Which rooster to keep??

[NatJ]

Do you plan on hatching any of your own chicks? The 'cana roo will give you a lot of fun surprise color chicks

Based on the photos, the Ameraucana probably has the blue gene (changes all black on a chicken into a gray shade.) He should give that to about half of his chicks, assuming he does have it and I'm not being confused by the bright sun in the picture.

Apart from that, the chick colors from either rooster should be about the same. Both of them are showing mostly recessive genes, which means many chicks will look like their mothers (applies to both possible hen flocks.)

 

[Sassafras_Tea]

For either flock of hens: daughters of the Rhode Island Red will lay brown eggs. Daughters of the Ameraucana have a good chance of laying green eggs.

If either you or your friend care about egg color, that may be one way to decide.

I do, but she doesn’t! This helps me a lot! Leaning towards my Ameraucana

 

[Sassafras_Tea]

Based on the photos, the Ameraucana probably has the blue gene (changes all black on a chicken into a gray shade.) He should give that to about half of his chicks, assuming he does have it and I'm not being confused by the bright sun in the picture.

Apart from that, the chick colors from either rooster should be about the same. Both of them are showing mostly recessive genes, which means many chicks will look like their mothers (applies to both possible hen flocks.)

This is very helpful!! As I do want to hatch chicks! The Ameraucana does have a lot of pale gray underneath for sure that started out black

 

[Rock17]

someone I know was attacked by an RIR rooster. Also half of the americana’s daughters will be blue egg layers. The RIR will need lots of hens though. The clear winner is the americana

 

[Rock17]

just read the original post though. 6 hens is not really enough for an RIR maybe you could give them your RIR and two hens that you are willing to part with

 

[NatJ]

This is very helpful!! As I do want to hatch chicks! The Ameraucana does have a lot of pale gray underneath for sure that started out black

"Underneath": do you mean spreading the feathers apart and looking at the fluff near the skin? That can be gray even on some chickens that do not have the Blue gene.

Blue is usually obvious in the big tail feathers, and bits on the feathers around the neck, and places like that. The Rhode Island Red has black feathers that look green when the sun hits them right. The Ameraucana may just be having the same effect, or he may have the Blue gene turning the feathers gray, but I can't be positive in the photo.

Here is a site with some pictures of Blue Wheaten Ameraucanas, including a rooster:
https://www.reinhardtminiranch.com/product-page/blue-black-splash-wheaten-ameraucana

Your rooster is probably not actually Wheaten color, because his breast is red and the breast of a Wheaten rooster is supposed to be black (or blue on a Blue Wheaten.) He is still pretty, no matter what his color is really supposed to be called.

 

[Sassafras_Tea]

When picking a rooster you want the one that is the best behaved. You do not want a human aggressive roo and he should be gentle with the ladies. Both are still pretty young and could go through a personality change. The RIR breed does have a reputation for being aggressive, not saying yours will be but I would take that into consideration.

Do you plan on hatching any of your own chicks? The 'cana roo will give you a lot of fun surprise color chicks, and most of his offspring should lay green eggs.

Overall, you want to choose the one that YOU like best. Which one is more pleasing for you to look at?

I do want to hatch some of my own & my friend doesn’t really care one way or another about coloring of chicks or eggs. Thank you so much! This is very helpful! Chowder is very red but has a lot of pretty gray coloring that doesn’t appear in the photos, he may be a blue wheaten? I’m not sure? But he’s definitely a cool looking bird. He and the RIR are both still very friendly & will eat from my hands and things like that, but are definitely starting to act like teenagers. No aggression towards me as of yet. My older hens (14 of them) so far, pay neither of them any mind really, the transitioning was very smooth and I’m curious about the rooster’s role in the pecking order… all I know is the 2 little roos have definitely started to want to beat the crap out of each other

 

[Sassafras_Tea]

"Underneath": do you mean spreading the feathers apart and looking at the fluff near the skin? That can be gray even on some chickens that do not have the Blue gene.

Blue is usually obvious in the big tail feathers, and bits on the feathers around the neck, and places like that. The Rhode Island Red has black feathers that look green when the sun hits them right. The Ameraucana may just be having the same effect, or he may have the Blue gene turning the feathers gray, but I can't be positive in the photo.

Here is a site with some pictures of Blue Wheaten Ameraucanas, including a rooster:
https://www.reinhardtminiranch.com/product-page/blue-black-splash-wheaten-ameraucana

Your rooster is probably not actually Wheaten color, because his breast is red and the breast of a Wheaten rooster is supposed to be black (or blue on a Blue Wheaten.) He is still pretty, no matter what his color is really supposed to be called.

Here’s some more photos

 

[Sassafras_Tea]

someone I know was attacked by an RIR rooster. Also half of the americana’s daughters will be blue egg layers. The RIR will need lots of hens though. The clear winner is the americana

Thank you!

 

[NatJ]

Here’s some more photos

I think he definitely has blue, especially obvious on the flight feathers of the wings.

So he should give the Blue gene to half of his chicks.