them to standard.

Absolutely we would love to be able to show our birds, but I would not want to show a bird that is anything but standard and an image of what a true RIR should be. We want to achieve a standard where people would want to come to us and know that they are getting good quality birds or hatching eggs. We are not trying to get rich here, we just love the birds and want to be able to share our love with others. We want to be able to pass on a piece of history to the next generation. In that, we are well on our way. Our grandchildren and our great nieces and nephews are already learning about chickens from us. Some of them already have such a love for the birds that the first thing they want to do when they visit is go see the chickens. Just as I did when I was a little girl on the farm I grew up on.

As for beginners on this board, I am one as far as posting. However, I have been reading this board for close to a year now trying to absorb and learn all that I can from those of you who have way more knowledge on the RIR than I do. Especially Bob. I have been adamantly following his posts and reading his website. He is a true wealth of information. I am thankful to all of you for your posts and pictures it has really only increased my desire to work with these birds.

Our next step is to actually acquire some healthy, good quality Heritage RIR's.

 

[cmom]

Thanks, for the info Bob.

 

[NYREDS]

I've been around chickens or raised chickens for most of my life. About a year ago we read an article on how a lot of the heritage breeds have become endangered or extinct. Because of that article we have spent a full year doing research on the different heritage breeds and have been working on culling out any birds that we had that were not a heritage breed or worth breeding. We also have spent that year building new pens and trying to make everything perfect for breeding and maintaining good quality, healthy heritage birds.

We finally came down to deciding that there were two breeds that we really wanted to work with. The heritage RIR and the true rumpless Aracauna's. In deciding this we also decided to do some research on breeders and trying to find birds that are true to standard. We do not wish to raise a bird simply because it is designated as heritage, we want to make sure it is true to standard. I do not see any reason to raise the Heritage RIR if you are not going to keep them to standard.

Absolutely we would love to be able to show our birds, but I would not want to show a bird that is anything but standard and an image of what a true RIR should be. We want to achieve a standard where people would want to come to us and know that they are getting good quality birds or hatching eggs. We are not trying to get rich here, we just love the birds and want to be able to share our love with others. We want to be able to pass on a piece of history to the next generation. In that, we are well on our way. Our grandchildren and our great nieces and nephews are already learning about chickens from us. Some of them already have such a love for the birds that the first thing they want to do when they visit is go see the chickens. Just as I did when I was a little girl on the farm I grew up on.

As for beginners on this board, I am one as far as posting. However, I have been reading this board for close to a year now trying to absorb and learn all that I can from those of you who have way more knowledge on the RIR than I do. Especially Bob. I have been adamantly following his posts and reading his website. He is a true wealth of information. I am thankful to all of you for your posts and pictures it has really only increased my desire to work with these birds.

Our next step is to actually acquire some healthy, good quality Heritage RIR's.

Where are you located. We might be able to point you to a breeder close to you.

 

[henpeckedmuch]

Dragon ox Weasel
I have sent you a pm I live in Wilmington NC. I have some trios to give you a start. They are from the Rademacker line. Also, know of someone that may have some from another excellent line. He doesn't want to sell until around Dec. The birds that I'm talking about here are all of excellent type from quaility Heritage RIR blood lines, and will make good breeders to start with.
We both only have a very limited number of birds at this time. email [email protected]

 

[puglady]

Sounds like Mr. Bennett wants to get back being a breeder and stop being a hatchery man so he won't be selling chicks like he has done in the past. With all the people who bought them where are they now?
The fellow in North Carolina that got 50 chicks from him a while back is your best source so I have sent him a private message and hope he contacts me. I lost contact with him by email as our computer lost allot of data after we put Windows 7 in it and all the emails where lost.
If this does not work out you will have to wait till spring when folks can share eggs or chicks with you from this board. There just is not enough good breeders left in the USA to supply the demands of the beginner on this board. Some of you do not plan to show your birds or even breed them to a standard so it's not necessary to get them from a guy like me who only hatches a few chicks per year and only has maybe five to eight females. Like I told you before to be a big supplier of eggs or chicks people put ten to fifteen female in a pen with two to three males and flock mate them. This is how you get high fertility. That's all right for people who want to have the breed and do not plan to breed them or maintain them. Most of these people will be out of these dark Heritage Chickens anyway in three to five years. Why they like to play with different breeds. They say they want to help preserve a old breed but they just don't stick with it. Will be waiting to hear from him and will let you know what we find out.
Again where are the people who suppose to purchase eggs and chicks form people like Greg Chamness, Mr. Bennett in Georgia, Lloyd Flanagan in Texas, Mr. New York Reds in New York , Don Nelson and Mr. Radamaker in Minn. These rookies or beginners are the folks that have excess birds right now and can also help supply the beginner with a start. Unless you are going to be a big time breeder and show them there is no need to pester these folks as they are not able to supply the demands of a commercial type operation. Look forward to your replies.

Hi everyone. I've been lurking on this thread for quite some time and am also attempting to find some quality heritage RI Reds. While I almost want to hang my head and go away at the above post regarding newbies to the heritage breed I'm going to plow ahead. I very much respect your opinion and have learned quite a bit from your posts. I hope to prove that I am not one of the ones that will just go away in 3-5 years time, after all even the best known breeders were newbies at some point.
Currently I keep two separate flocks. I have hatchery sexed pullets that I get my eating eggs from. These have been tested and banded. With these I also raise hatchery sexed pullets to sell to folks here at swaps on the weekends who want them for eggs/pets. I also have a young flock of Cream Legbars (rare breed). The hatchery stock helps suppliment my income a little bit and helped me purchase my CLs. I believe in acquiring the best starting stock you can get and purchased these from GFF directly. I am attempting to cull and breed the CLs to British standards as there are currently no "standards" for these here. My flocks are kept completely separate, as the RI Reds would be, to avoid any mating errors.
In my attempt to acquire some quality RI Red breeding stock I went to the Deerfield fair yesterday and came away disappointed. When speaking with the staff and judges it was their opinion that the reds there were hatchery stock or not far from it. They recommended I didn't purchase these if I was looking for quality stock to begin my flock with. The birds were not blocky, their color was much lighter than heritage. I'll be going to the Topsfield fair next week and NH Poultry Fanciers mid October. The judges recommended that I go to the Poultry Fanciers show as breeders would have better quality birds there. I'm holding out hope that I might find some however am not too optimistic. I do plan to breed them to standard and eventually show them. I'd love to breed rose combs as the winters here get very cold. Currently I have a couple of emails out to breeders referenced on this site. I understand that there may be a waiting list but am hopeful I'll get a reply shortly and be able to begin this new journey soon.