[PippasCubby]

Soooo, I have always wanted to breed show quality chickens. I dabbled a bit in middle school and then had to take a break for highschool, college, grad school, family, new house...you get the picture!

The next obstacle was deciding the breed...my husband had his opinions, I had mine. We finally found the perfect match with the Rose Comb Rhode Island Red.

It was no easy feat finding a breeder, but I finally found some...aaaaaaalllll the way across the country. Finally, this spring, I had 15 chicks shipped from Pennsylvania to Washington. Here are some of them at ~6 months!!! I am super excited to start my breeding program with these!

They also have a new coop in progress!

 

[goat girls]

Fun! something to keep in mind. Rhode island Red's are not very cold hardy

 

[PippasCubby]

Rhode island Red's are not very cold hardy

Fortunately for me, this is not true. They are well known for their hardiness and adaptability. Here are a couple sources where you can learn a bit more about them.

https://www.motherearthnews.com/hom...kens/rhode-island-red-heritage-poultry-zeylaf

https://livestockconservancy.org/index.php/heritage/internal/rired

 

[Serenity Woods]

Handsome birds!

 

[ksalvagno]

Very nice!

 

[wifeof1]

Lucky you and the chickens.

 

[Suzanne_Tyler]

Nice!

 

[Goat_Scout]

They are beautiful! And what a nice, large coop that's going to be!

 

[PippasCubby]

Thank you all! I knew many of you would understand ;-). I have gotten a few (ok, a lot) of odd looks when I express my excitement about them to non-chicken/livestock people!

 

[New-goat-mom]

Oh how exiting! That is something I have always dreamed of doing! Congratulations! They are absolutely beautiful!

 

[SalteyLove]

They are gorgeous! I just love true RIR although I admit that I did not know there was a rose-comb variety. For no good reason, it drives me batty when people call production reds RIR - they are a COMPLETELY different (and quite less pretty) bird. I had a trio of RIR hens several years ago in very rough housing with a few goats and they fared very well during the winter. During the summer, they were the BEST foragers of all the breeds often venturing into the small wetlands near their pen to come out with small frogs and snakes.

 

[Lstein]

Congrats, they are very nice looking birds.

I'm a Buff Brahma lover, but have had RIR in the past, very good layers.

 

[PippasCubby]

Thank you! I am glad to hear others like them and had good luck with them. And that others understand my excitement.

The SCRIR was admitted to the Standard in 1904, and the RC in 1905 (I've been brushing up on my standard of perfection ;-) ) I have a thing for rose-combs so I took the extra effort to find them. Besides that, I share/sell stock (my non-terminal culls) with my mom, and she needs the extra cold tolerant birds and rose comb birds have that little extra advantage.

I explain production/hatchery type birds vs. breed standard type birds to quite a few people. Very few even have a clue about the disparity.

These are my starter birds, so we'll see what direction I can take them. They are slow maturing too, so it'll be a nice slow process...and I get eggs in the mean time!

 

[Lstein]

Thank you! I am glad to hear others like them and had good luck with them. And that others understand my excitement.

The SCRIR was admitted to the Standard in 1904, and the RC in 1905 (I've been brushing up on my standard of perfection ;-) ) I have a thing for rose-combs so I took the extra effort to find them. Besides that, I share/sell stock (my non-terminal culls) with my mom, and she needs the extra cold tolerant birds and rose comb birds have that little extra advantage.

I explain production/hatchery type birds vs. breed standard type birds to quite a few people. Very few even have a clue about the disparity.

These are my starter birds, so we'll see what direction I can take them. They are slow maturing too, so it'll be a nice slow process...and I get eggs in the mean time!

That's why I like my brahmas, very cold tolerant. The one thing I greatly disklike is how long it takes them to start laying. I still haven't had an egg from them and they were april babies. But it also has been miserably cold and I didn't do the extended light schedule thing this year.

I had tried the breeding my own from quality breeder stock but for one reason of another (mostly predators, limited shows...1, and just many in ND really grasping that hatchery/SQ concept.) it hasn't worked out. So mine are hatchery birds, and there's only about 5 that I would consider hatching from. My long term plan is to just keep hatching from my best stock. (unless I stumble upon some other birds and time)

I'm thinking of adding a few other breeds (columbian wyandottes, speckled sussex, and a couple red stars/production reds), just to get eggs mostly. Also to take a break from hatching my own, all the extra headaches of separating birds, buying hatching eggs, etc. Too much on my plate this year. Even a bit hesitant on getting chicks this year. ( I know I'll crack and have to get some, but trying to stay strong!)

Someday I hope to get back into having some quality stock!

 

[toth boer goats]

Nice.

 

[PippasCubby]

That's why I like my brahmas, very cold tolerant. The one thing I greatly disklike is how long it takes them to start laying. I still haven't had an egg from them and they were april babies. But it also has been miserably cold and I didn't do the extended light schedule thing this year.

I had tried the breeding my own from quality breeder stock but for one reason of another (mostly predators, limited shows...1, and just many in ND really grasping that hatchery/SQ concept.) it hasn't worked out. So mine are hatchery birds, and there's only about 5 that I would consider hatching from. My long term plan is to just keep hatching from my best stock. (unless I stumble upon some other birds and time)

I'm thinking of adding a few other breeds (columbian wyandottes, speckled sussex, and a couple red stars/production reds), just to get eggs mostly. Also to take a break from hatching my own, all the extra headaches of separating birds, buying hatching eggs, etc. Too much on my plate this year. Even a bit hesitant on getting chicks this year. ( I know I'll crack and have to get some, but trying to stay strong!)

Someday I hope to get back into having some quality stock!

Brahmas are such a cool chicken too. Do you have pictures of yours? It sounds like you have quite the road ahead of you, but it has to be rewarding as you see progress. Your other 'liked breeds' were on our short list, but just didn't make the cut. I like to keep green egg layers around so supplement the slower laying...they're usually good layers and I like the green eggs!

 

[Kaigypsygoats]

I've only seen the production reds which I've avoid due to their aggressive behavior. Yours are beautiful! Good luck in showing them. Since my gals will be strictly inside, I have chosen my flock based on my experience with various breeds. The only newbie will be the brown leghorn as I've always had brown egg layers except the easter eggers.
We haven't started on our coop yet but the order of wood should be arriving this week.
Most fun chicken I had was a Delaware named Deliah who, quit laying exactly at 2 years, grew mini spurs and started to crow.
Most interesting was my Dark Cornish, Daisy(I think), who despite being a meat like chicken, laid pretty good. Got HUGE though.

 

[Kath G.]

Most fun chicken I had was a Delaware named Deliah who, quit laying exactly at 2 years, grew mini spurs and started to crow

This is caused by a hormonal imbalance, often sourcing from an infection by the ovaries... often the hen returns to more typical hen appearance and laying once the infection clears up & heals. Male plumage, crowing, spurs, the whole nine yards is apparently the outcome when their hormones are out of whack!

 

[Kaigypsygoats]

This is caused by a hormonal imbalance, often sourcing from an infection by the ovaries... often the hen returns to more typical hen appearance and laying once the infection clears up & heals. Male plumage, crowing, spurs, the whole nine yards is apparently the outcome when their hormones are out of whack!

She never did and up until I sold her to the day she died with that neighbor, she didn't stop mini-crowing. It was funny to hear her sometimes.

 

[PippasCubby]

I've only seen the production reds which I've avoid due to their aggressive behavior. Yours are beautiful! Good luck in showing them. Since my gals will be strictly inside, I have chosen my flock based on my experience with various breeds. The only newbie will be the brown leghorn as I've always had brown egg layers except the easter eggers.
We haven't started on our coop yet but the order of wood should be arriving this week.
Most fun chicken I had was a Delaware named Deliah who, quit laying exactly at 2 years, grew mini spurs and started to crow.
Most interesting was my Dark Cornish, Daisy(I think), who despite being a meat like chicken, laid pretty good. Got HUGE though.

These birds are pretty laid back so far. I haven't been able to spend a lot of time with them, but they aren't skittish around me at all.

I have had a couple hens who crow...but they also lay...maybe they just have a little more testosterone than the others ;-)