by Juliemarie

Created on: February 25, 2009

The Rhode Island Red Hen is probably one of the more beautiful of all chickens and while to many it may sound oxymoronic to say beautiful and chicken in the same sentence, truth is one look at the depth in color and how red, mahogany and brown blend on the feathers of this breed and you will agree it is truly something pretty. A cock (rooster) of this breed is even on display in the Smithsonian Museum in Washington, DC.

Rhode Island Red Chickens are in fact named for their birth place, the great state of Rhode Island which is located in the north east region of the United States and one of the six states known as New England. They can also claim Malaysian roots. Typical to chickens they are egg layers but here in the north east they are also known for enduring the cold winters with little illness, producing well and being all around hard workers. Farmers with children have been known to make a few pets as they generally have good dispositions as well.

As workers they had been known to produce over two hundred brown eggs per year. The slogan that became popular in regional advertising "brown eggs are local eggs and local eggs are fresh" came as a result of the local, popular and productive poultry. They can be used for meat as well weighing in on an average of seven and a half to eight pounds, but shhhh we won't speak of that part, as their popularity with people makes that a less popular topic when discussing the Rhode Island Red Chickens.

Rhode Island Red Chickens became so popular for looks and personality that breading for color and beauty actually diminished their role as leading producer of eggs and that first place position has since been replaced by hybrids who produce higher then the Red's own 200 plus record numbers and considerably more then their average now a day numbers of 100 eggs per year. They have gone on and off protected lists. They are still used for producing, but breeding is equally as popular, though even breeding is done is much smaller circles.

In actual towns in Rhode Island named Adamsville and Little Compton there are monuments to the Red bird. One monument in fact sits on the National Register of Historic Places. While Rhode Island Red Chickens remain popular to Rhode Islanders, farmers use them much less.

The Rhode Island Chicken's hay day may be over but their beauty, regional popularity and reliability just may make them a come back to count on one day.

Learn more about this author, Juliemarie.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.