4H is a good start and they teach showmanship. My suggestion would be go go to a poultry show or even observe the exhibits at fairs. A fair is a bit more flexible in their rules compared to a sanctioned poultry show. Usually breeders will bring nice sale birds to the shows to sell. There is...
I would keep the darker one. Here is some of my males for comparison. They appear to be hatchery or more of a Production Red. Their backs should be fairly wide down to their tails and look for the more brick shape and of course the darker red. These are cockerels. One was a champion at a show...
I was off for awhile too. So many new BYC members now and a lot joining every day. Now I usually go online for awhile mostly in the mornings then off to do chores. Good luck...
I still have my Reds. Haven't been showing mostly because most of the shows were cancelled due to covid. I have a lot of birds in my grow-out coops. I think this thread had slowed down a lot and a lot of the people who used to post haven't in quite a long time.
Robert Blosl the fellow who started this thread passed away quite a few years ago. It was a great loss. He taught me a lot about the Reds. Good luck...
https://bloslspoutlryfarm.tripod.com/
http://jimspetsandpoultry.weebly.com/
Here are a couple of my birds. For anyone looking for nice Reds go to a poultry show and often the breeders will bring some nice sale birds.
This female Single Comb Red is an offspring from my originals I got from Matt Ulrich years ago (Reese line). She was a champion. Here she is on champion...
I just put some eggs in from new breeder coops and pens I recently set up. These are RC RIR and SC RIR and RC RIW. My older SC RIR male didn't appear to be doing so well. Quite a few of his have been blanks. A few have hatched so now I'm using the other males to see how these hatches go. I...
100% almost. One chick partially hatched but expired before it completely hatched. Another hatch is due on Tuesday. I'm collecting eggs from some other breeding pens now and will put them in the incubator. I thought another chick was a quitter but early this morning I heard something in the...
The fellow, Robert Blosl who wrote the article, was a BYC member. Sadly he passed away a few years ago. Fine fellow. I got my original birds several years ago from another BYC member Matt Ulrich. He is now the president of the Rhode Island Red Club of America. He is a fine fellow too. You may...
Beware, some people will say they have "Heritage/Mohawk" RIR's but often times not true. I met some people who told me they had Mohawks. When I looked at them they didn't look like true Mohawks to me. I asked them where they got them from and of course they really didn't say except that whoever...
My current hatch is due Tomorrow and Wed. Then I will know what the hatch rate is. I do sell eggs. I want everyone who gets my eggs to have great hatches.