The Heritage Rhode Island Red Site

[Chris09]

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.

Are those leg actually White on the Reds and Rhode Island Whites?

Chris

 

[NYREDS]

Went to a show today & sold all of the young Reds I had to sell this year. As I've mentioned before my Reds came from Don Nelson. I guess I've done a good job with them because one of the people who bought birds from me today was Don Nelson. He was down on birds & didn't want to go into the winter with so few.

 

[NYREDS]

I'm newer to this thread and haven't seen much stated about Mr. Underwood's line. I'm assuming when I saw the Illinois line mentioned it referred to Mohawks and not his line. Is anybody able to share any pros and cons on Mr. Underwood's line. I have both SC and RC from his line. Thank you for your time.

Underwood Reds are one of the oldest & most successful line of Reds in the country. The current Mr Underwood took over his father's birds. I've seen them when I've gone to shows in the mid-west & had occasion to talk Reds with the current Mr Underwood. He's a very knowledgable Red breeder. You couldn't go far wrong starting with some of his birds.

 

[cmom]

Quote:
The boy will not be full heritage. There is a post on line breeding. I started out with my heritage boy and bred him originally with some girls I hatched that were supposed to be heritage. Later I got more eggs that were supposed to be from the same heritage line as my boy. I hatched them out and they looked great so I raised them and bred them with my boy and my birds from this breeding look good in my opinion. I am going to show some soon to see how they place and what the judges think and how I can improve my line. I couldn't find the post I was looking for on line breeding but a BYC member posted some, what I thought was very good information and I have been trying to follow the suggestions. I also have Rose Comb Rhode Island Whites, Red Sex Links and Buff Orpingtons.

These birds were from my second set of heritage eggs.


These are the next generation.

 

[catdaddyfro]

Went to a show today & sold all of the young Reds I had to sell this year. As I've mentioned before my Reds came from Don Nelson. I guess I've done a good job with them because one of the people who bought birds from me today was Don Nelson. He was down on birds & didn't want to go into the winter with so few.

I'd pretty much say so, and thumbs up

on a well done job too, evidently, huh? LOL

Glad you sold all that were for sale too. That there's another pretty good indication of success, too.

jeff

 

[Robert Blosl]

I want to ask all the knowledgeable Heritage Red breeders, is there a way to tell if a rooster is full heritage or from a hatchery RIR. Thanks.

From photos we see you can get a good idea if they are the old breed bird or mixed or pure hatchery. You need to look at the beaks of the birds is 75% or more of the beaks dark horn color. Do they have very dark almost black color when you see them or are they kind of rustic or bay colored.

In regards to the Underwood Line Gary has not had them in some time. He had some good birds at one time. I got 5 dozen eggs from him 30 years ago when I lived in Wisconsin and they where very good stock. He told me he goes and helps the lady who bought his birds but I dont know if he does it anymore. I have not seen her winning at any shows or her customers.

When I choose the top strains in the USA I am not just picking the birds but the person who carrries the feed bucket. A few have done it for 20 years. A few more for ten years maybe two. About six or so for five years and about ten for the past two or three years. There is a interesting message written by a very knowldgeable poultry person from Ohio on the other poutlry message board about sharing strains of birds and the fear that some of the beginners will hurt the breeders repertation do to screwing up the line. He feels we still must try to share our birds and try to help these new people becasue you never know who will come along and be a ten year success story. We must try but I think more than anything we must share with you the secrets of breeding for type and color not on just Reds but all breeds of Heritage Large Fowl and Bantams. If you dont have the ideas written down how can you learn. You can not always use the stuff they wrote about in the 1920s as they were just getting the breeds going. They hay day of breeding old fowl was in the 1940s and 50s.

I think if we get you some good birds to play with many of you will up grade to other strains and do very well. At least you will have something to work and learn with.

I still tell the beginners that write me to just worry right now on type and cull for those faults. It takes a lot of skill to learn how to cull for color and you dont want to get rid of a good bird because of some minor color defect.

Hope many of you are lurking will try some this spring. You that have them share them with your beginner friends as you once was trying to get a start. Eggs are going to be difficult but some of you are good at shipping them. Many of the older breeders do not have the extra eggs to send you as they have orders for chicks. Some dont sell eggs or chicks so we just have to snoop around, befor who you order from and make sure they send you pictures.

Looks like we got our North Carolina friend some help with his extra large fowl. Looks like we found some for a few new folks in North Carolina now we got to educate them on how to breed them. Its time also to look at buying some good incubators so these eggs will have a chance to hatch if you get eggs in the mail. Any suggestions on the models to buy for the beginner.

No cheap feed store foam models please.

 

[cmom]

As far an an incubator goes. I have an older Sportsman. I did covert it from wafer to electronic thermostat. Once I set the temperature I never have to worry about it. Also I found if I use a water bucket with a float in the water pan. On top of the water pan I have an old license plate. With the license plate and adjusting the vents on the back of the cabinet I can also keep the humidity constant. I use both wet and dry bulb.

This is my hatchery room.

 

[ChickMagnet207]

What do you guys think of this cockerel?

 

[cmom]

He is a beauty...

 

[NYREDS]

From photos we see you can get a good idea if they are the old breed bird or mixed or pure hatchery. You need to look at the beaks of the birds is 75% or more of the beaks dark horn color. Do they have very dark almost black color when you see them or are they kind of rustic or bay colored.

In regards to the Underwood Line Gary has not had them in some time. He had some good birds at one time. I got 5 dozen eggs from him 30 years ago when I lived in Wisconsin and they where very good stock. He told me he goes and helps the lady who bought his birds but I dont know if he does it anymore. I have not seen her winning at any shows or her customers.

When I choose the top strains in the USA I am not just picking the birds but the person who carrries the feed bucket. A few have done it for 20 years. A few more for ten years maybe two. About six or so for five years and about ten for the past two or three years. There is a interesting message written by a very knowldgeable poultry person from Ohio on the other poutlry message board about sharing strains of birds and the fear that some of the beginners will hurt the breeders repertation do to screwing up the line. He feels we still must try to share our birds and try to help these new people becasue you never know who will come along and be a ten year success story. We must try but I think more than anything we must share with you the secrets of breeding for type and color not on just Reds but all breeds of Heritage Large Fowl and Bantams. If you dont have the ideas written down how can you learn. You can not always use the stuff they wrote about in the 1920s as they were just getting the breeds going. They hay day of breeding old fowl was in the 1940s and 50s.

I think if we get you some good birds to play with many of you will up grade to other strains and do very well. At least you will have something to work and learn with.

I still tell the beginners that write me to just worry right now on type and cull for those faults. It takes a lot of skill to learn how to cull for color and you dont want to get rid of a good bird because of some minor color defect.

Hope many of you are lurking will try some this spring. You that have them share them with your beginner friends as you once was trying to get a start. Eggs are going to be difficult but some of you are good at shipping them. Many of the older breeders do not have the extra eggs to send you as they have orders for chicks. Some dont sell eggs or chicks so we just have to snoop around, befor who you order from and make sure they send you pictures.

Looks like we got our North Carolina friend some help with his extra large fowl. Looks like we found some for a few new folks in North Carolina now we got to educate them on how to breed them. Its time also to look at buying some good incubators so these eggs will have a chance to hatch if you get eggs in the mail. Any suggestions on the models to buy for the beginner.

No cheap feed store foam models please.

Hadn't heard that Gary Underwood didn't have birds anymore. When I read this I did some math & realized it was 10 or 12 years ago that I last talked to him at Columbus. Time flies. That's a shame. It was a great strain of birds.
I know Bob, a lot of people bad mouth those styrofoam incubators but before I bought my cabinet incubators I hatched hundreds of chicks in some of those styro jobs. They take a little more monitoring but if someone is on a limited budget they do work.