38 



duce birds approaching the Standard ideal and flocks that 

 show an average yearly improvement. 



F. E. Harrison, Michigan 

 The mating of R. I. Reds is a study that has given their 

 admirers a task that is anything but "mere boy's play." 

 Naturally the first thing that the amateur does when begin- 

 ning to breed Reds, or any other breed of poultry for that 

 matter, is to get the Standard and use it as his guide. It is 

 the correct thing to do, but the Red Standard to the inexper- 

 ienced breeder has its disadvantages as well as its advantages. 

 The Standard calls for the primaries and flights of both 

 sexes to be evenly laced with black and for a black tail and 

 slight ticking in the neck of the female, but no black in the 

 neck of the male and no slate or smut in the under-color of 

 either sex. To get the black in a R. I. Red where it should 

 be without any slate or smut 

 showing in the under-color is 

 a difficult task and one that 

 forces you to go against the 

 laws of nature. "When we 

 eliminate the smut and slate, 

 the sections that should 

 have black have no dark 

 under-color to feed on, mak- 

 ing it most difficult to obtain 

 the desired results. Person- 

 ally I do not object to slate 

 in a well-shaped female if 

 she has a good comb and is 

 good in her black points. 1 

 mate her with a male that 

 has good rich under-color. 

 The best results I have ever 

 obtained came from a union 

 of this kind. I have seen 

 breeders cast out some very 

 good females that had smut, 

 while the birds that took 

 their places in the yards 

 were, in my judgment, of 

 less value as breeders than 

 the condemned birds. The 

 average birds have a tend- 

 ency to run to dark color 

 in both male and female. 

 One should never use dark 

 chocolate colored birds or 

 dull dark brown ones. I 

 have seen pens of buff fe- 

 males mated with a dark 

 red male, which is also a 

 serious mistake. 



Avoid extremes in color and have the male a bright, 

 brilliant red, not too dark, and select one that harmonizes in 

 allj sections. The females should match the male's breast 

 in color as nearly as possible and the result will be more 

 satisfactory than if dark smoky Reds were used or the breeder 

 resorted to extremes in color. 



I advocate the single mating system in Reds, as both 

 males and females of the highest exhibition quality can be 

 produced from one mating if the breeder understands the 

 correct color and his birds are of a good line-bred strain. If 

 the birds are not line bred, disappointment is sure to follow 

 and an uneven flock of off-colored birds will be the result. 

 I have bred Reds for eight years and enjoy the work of 

 building my flock up as there is no other breed that appeals 

 to me as this does. It is my honest belief that they have no 

 equal as all-purpose fowls. In mating the pens for the breed- 

 ing season it must be borne in mind that the female regulates 



RHODE ISLAND REDS 



the shape and size, but we must look to the male for vigor 

 and color The nUrer we keep to these requxrements on 

 both sides the higher the average quality of the offsprmg^ 

 The mde be ng haU of the pen, he should be as near Standard 

 as possible. He should be healthy, vigorous and some 

 especial attention should be given to him, for if he is too 

 gallant to his mates he will starve himself andthus be im- 



paired as a breeder. .. . . j 



I am well satisfied with the Red Standard as it is today 

 and while I think the Reds are handicapped more than any 

 other parti-colored fowl, it makes them a more interesting 

 study and the birds command higher prices. There are so 

 many good points about, the Reds that they are bound to 

 make friends and hold them. I think any Red breeder will 

 agree with me that a Red chick from the time it is hatched 



until fully 



S. C. RHODE ISLAND RED CCOKEREL 



matured 

 stand roughing it more than 

 any other fowl, as the vital- 

 ity of the Red chick is won- 

 derful. It is my belief that 

 the time is not far off when 

 the R. I. Reds will be the 

 leading all-purpose fowl. 



Badger Poultry Co., Wisconsin 



Having been requested 

 to describe briefly our qieth- 

 od of mating and some of 

 the special points desired 

 in our breeders, also some 

 of the defects to be avoided, 

 we will endeavor to point 

 out the desirable and unde- 

 sirable qualities which we 

 have encountered in the 

 breeding of Rhode Island 

 Reds. 



In mating a pen which 

 we expect will produce show 

 specimens, we prefer a cock 

 bird mated to hens. Of 

 course this is not always 

 possible. However, we have 

 had better results in the 

 matter of size from such 

 matings, although a cockerel 

 mated with hens produces as 

 good results as a cock mated 

 with pullets. , 



In selecting our birds 

 we look first at the male. 

 He must be large and vig- 

 orous, of as rectangular a shape as possible with a long 

 back, full breast, red eyes and clean cut head carried well up. 

 Next we look to color, which we prefer to be as nearly 

 uniform as .possible. The darker the better, provided it is 

 a rich deep red. We always avoid a tendency to brown 

 or smut, which we consider very bad, especially in the male 

 bird, also white in any section. 



We especially dislike a pinched tail and choose always 

 a well-spread tail, the blacker the better. A small edging 

 of red on tail feathers does no harm. Next we look at the 

 wings. The upper web of the secondaries must show black 

 strongly, while the same is true of the lower web of the 

 primaries. The under-color should be a rich salmon red to 

 the skin and no ticking should appear in the hackle. From 

 such a male bird we expect blue ribbon winners, provided, 

 we have mated him to females answering the following des- 

 cription. 



