R.I. Reds should carry its body perfectly horizontal and should be long, approaching in shape when viewed from the side as nearly as possible to rectangle or Brick Shape. The line of back and keel should be both be level and parallel to one another. The base line of the wing should be parallel to the back and keel and the wing should never have a tendency to drop, as the is a defect. The back should not only be flat from front to rear, but should be flat side to side. There should be no tendency to slope from the backbone to the side, and show no indication of a ridge along the backbone. The breast must project outward in order to fill out the rectangular shape. If a line was dropped through the base of the beak it should just clear the front of the breast. The tail should be well spread and carried what would be considered low at 20* for males and 10* for females, and should not be drooping.
A red eye in R.I. Reds is very desirable in the breeders of both males and females.
However, a male good in other traits should not be discarded as a breeder if his eye is bright, healthy and on the bay order. A hens eye color will tend to fade with laying, and it is rather hard to find good eyes in a old hen. However, a hen has a bright, healthy bay color eye probably had a strong eye as a pullet and can be used as a breeder.
The beak on breeders should be reddish horn in color. A beak that is dark black and streaky is not desired and should be selected against.
Breeders should have red ear lobes and birds showing white in there ear lobes is not desired and should be selected against.
To avoid the double mating, do not use a the extremely dark males, as the females from them can often be poor in color and tending to be mottled.
The mating should consist of a rich color male with even shade in hackle, wing bows, back and saddle.
The females should be dark, rich and even in color. Hens color should also be lustrous, bright, alive and not a flat, dead color which shows as brown or chocolate color.
Birds of even color are especially desired as breeding stock. The females that are to be used in the mating should not show too much black in the hackles and wing. In fact, hens that are free from black ticking in the hackle and wings in which the black markings are faint are preferred as the males with dark black markings in the wing will give about the right amount of ticking in the pullets hackles. If the black is dark in both males and females then there is a tendency to produce black lacing in the hackles of the male offspring.
THE BONE OF CONTENTION HACKLE TICKING
By GEORGE SCOTT, F.Z.S. Hon. Secretary of and Club Judge to the
British Rhode Island Red Club.
Despite the oft-expressed opinions of both English and American authorities to the very positive contrary, there is a whole batch of fanciers who will, because the standard calls for a clear hackle in the male and a ticked hackle in the female, persist in the idea that double mating is essential to success. On the face of things I am free to own that this view would appear to be entirely correct. But let
us adjust our spectacles and look a little deeper. The Rhode Island Red is not, as many people are remarkably fond of asserting, a self-colored fowl. It carries in plain view certain prominent, distinct, and well-defined black markings. Experience, of a most painful kind, has pointed out with no uncertain finger that these black markings are essential to the production and retention of the desirable
rich, deep red body color. Now it is a remarkably nice point, the maintenance of the equilibrium, as it were between the black and the red. Unbalance the thing one way or the other and blank ruin stares you in the face. Err on the side of too much black and nature kicks out an ugly foot and gives you enough smutty, peppered, and lace-hackled birds to last a life-time ; eliminate just a little too much black in your matings and you will blush every time you are called upon to explain to your visitors that you don't really keep buff Rocks!
The black ticking in the female's hackle to the degree called for in the standard is, in my opinion (which opinion, by the way, is held by the most competent American authorities), a valuable and almost essential point in the production of rich, dark, even red surface color. But to include ticking in the male hackle would be to overdo the whole thing. Such a mating, with ticked hackles on both sides, would completely upset the balance and the resultant progeny would be as sorry a lot of Reds as ever sickened mortal eyes. The alternative put forward by the reformers is to have clear hackles in both
sexes. And just as surely as the ticked hackled male would cause a surfeit of black in the mating, spelling irretrievable ruin, so. would the clear hackled female, by upsetting the balance in the other direction, slowly but surely produce a race of buffs. The whole truth of the matter is that the adoption of ticked hackles in both sexes or plain hackles, it matters not one jot which, would, if the standard in its ether points were retained, involve as an absolute necessity double-mating with all its tiresome bother. The standard was framed by American fanciers after much experience with the breed. And at no time since its compilation have responsible and competent Red authorities,either in the United States or England, seen fit to change it in any solitary detail. As a result of much experimenting and the widest observation, it has been proved beyond doubt and beyond question that the present standard description of hackles is the best, most attractive, and only practical one. The opinions
of novices and outsiders notwithstanding, it is as a matter of accurate truth the only way in which it is possible to breed standard exhibition specimens without double mating.
A red eye in R.I. Reds is very desirable in the breeders of both males and females.
However, a male good in other traits should not be discarded as a breeder if his eye is bright, healthy and on the bay order. A hens eye color will tend to fade with laying, and it is rather hard to find good eyes in a old hen. However, a hen has a bright, healthy bay color eye probably had a strong eye as a pullet and can be used as a breeder.
The beak on breeders should be reddish horn in color. A beak that is dark black and streaky is not desired and should be selected against.
Breeders should have red ear lobes and birds showing white in there ear lobes is not desired and should be selected against.
To avoid the double mating, do not use a the extremely dark males, as the females from them can often be poor in color and tending to be mottled.
The mating should consist of a rich color male with even shade in hackle, wing bows, back and saddle.
The females should be dark, rich and even in color. Hens color should also be lustrous, bright, alive and not a flat, dead color which shows as brown or chocolate color.
Birds of even color are especially desired as breeding stock. The females that are to be used in the mating should not show too much black in the hackles and wing. In fact, hens that are free from black ticking in the hackle and wings in which the black markings are faint are preferred as the males with dark black markings in the wing will give about the right amount of ticking in the pullets hackles. If the black is dark in both males and females then there is a tendency to produce black lacing in the hackles of the male offspring.
THE BONE OF CONTENTION HACKLE TICKING
By GEORGE SCOTT, F.Z.S. Hon. Secretary of and Club Judge to the
British Rhode Island Red Club.
Despite the oft-expressed opinions of both English and American authorities to the very positive contrary, there is a whole batch of fanciers who will, because the standard calls for a clear hackle in the male and a ticked hackle in the female, persist in the idea that double mating is essential to success. On the face of things I am free to own that this view would appear to be entirely correct. But let
us adjust our spectacles and look a little deeper. The Rhode Island Red is not, as many people are remarkably fond of asserting, a self-colored fowl. It carries in plain view certain prominent, distinct, and well-defined black markings. Experience, of a most painful kind, has pointed out with no uncertain finger that these black markings are essential to the production and retention of the desirable
rich, deep red body color. Now it is a remarkably nice point, the maintenance of the equilibrium, as it were between the black and the red. Unbalance the thing one way or the other and blank ruin stares you in the face. Err on the side of too much black and nature kicks out an ugly foot and gives you enough smutty, peppered, and lace-hackled birds to last a life-time ; eliminate just a little too much black in your matings and you will blush every time you are called upon to explain to your visitors that you don't really keep buff Rocks!
The black ticking in the female's hackle to the degree called for in the standard is, in my opinion (which opinion, by the way, is held by the most competent American authorities), a valuable and almost essential point in the production of rich, dark, even red surface color. But to include ticking in the male hackle would be to overdo the whole thing. Such a mating, with ticked hackles on both sides, would completely upset the balance and the resultant progeny would be as sorry a lot of Reds as ever sickened mortal eyes. The alternative put forward by the reformers is to have clear hackles in both
sexes. And just as surely as the ticked hackled male would cause a surfeit of black in the mating, spelling irretrievable ruin, so. would the clear hackled female, by upsetting the balance in the other direction, slowly but surely produce a race of buffs. The whole truth of the matter is that the adoption of ticked hackles in both sexes or plain hackles, it matters not one jot which, would, if the standard in its ether points were retained, involve as an absolute necessity double-mating with all its tiresome bother. The standard was framed by American fanciers after much experience with the breed. And at no time since its compilation have responsible and competent Red authorities,either in the United States or England, seen fit to change it in any solitary detail. As a result of much experimenting and the widest observation, it has been proved beyond doubt and beyond question that the present standard description of hackles is the best, most attractive, and only practical one. The opinions
of novices and outsiders notwithstanding, it is as a matter of accurate truth the only way in which it is possible to breed standard exhibition specimens without double mating.
KAUFMANN & WINDHEIM
©1911
Surface Color
To begin with the plumage must be dark; most everybody knows that but here is where the trouble lurks. The dark dirty, musty chocolate color, is not red, neither is the
dark dead appearing color red, but the kind of red we want is the bright but rich, deep looking, with plenty of strength and of the lasting kind. Both in female and male this is
true as the female is just as important as the male in the breeding yard. The color must be uniform, must be even with no light straw hackles; with no two or three shades on the surface of the male; he must have the solid black tail that sets him off. We must work up on the wing question, get the black, but get it in the right place. Never breed from a bird that
shows the slightest touch of peppering in the wing bows as that is a very bad feature. A bird with this defect will throw at least ninety per cent of the chicks full of black.
Under Color
Last of all but most importantunder color. It must be red as the day of smut has passed. Many breeders think smut helps to get the rich surface color but they are sadly
mistaken. Smut will help you to get a dirty dark surface color, but not the clean rich shade that we are after. A smutty feather here and there will not do very much harm
but if a bird shows smut so strong that you cannot look at the undercolor without seeing it, discard such a bird at once. Mr. Breeder, smut will not help but it will do harm, so
cut the bird heavily that has it, no matter how good he may be otherwise. It is worse in a male than in the female. White of course is out of the question, as a bird that
shows white, no matter how perfect he may be otherwise is simply a cull. This we think most every breeder knows. Through all this color madness, however, do not let your
birds run down small but keep up the size because color and size make the Rhode Island Red and no matter if you should have all the other qualifications combined you would have
nothing if these two are left out. We have followed the above laws as closely as possible over sixteen long years and the record that our birds have made in the show room
is well known to every Rhode Island Red breeder in the country.
HOW TO PRODUCE NON-FADING RHODE ISLAND REDS
IT IS THE WRITER'S OPINION THAT EXTREME MATINGS HAVE DONE MUCH TO CAUSE WEAKNESS IN
UNDER COLOR OF FEMALES-ADVISES THE USE OF GOOD LAYERS WHICH HOLD THEIR COLOR WELL
C. L. BUSCHMANN
©1911
The Only objection that we have ever had to the Rhode Island Red was the fading of the color of the female after it had passed the pullet age. There is apparently no reason for this and it is
difficult to account for. Brown Leghorns do not fade nor do black hens; why should Reds? When we stop to consider that a red cow or a bay horse holds its color why should not a Rhode Island Red hen hold hers? Any live stock turned out in the hot sun during the summer months will get sunburnt, which slightly changes the color, but they always shed this coat and their natural color returns In winter.
When we first discovered that several hens two years old in our flock of Reds had held their color, the thought came to us that it was possible to build a strain of nonfading Rhode Island Reds, so we began to experiment and observe. The second observation was that some of the chicks from these hens held their color also, so we commenced to breed for this particular feature and have built
up our non-fading strain practically from a few hens, but it has taken much time and careful study. The males usually held their color and by introducing the new blood through a female bred to our best male and then using the young cockerels of fifty per cent original stock, we kept the strong male line intact and continued breeding from the same hens and pullets.
Size, shape, color and laying qualities are always considerations of the first importance. We now have a hundred or more birds that have held their color, only changing a little during the burning summer days and under the heavy laying strain of our breeding season. They always return to their natural color after moulting and we believe in a few more years that we shall be able to raise practically all of
our birds so that they will be non-fading. We are careful at all times not to breed females which show signs of not holding their color and which are not laying properly. These hens are sold for market purposes and not sent to some other breeder. Right here we might mention that a five or ten dollar bird is often eaten rather than sold at a fair price, because she would make a poor advertisement when pointed out, in some ones' yards as a "Buschmann Non-Fader." After the Chicago show, December 1909, we had the pleasure of traveling to New York with the late Mr. Tuttle and Mr. Coffin, secretary of the R. I. Red Club of America. Mr. Coffin told us he had a hen several years old that looked
like a pullet and that other breeders also had a few but they apparently never thought of building up a non-fading strain. This is one of the side-lights on the Non-Fading Rhode Island Reds, never before published. While we do not claim that every bird of the twenty-five hundred we are raising this season will be non-fading, we know a large per cent of them will be. We are satisfied that we are on the right road and in a few more years will be able to accomplish that which so many breeders thought impossible. With this accomplished, the Rhode Island Reds will be in a class by themselves, as the greatest fowl in the world. One of the reasons that so many Reds fade is because the majority of the Red breeders have resorted to extreme matings, breeding a very dark male with exceedingly light
females, or breeding dark males and females together, such as those that have been winning in many eastern shows. These birds are much nearer brown or mahogany in color, than brilliant red. A bird of this description bred to a lighter bird is sure to produce birds that will not hold their color; many of them will be mealy, shafty and mottled, giving the bird a very undesirable and unsightly appearance.
Through careful selections and correct matings we have accomplished what no other breeder has done, i. e., produced males and females of a brilliant, even color in their pullet and cockerel age that held that same beautiful color when they reach matured age as hens and cocks. This has been more or less a tedious and hard undertaking and unless one feels that he can put in four or five
years along this line, he need not expect to accomplish the same results. Many Rhode Island Red breeders said the Reds could not be bred so that they would not fade, because they had been unable to do it. When we exhibited at Chicago, Kansas City and Indianapolis, as well as other shows during the past season, hens that were four, three and two years old respectively, and that had the same color that a pullet had; the breeders all began " to sit up and take notice" and wanted to know how we had accomplished this. We have many hens in our breeding yards at this date, May first, 1910, after a hard laying season of over three or four months, that are practically the same color they were after molting last fall. We hope to retain all of our two, three and four year old hens for next season's breeding as well as the choicest pullets that we have now in our breeding yards. We have been offered some fabulous prices for some of our best stock at different times, but we wisely kept them and by so doing we feel that in a few more years our Non- Fading strain will be perfected and will make the Rhode Island Red one of America's foremost fowls.
When Breeding
Never use a male with;
black striping in the hackle
all-black undercolour
a light hackle
a buff breast
(in the case of a cockerel) white in
tail, wings, or hackle.
Never use a female with;
white in any section
all-black undercolour
a mottled breast
a heavily-striped hackle.
1 An Ideal Mating.
A male bird, youngster, or veteran, it matters not one jot which, fit to get into the money at the Club Show itself, mated with long-bodied, low-tailed females of rich dark red throughout; the undercolor of which, if it errs at all, must be inclined to smuttiness, carrying black in tail, strong wing markings, and hackle ticking to the extent called for in the standard and not one atom more.
The neck hackle of every solitary one of these females must be intensely dark red, preferably even darker than the rest of the plumage. Invariably, if diligent search will unearth it, a yearling hen of the quality described is infinitely to be preferred to a pullet. Knowledge of each bird's ancestry I am taking for granted, and that male and female both are, wherever possible, of the same strain.
2. A Mating Designed to Improve the Color of Cockerels in a Strain where they are inclined to be too Light a Shade of Red.
Select the best, most even and soundest of these inferior cockerels, paying particular attention to the soundness of his undercolor. With him mate hens or pullets, dark even red,
with smut in otherwise red undercolour, dark red hackles (preferably showing a little smut at base of hackle) that are darker even than the rest of the plumage, and good black tails.
3. A Mating Designed to Improve Cockerels in a Strain where they come with Black in Hackle.
Select females with no black whatever in hackle, little or no wing markings, but sound even red top colour free from peppering, and undercolor free from smut. If possible get females as described bred from a clear hackled cockerel.
4. A Mating Designed to Improve a Strain where the Pullets, although Even, are too Light in Color.
Select the soundest and most even of such pullets, and with them mate a cockerel from a good pullet strain, absolutely even in color; dark, rich and brilliant, with clear hackle, good tail, deep red breast, and showing a black bar on wing bows and black peppering on breast.
Information from,
GEORGE SCOTT, F.Z.S.
Hon. Secretary of and Club Judge tw the
British Rhode Island Red Club.
©1911
Surface Color
To begin with the plumage must be dark; most everybody knows that but here is where the trouble lurks. The dark dirty, musty chocolate color, is not red, neither is the
dark dead appearing color red, but the kind of red we want is the bright but rich, deep looking, with plenty of strength and of the lasting kind. Both in female and male this is
true as the female is just as important as the male in the breeding yard. The color must be uniform, must be even with no light straw hackles; with no two or three shades on the surface of the male; he must have the solid black tail that sets him off. We must work up on the wing question, get the black, but get it in the right place. Never breed from a bird that
shows the slightest touch of peppering in the wing bows as that is a very bad feature. A bird with this defect will throw at least ninety per cent of the chicks full of black.
Under Color
Last of all but most importantunder color. It must be red as the day of smut has passed. Many breeders think smut helps to get the rich surface color but they are sadly
mistaken. Smut will help you to get a dirty dark surface color, but not the clean rich shade that we are after. A smutty feather here and there will not do very much harm
but if a bird shows smut so strong that you cannot look at the undercolor without seeing it, discard such a bird at once. Mr. Breeder, smut will not help but it will do harm, so
cut the bird heavily that has it, no matter how good he may be otherwise. It is worse in a male than in the female. White of course is out of the question, as a bird that
shows white, no matter how perfect he may be otherwise is simply a cull. This we think most every breeder knows. Through all this color madness, however, do not let your
birds run down small but keep up the size because color and size make the Rhode Island Red and no matter if you should have all the other qualifications combined you would have
nothing if these two are left out. We have followed the above laws as closely as possible over sixteen long years and the record that our birds have made in the show room
is well known to every Rhode Island Red breeder in the country.
HOW TO PRODUCE NON-FADING RHODE ISLAND REDS
IT IS THE WRITER'S OPINION THAT EXTREME MATINGS HAVE DONE MUCH TO CAUSE WEAKNESS IN
UNDER COLOR OF FEMALES-ADVISES THE USE OF GOOD LAYERS WHICH HOLD THEIR COLOR WELL
C. L. BUSCHMANN
©1911
The Only objection that we have ever had to the Rhode Island Red was the fading of the color of the female after it had passed the pullet age. There is apparently no reason for this and it is
difficult to account for. Brown Leghorns do not fade nor do black hens; why should Reds? When we stop to consider that a red cow or a bay horse holds its color why should not a Rhode Island Red hen hold hers? Any live stock turned out in the hot sun during the summer months will get sunburnt, which slightly changes the color, but they always shed this coat and their natural color returns In winter.
When we first discovered that several hens two years old in our flock of Reds had held their color, the thought came to us that it was possible to build a strain of nonfading Rhode Island Reds, so we began to experiment and observe. The second observation was that some of the chicks from these hens held their color also, so we commenced to breed for this particular feature and have built
up our non-fading strain practically from a few hens, but it has taken much time and careful study. The males usually held their color and by introducing the new blood through a female bred to our best male and then using the young cockerels of fifty per cent original stock, we kept the strong male line intact and continued breeding from the same hens and pullets.
Size, shape, color and laying qualities are always considerations of the first importance. We now have a hundred or more birds that have held their color, only changing a little during the burning summer days and under the heavy laying strain of our breeding season. They always return to their natural color after moulting and we believe in a few more years that we shall be able to raise practically all of
our birds so that they will be non-fading. We are careful at all times not to breed females which show signs of not holding their color and which are not laying properly. These hens are sold for market purposes and not sent to some other breeder. Right here we might mention that a five or ten dollar bird is often eaten rather than sold at a fair price, because she would make a poor advertisement when pointed out, in some ones' yards as a "Buschmann Non-Fader." After the Chicago show, December 1909, we had the pleasure of traveling to New York with the late Mr. Tuttle and Mr. Coffin, secretary of the R. I. Red Club of America. Mr. Coffin told us he had a hen several years old that looked
like a pullet and that other breeders also had a few but they apparently never thought of building up a non-fading strain. This is one of the side-lights on the Non-Fading Rhode Island Reds, never before published. While we do not claim that every bird of the twenty-five hundred we are raising this season will be non-fading, we know a large per cent of them will be. We are satisfied that we are on the right road and in a few more years will be able to accomplish that which so many breeders thought impossible. With this accomplished, the Rhode Island Reds will be in a class by themselves, as the greatest fowl in the world. One of the reasons that so many Reds fade is because the majority of the Red breeders have resorted to extreme matings, breeding a very dark male with exceedingly light
females, or breeding dark males and females together, such as those that have been winning in many eastern shows. These birds are much nearer brown or mahogany in color, than brilliant red. A bird of this description bred to a lighter bird is sure to produce birds that will not hold their color; many of them will be mealy, shafty and mottled, giving the bird a very undesirable and unsightly appearance.
Through careful selections and correct matings we have accomplished what no other breeder has done, i. e., produced males and females of a brilliant, even color in their pullet and cockerel age that held that same beautiful color when they reach matured age as hens and cocks. This has been more or less a tedious and hard undertaking and unless one feels that he can put in four or five
years along this line, he need not expect to accomplish the same results. Many Rhode Island Red breeders said the Reds could not be bred so that they would not fade, because they had been unable to do it. When we exhibited at Chicago, Kansas City and Indianapolis, as well as other shows during the past season, hens that were four, three and two years old respectively, and that had the same color that a pullet had; the breeders all began " to sit up and take notice" and wanted to know how we had accomplished this. We have many hens in our breeding yards at this date, May first, 1910, after a hard laying season of over three or four months, that are practically the same color they were after molting last fall. We hope to retain all of our two, three and four year old hens for next season's breeding as well as the choicest pullets that we have now in our breeding yards. We have been offered some fabulous prices for some of our best stock at different times, but we wisely kept them and by so doing we feel that in a few more years our Non- Fading strain will be perfected and will make the Rhode Island Red one of America's foremost fowls.
When Breeding
Never use a male with;
black striping in the hackle
all-black undercolour
a light hackle
a buff breast
(in the case of a cockerel) white in
tail, wings, or hackle.
Never use a female with;
white in any section
all-black undercolour
a mottled breast
a heavily-striped hackle.
1 An Ideal Mating.
A male bird, youngster, or veteran, it matters not one jot which, fit to get into the money at the Club Show itself, mated with long-bodied, low-tailed females of rich dark red throughout; the undercolor of which, if it errs at all, must be inclined to smuttiness, carrying black in tail, strong wing markings, and hackle ticking to the extent called for in the standard and not one atom more.
The neck hackle of every solitary one of these females must be intensely dark red, preferably even darker than the rest of the plumage. Invariably, if diligent search will unearth it, a yearling hen of the quality described is infinitely to be preferred to a pullet. Knowledge of each bird's ancestry I am taking for granted, and that male and female both are, wherever possible, of the same strain.
2. A Mating Designed to Improve the Color of Cockerels in a Strain where they are inclined to be too Light a Shade of Red.
Select the best, most even and soundest of these inferior cockerels, paying particular attention to the soundness of his undercolor. With him mate hens or pullets, dark even red,
with smut in otherwise red undercolour, dark red hackles (preferably showing a little smut at base of hackle) that are darker even than the rest of the plumage, and good black tails.
3. A Mating Designed to Improve Cockerels in a Strain where they come with Black in Hackle.
Select females with no black whatever in hackle, little or no wing markings, but sound even red top colour free from peppering, and undercolor free from smut. If possible get females as described bred from a clear hackled cockerel.
4. A Mating Designed to Improve a Strain where the Pullets, although Even, are too Light in Color.
Select the soundest and most even of such pullets, and with them mate a cockerel from a good pullet strain, absolutely even in color; dark, rich and brilliant, with clear hackle, good tail, deep red breast, and showing a black bar on wing bows and black peppering on breast.
Information from,
GEORGE SCOTT, F.Z.S.
Hon. Secretary of and Club Judge tw the
British Rhode Island Red Club.