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Strawberry The Road Island Red |
Rhode Island Reds are an outstanding egg laying; they can
produce up to 220 eggs in a year on average. Since they are also hearty birds,
they make for good meat chickens. Plus they are prized in shows.
Rhode Islands are aggressive birds with the roosters
frequently fighting when confined to too small of a space. However, they tend
to do very well with humans, coming running when it's time to be fed or even
just to be held. It's quite normal for a Rhode Island Red to hop up onto your
arm to roost.
Rhode Island Reds have a rectangular shape to their bodies
and well-rounded breasts. Their tail, though, are pretty short compared to their
body and are carried just slightly raised. They have red combs that are either
rose shaped or just single combs. They have medium-sized red wattles and large red
ear-lobes. Their eyes, also red, can be fairly large. Most often the red,
though they do come in white as well.
Rhode Island Reds need space to run around; otherwise
they'll start bugging each other and get aggressive quickly. Given the space to
roam they'll forage on their own, but while they are capable of flying they
don't really have any inclination to pick up and fly off, so you needn't worry
about a high fence or a roofed-in chicken run.