There's no way these are all RIR Pullets

[Rin]

At the local feed store here they had sexed RIR Hens from Ideal and some seemed differently coloured/patterned but they assured me these were all RIR pullets. I shop there all the time and they are a family business - plus they correct any inaccuracies when genders are wrong as well anyway. I purchased five and now almost a month has passed and I'm still questioning the gender of one of the clearly RIR's as well as the RIR-ness of two others.

To show how drastically different their body shapes and feathering are.
I also suspect this one to be a roo based on how slowly he is feathering.

Chick A also seems to have feather colours like they'll become buff/buff laced? (maybe a buff wyandotte?)
Here you can see Chick B as well and their partridge-looks.

Comparing Chick B's feather banding to one of the RIR's

Comparing body type of RIR to Chick B, they are very similar in personality and shape and posses that same "slightly burnt" beak look.
You can also see better the banding and how the feathers tip white.

I don't really care so much trying to identify the gender of that RIR. Even if I suspect it right now based on his feathering out much slower than the other two RIRs - its harder to prove to the owners of the store unless he's crowing. I will say though I'm farrr more certain these two unidentifiable breeds are roosters - I think they were fillers from Ideal. Question is what of though. I might keep one of them anyway if it's a breed I wanted ...

Speckled sussseeeeexxxx

 

[Rocky Road]

They look just like my EE's did when they were chicks . . . .

 

[Rin]

Quote:
Blech. guess I'll be taking them back then. I want nice meatie dual purpose birds not egg machines.

I was hoping the chipmunk was a speckled sussex but meh. Guess was hoping too much.

 

[sunny & the 5 egg layers]

Chick B appears to be a speckled sussex to me. It doesnt look like an Easter Egger at all to me. There arent any muffs and the legs arent green. The coloring of her feathers coming in scream sussex to me. And she looks like a pullet.

The RIR's all look like pullets to me. There isn't anything about them that scream cockerel. Only time will tell for sure but as of right now all are looking like girls.

I am not sure of the breed of chick A. But if I had to guess, maybe a production red? And I am not sure on gender of this one since s/he is feathering in so slowly. I don't want to say roo yet. But I dont want to say pullet either.

You will have to play the waiting game on this one.

 

[SunnyChic]

If chick B has pinkish white legs, it's probably a speckled Sussex.

 

[WhiteMountainsRanch]

Honestly NONE of them look like Rhode Island Reds. You may have some Production Reds, Easter Eggers, and maybe something else. Nothing is screaming rooster to me. However, I must say that you will NOT get a

I want nice meatie dual purpose birds not egg machines

from a Hatchery. Even if you DO get REAL RIR's from a hatchery they will not be meaty. Hatcheries do not follow the breeds Standard Of Perfection, they mass produce them for egg laying. 99% of any "RIR" you will get from a hatchery will be a Production Red anyway. If you want a true Dual Purpose chicken you will need to get them from a breeder, otherwise you will be sorely disappointed. Sorry!​

 

[Rin]

Quote:
from a Hatchery. Even if you DO get REAL RIR's from a hatchery they will not be meaty. Hatcheries do not follow the breeds Standard Of Perfection, they mass produce them for egg laying. 99% of any "RIR" you will get from a hatchery will be a Production Red anyway. If you want a true Dual Purpose chicken you will need to get them from a breeder, otherwise you will be sorely disappointed. Sorry!

I wasn't asking for generic bolded preechy breeder talk and that is why I was hesitant to even post any more on this forum since everyone seems to have a high horse with hatchery stock. Ideal has had some wonderful stock and frankly I've compared their D'uccles to actual "Show quality breeder" chicks I've raised side by side in separate cages right next to each other with SAME EXACT results except hatchery stock seems more skiddish and less willing to be handled until much older. No one would pay me more for one of those "SQ" chickens vs a "hatchery" one here locally because the visible quality is exact - same comb, same mottling, same posture, same feet, legs, and claws, same bearding and muffing. I still got a few cullable oddballs on both ends that weren't good representatives but the statistics were the same and I've since raised more D'uccles from other "SQ Breeders" abroad and still got the same exact bird the hatchery gave me.

I've also looked at the RIRs Ideal provides full grown first hand as they are very popular here and they are exactly what I want. Good laying of brown eggs and nice big meatie birds - even moreso if I cross breed them as I intend for meat purposes (hatch, raise and eat their offspring - sell the excess eggs of the parents) - they perfectly fit what I need. I've also seen Ideals Easter eggers first hand - even raised a few and they are NOT what I want. Hence my remark. They were all feather and no substance compared to their RIRs.

And if you're going to be rude don't apologize about it in the same breath. Either be on your ranting high horse with conviction or don't be on it at all. An insincere "sorry" doesn't make your opinion any more valid in the eyes of other people. It just makes you look like a tool.

and everyone else; good to hear since the chicks legs are in fact pinkish and not even yellowy yet. I don't even mind if it is a roo since I'm wanting a SS roo to head this flock ultimately. The yellow ones growing so incredibly slow I figured I wasn't going to have a need for them one way or the other. When they were smaller they were yellow with orange "tips" to their feathers making them look like the colours of an orange rose only very pale.

 

[WhiteMountainsRanch]

I meant that in the nicest way possible, I assumed you didn't know they weren't Rhode Island Reds since none of the pictures you posted even look like Rhode Island Reds, and in your first post you seemed very confused.

If you like Ideals hatchery then you could just order some pullets directly from them and skip the confusion of the feed-store.

Sorry if I offended you I was trying to help!

Good luck.

 

[Rin]

Quote:
The feed store orders them on request. I requested RIR's. It's cheaper than ordering my own when I only wanted a few for this particular flock. Your post was not helpful. It was just rude and being "My chickens are better than your chickens because mine came from a breeder". Most who see them would say RIR in a heartbeat - few would nitpick about the quality of what RIR that is. I wasn't asking about them for that reason.

I was told my D'uccles looked like columbian crosses on here too when I wasn't asking. They weren't according to the local 4h and shows here

So.. yeah.

 

[Judy]

Quote:
I have a flock like this which includes EE's. Mine are fair layers but not great, and are perfectly good DP eating birds, or at least we thought so.