CHAPTER V 

 R. I. REDS AS UTILITY AND STANDARD-BRED FOWLS 



THEIR FINE PRACTICAL QUALITIES FIRST ATTRACTED ATTENTION— SHOULD NOT BE BRED TO 

 GREATER SIZE— THEIR VALUE AS EGG PRODUCERS— THEY MAKE GOOD MOTHERS AND STAND 

 CONFINEMENT WELL— A WONDERFUL DEVELOPMENT OF STANDARD QUALITIES IN THE LAST 

 TEN YEARS— THEY NOW RIVAL OLDER VARIETIES IN BREEDING TRUE TO TYPE AND COLOR 



M. S- GARDNER 



THE Rhode Island Red first came into the lime-light 

 as a utility bird par excellence. At once some of 

 our enterprising breeders began the work of im- 

 provement along fancy and standard lines. So 

 great became the interest and rivalry in this matter of pro- 

 ducing fine feathers or specimens good enough to go into the 

 show rcom, that the very qualiaes which first brought the 

 Rhode Island Red into pub^ 

 lie notice have bee a almost 

 entirely lost sight of. With- 

 out question the two vari- 

 eties of Reds have made 

 wonderful progress along 

 standard lines, but this 

 should not cause those 

 breeding them to overlook 

 the fact that whatever may 

 be their attainments in the 

 show room the fundamental 

 value of the breed is and 

 always will be its adaptabil- 

 ity to the various utility pur- 

 poses. It is not my purpose 

 in this article to present 

 pages of statistics showing 

 thenumber of eggs produced 

 in one year byall the Rhode 

 Island Reds in New England. 

 I shall merely give a synopsis 

 of a few of_ the facts that 

 have come under my person- 

 al observation during the last 

 year or two. 



Down to , the present 

 time the Rhode Island Reds 

 have not been injured as 

 utility fowls by breeding 

 for too great size and it is 

 not probable that they will 

 be so injured. Some strains 

 of Plymouth • Rocks have 

 been so tampered with in 

 point of size that the , laying 

 habit has reached the mini- 

 mum and the male birds re- 

 quire the greater part of a 

 year in which to become ful • 

 ly developed. The Rhode 

 J^land Red is large enough 

 'at present for best results in egg production and for table 

 purposes. The largest fowl is not always the b,est one 

 as a meat producer, either' at the broiler age or when fully 

 mature. If it were, then we should all be breeding Brahmas 

 and Gochins. TJe cow that can assimilate the greatest 

 quantity of food and from a gives amount of it produce the 

 most pounds of butter fat, is the most profitable butter cow 



PAIK OF RHODE ISLAND REDS 



This illustration represents a pair of R. I. Red fowls which were 

 killed and dressed just a few hours previous to my recent visit to fure 

 Strain Farms, SoottsviUe, N. Y. These birds were not specially fed 

 nor prepared for this purpose, but the fine market qualities of the 

 breed show in their plumpness of body, breast and thigh.— A 

 Schilling. 



no matter of what breed she may be. The animal of any 

 beef breed that can turn a certain quantity of corn and hay 

 into the greatest number of pounds of beef is best for that 

 purpose, whether it be an animal of medium size or one ab 

 normally large. So, the hen that can from one hundred 

 pounds of food produce the largest number of eggs, whether 

 she be Rhode Island Red or Wyandotte, is the greatest profit 



maker, and the chicken that 

 can grow the largest amount 

 of meat from a certain quan- 

 tity of food in the shortest 

 time is the best for utility 

 purposes. The flesh of the 

 oversized fowl is usually 

 coarse in texture. 



Reds As Egg Producers 



Take the Standard and 

 read carefully the shape de- 

 scription of the female: 

 "Back — broad, long, etc.; 

 breast deep, well rounded; 

 body broad, deep, long; keel 

 bone long, keel bone carried 

 well forward giving the body 

 an oblong appearance." 

 Does this not describe the; 

 typical egg machine? Now 

 turn to the cut of the female- 

 Note the long body and 

 wedge shape indicative of the 

 prolific egg producer. I have 

 never made . any yearly , re- 

 cords of the Rhode Island 

 Reds as layers but from in- 

 formation gained from re- 

 liable sources and corrobor- 

 ated by my own experi- 

 ence, I believe that a flock 

 of Rhode Island Red hens 

 will produce as many eggs 

 in a year as a flock of equal 

 number of any other variety 

 in the Standard. 



They lay brown eggs, 

 varying in shade from 

 a creamy . tint to choco- 

 'late. This would be a 

 disadvantage of course 

 in some markets and in others it would not. The average 

 Rhode Island Red female does not lay as large eggs as do 

 Minorcas or White Leghorns, but as eggs are, sold by the 

 dozen and not by weight in nearly all markets, this makes 

 very little difference. I do not wish it to be understood that 

 the Rhode Island Reds lay small eggs. Far from it. Those 

 that I have had any experience with have laid fully as large 



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