Photo - Source: Unknown
When I was young, I was enamored with Rhode Island Reds - I wanted a nice trio of show quality - not hatchery barnyard stock - but true, deep red coloured, exhibition quality Rhode Island Reds. Well, the closest I got to having that was drooling over show pictures and advertisements in my father's Feather Fanciers.
True Rhode Island Reds were scarce in Western Canada at that time and although hatcheries were always claiming to have them, the birds they offered were no where near the colour nor the shape of what I had read and heard to be the standard.
(www.featherfancier.on.ca)
True Rhode Island Reds were scarce in Western Canada at that time and although hatcheries were always claiming to have them, the birds they offered were no where near the colour nor the shape of what I had read and heard to be the standard.
Single Comb Rhode Island Red Rooster
Photo Source: http://propercourse.blogspot.com
The Rhode Island Red is probably America's best known breed of chicken, some even believe that it is the best known chicken breed in the world. What other breed can claim two monuments as well as a movie star? In the animated film Chicken Run, the character of Rocky is supposedly a Rhode Island Red rooster.
Rhode Island Reds were originally developed in the farming communities of Massachusetts and Rhode Island around Little Compton near Buzzard’s Bay and Narragansett Bay in the 1880's and 1890's. Adamsville, Rhode Island, has staked the claim as being the birthplace of this well-known bird and a monument commemorating its significance is found in the city.
In fact, very nearby, just a couple miles away, there is another monument to the Rhode Island Red, this one honouring its importance to America’s farming history.
THE RHODE ISLAND RED
TO COMMEMORATE THE BIRTHPLACE OF THERHODE ISLAND RED BREEDING FOWL WHICHWAS ORIGINATED NEAR THIS LOCATION.
RED FOWLS WERE BRED EXTENSIVELY BYTHE FARMERS OF THIS DISTRICT AND LATERNAMED 'RHODE ISLAND REDS' AND BROUGHT INTONATIONAL PROMINENCE BY THE POULTRY FANCIERS.
THIS TABLET IS PLACED BY THERHODE ISLAND RED CLUB OF AMERICAWITH CONTRIBUTIONS OF RHODE ISLAND REDBREEDERS THROUGHOUT THE WORLDON LAND DONATED BYDEBORAH T. MANCHESTER.
1925
Rhode Island Red Group - Photo Source: www.chasanbassets.com
The Rhode Island Red was bred with the intention that it would be a good dual-purpose fowl, early layers with a high year-round egg yield and being a bird that could dress out nicely as a delicious family farm table bird. The Rhode Island Red resulted from a series of poultry experiments undertaken in 1854 by Captain William Tripp of Little Compton and another fellow named John Macomber. First they crossed Malay
and Java cocks
with Chinese Cochin hens.
The offspring were then crossed with Light Brahmas
Plymouth Rocks
and Brown Leghorns.
Other farmers then became involved in the project upon seeing the beautiful dark red birds, the deep red colour supposedly a result of the Malay blood. Due to the aforementioned mélange of breeds in its ancestry, the original birds were found in single-combed, rose-combed and pea-combed varieties, with the latter being quickly bred out.
and Java cocks
with Chinese Cochin hens.
The offspring were then crossed with Light Brahmas
Plymouth Rocks
and Brown Leghorns.
Other farmers then became involved in the project upon seeing the beautiful dark red birds, the deep red colour supposedly a result of the Malay blood. Due to the aforementioned mélange of breeds in its ancestry, the original birds were found in single-combed, rose-combed and pea-combed varieties, with the latter being quickly bred out.
Rose Comb Rooster - Photo Source www.kippenencyclopedie.nl
The Rhode Island Red was recognized as a legitimate breed at the Providence poultry show in 1895, and was first seen to be advertised in poultry journals in 1896. The popularity of these birds was such that Europe was enjoying the pleasures of the breed even before it received official recognition from the American Poultry Association.
Photo Source: Unknown
The single combed variety was admitted to the Standard of Perfection in 1904 and the rose combed variety a year later. The old adage, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it would most certainly be deemed applicable to the Rhode Island Red. Since the 1940's, selective breeding for more “efficiency of egg production” has actually seen the breed get smaller (by as much as a pound) and of a lighter orange-red colour. As well, the distinct shape characteristic of its horizontal, rectangular body has been changed somewhat. They have also become less broody. All of this has contributed to its changing status from a good family farm bird to a good commercial brown-egg laying variety.
Hatchery Quality sold as "Rhode Island Reds"
Hatchery Quality sold as "Rhode Island Reds"
Hatchery Quality sold as "Rhode Island Reds"
True "Dark Red" coloured Rhode Island Red
“In 1954, a state bird election was sponsored by the Audubon Society of Rhode Island, the Rhode Island Federation of Garden Clubs, and the Providence Journal Company. The Rhode Island Red beat out its closest competitors, the osprey and ruby-throated hummingbird, and became Rhode Island's official state bird at noon on May 3, 1954. "The Rhode Island Red," Governor Dennis J. Roberts said, upon signing the bill into law, "has become a symbol of Rhode Islanders all over the world." – Quahog.org
Photo Source: Pure Poultry, U.K.
Rhode Island Reds are available as both Standard and Bantam fowl.
A very good article on the Colouring of Rhode Island Reds can be found at:
http://www.aviculture-europe.nl/nummers/07E05A04.pdf
where can i get some real RIR chicks? I want ones that have a true blood line and also go broody.
ReplyDeleteDid you ever find out where you could find these RIRs and if would you let me know. Thanks David
DeleteWoah. Thank you for this comprehensive article. Fascinating. While my RIR, Daisy, does have rich mahogany color and black tail tips, she has no irrdescence, and holds her tail high. Wonderful to see the honest-to-goodness breed, and sad to see the birds that pass as RIR these days.
ReplyDelete