Considering Rhode Island Red chickens? The 19 things you must know first
Rhode Island Reds are one of the most popular chicken breeds in America and abroad, and they’re popular for a reason.
These birds are prolific and reliable egg layers, friendly in nature, impressive meat birds, and exceptionally hardy. They are versatile, thriving both in backyard and barnyard settings, and they are beautiful additions to any flock.
But before you get your own Rhode Island Reds, there are many things about these birds you need to be aware of. In this article, I cover everything you need to know to decide if these are the right birds for you.
You’ll learn:
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What are Rhode Island Red chickens?
Rhode Island Red chicken facts
Category: Pet, eggs, & meat
Origin: United States
Egg-laying ability: Good-exceptional
Broodiness: Low-moderate
Meat production: Good
Cold tolerance: Poor-exceptional (depends on comb size)
Heat tolerance: Moderate-good
Predator evasion: Good
Foraging ability: Good
Toleration for confinement: Moderate-good
Temperament: Variable, but generally friendly
Aggression toward flock members: Moderate
Noise level: Moderate-high
Why are they called “Rhode Island Reds” and where do they come from?
“Rhode Island Reds are American icons.”
This is one of the few chicken breeds whose name is self-explanatory. Rhode Island Reds were developed in Rhode Island (and have been Rhode Island’s state bird since 1954), and they are characterized by their distinctive rich red color.
The bird, like most other American breeds, was developed in the late 1800s as a utility bird, meaning it would be good both for eggs and meat.
Although the exact heritage of the Rhode Island Reds is unknown, the breed was created by mixing numerous other chicken breeds together.
“…it was said that at one time every great breed of poultry ever known in America found its way into the flocks of the Rhode Island farmers.”
The following breeds were likely used in the development of the Rhode Island Red:
The beautiful red color was a contribution of the Malays. Additionally, Malay chickens are genetically different from most other breeds, and, therefore, likely contributed some of the hardiness that Rhode Island Reds are famous for.
Soon after its development, Rhode Island Reds became incredibly popular in America.
“The breed possessed so many good qualities that it would have been difficult for it to have remained in obscurity.”
And Rhode Island Reds became popular in other countries as well. A bantam (i.e., miniature) version was created in Germany and England. Breeders created the bantam by breeding standard-size Rhode Island Reds with other bantam breeds.
The video below gives a brief and excellent summary of the Rhode Island Red breed.
The 19 things you must know before getting Rhode Island Red chickens
Here’s everything you need to know.
Rhode Island Reds are:
Found in 2 comb varieties—one is more coldy-hardy than the other
Found as commercial and heritage strains—each with their own qualities
Prolific layers
Reliable layers
Not broody (mostly)
Tasty and fast-growing
Variably cold-hardy
Heat tolerant
Predator-savvy
Ideal free rangers
Destructive in backyards
Tolerant of confinement
Friendly in temperament
Occasionally human-aggressive (some roosters)
Best kept with other assertive breeds
Occasionally rooster-aggressive (some roosters)
Noisy
Rare (heritage strains)
Crossed to create sex-linked birds, perfect for the urban or suburban backyard!
Now let’s get into the details!
#1 Rhode Island Reds come in 2 different varieties, but you’ll have a really hard time finding one of them.
Rhode Island Reds come in both a Rose Comb and a Single Comb variety.
The Single Comb Rhode Island Reds are incredibly popular. These birds have a medium to moderately large, upright single comb. You can see some beautiful examples of this variety in the video in the above.
The Rose Comb Rhode Island Reds, unfortunately, are incredibly uncommon, at least in the U.S. I say “unfortunately” because this variety is much more winter-hardy than the Single Comb variety.
The rose combs are smaller than the single combs and sit somewhat flatly against the head. This makes them virtually resistant to frostbite (as long as they stay dry). Single combs, on the other hand, are susceptible to frostbite. This is especially true for the roosters.
You can see just how different the rose comb is from the single comb in the video below. This is a video that shows a Rose Comb Rhode Island Red Bantam rooster and hen. Notice how much smaller the rose combs are.
To find out where you can find the rare Rose Comb variety, check out the hatchery map at the end of this article.
#2 Commercial strains of Rhode Island Reds can look very different than the heritage strains.
Rhode Island Reds come in a couple of different types: commercial and heritage (and, really, anything in between). Let me explain what I mean by these “types.”
If you’ve ever bought brown eggs from the grocery store, your eggs likely came from a commercial strain of Rhode Island Red (or perhaps Rhode Island Red crosses). These birds have been perfected for egg-laying, rather than for appearance, hardiness, or meat.
Because of this, these industrial strains no longer have the characteristics of the original bird—that is, the heritage strains.
Heritage vs. commercial feather colors and patterns
Whenever you read about Rhode Island Reds in books or in blog posts, typically, you’ll be reading about the heritage bird.
These strains of Rhode Island Red have the beautiful and distinctive deep red plumage. The tails are mostly black, and the wings may have some black. The downy underfluff of these strains is red or salmon-colored, rather than gray or white.
These birds are absolutely stunning in their coloring.
“Even Rhode Island Red aficionados find it difficult to express the subtle beauty of the Rhode Island Red’s feathers.”
You can see an example of a heritage strain in the video below. This is a show-quality Rhode Island Red. The man in the video does an excellent job of explaining the attributes of this type, although I don’t like the way he handles the rooster—there are much more respectful ways of handling chickens.
Please note that in one part of the video above, the man holds the rooster upside down. This is a very dangerous and unkind position to put a rooster in. Please don’t ever do it. For more information about why, see my article, Holding a chicken upside down: Is it Safe?
The commercial strains of Rhode Island Red, on the other hand, are still red, but very few will exhibit the lustrous, deep red color. Instead, these chickens are a lighter color of red that may also be seen in many other breeds as well. In particular, a lot of hybrid birds have this lighter, buff red color.
And the underfluff of the commercial strains could be red, gray, or white.
Other notable features of Rhode Island Red chickens
Rhode Island Reds are “brick-shaped,” meaning the body is broad and long—heritage strains will fit this type more strongly than commercial strains.
Rhode Island Reds have medium-size wattles, and medium-size red earlobes. They have reddish-horn beaks and reddish-bay eyes.
Their shanks and toes should be yellow with a hint of reddish-horn. And a show-quality bird will have a streak of red pigment that runs down the shanks all the way to the tips of the toes.
How big do Rhode Island Red chickens get?
Here are the ideal weights for Rhode Island Red chickens:
Roosters: 8.5 lbs
Hens: 6.5 lbs
Bantam roosters: 34 oz
Bantam hens: 30 oz
Commercial strains, however, may be considerably lighter.
What do Rhode Island Red chicks look like?
Whether you get a commercial or heritage strain, Rhode Island Red chicks are the cutest! They’re little fluff balls of varying shades of orange, tan, and red. You can see what they look like in the video below.
#3 Rhode Island Reds are exceptional egg layers.
Egg color: Brown
Egg size: Large
Age of lay: 4-6 months
Eggs/week: 4-6
Eggs/year: 200-300
Rhode Island Reds lay 200-300 large brown eggs a year. The heritage strains lay closer to 200-250, whereas the commercial strains lay closer to 300.
The commercial strains of Rhode Island Reds typically start laying early at around 4-5 months of age, whereas heritage strains may take closer to 6 months.
#4 Rhode Island Reds keep laying eggs when conditions are poor.
Cold winters, hot summers—you name it—your Rhode Island Reds will likely keep laying when many of your other breeds have stopped.
“The Rhode Island Red is known for its hardiness and its ability to handle marginal conditions while still producing eggs.”
Rhode Island Reds mean business when it comes to egg laying. I have found that my Rhode Island Reds spend a lot of their time thinking about laying eggs compared to my other breeds. They are often in the coop for an hour or more before they actually lay, testing out the various nesting boxes.
In my coop, I have 8 nesting boxes, and some of the Rhode Island Reds will seriously test out all of these boxes over and over again before choosing where to lay. They get inside one nesting box, kick the bedding material around and get in a laying position and then they step right out and test the next box. Round and round they go, talking the whole time they’re at it.
And, boy, do they talk. Many will make incredibly agitated noises until they finally settle in to lay. And they will screech and growl if another hen even so much as looks at them in the nesting box. They’ll even make those noises at me if I happen to just walk into the coop when they’re laying.
The noises they make can be quite hilarious—these girls are intense and they mean business!
In the video below, you can see an example of what this behavior looks and sounds like. Fast forward to about 1 minute and 20 seconds into the video to hear an angry Rhode Island Red hen screeching at her keeper.
I’ve even found my Rhode Island Red rooster, Rufio, to be obsessed with nesting. I frequently find him in the chicken coop locating nesting spots for the hens.
Rufio will get into corners or under the nesting boxes and assume the egg laying position, all the while making tidbitting noises to try to attract the hens to use his spot. And sometimes when they do, he’ll stay right next to them, still in an egg-laying position himself.
I think he may suffer from a little egg-laying envy. But he’s sure cute to watch. And that’s a Rhode Island Red for you. It’s all about the eggs.
#5 Most Rhode Island Reds do not want to be mamas, but some of the heritage strains do.
The majority of Rhode Island Red strains will either never or very rarely go broody. I have had some of my girls play at going broody, but they never stay broody for long.
Some of the heritage strains that have not been bred for improved egg production will go broody. Rhode Island Red hens who do hatch chicks tend to be excellent and protective mothers.
#6 Some strains of Rhode Island Reds provide copious meat with a superb flavor.
The commercial strains of Rhode Island Red are much smaller than the heritage strains, and therefore have much less meat on their bodies.
Many of the heritage strains do make excellent meat birds, though. According to The Livestock Conservancy, their meat “was once considered [the] finest flavored.”
These birds have a market weight of 5.5-7.5 lbs.
Rhode Island Reds are also very fast growing and early to mature for a heritage breed.
You can see how fast they grow by viewing the video slideshow below. The videos show the birds at 2-weeks old, 7-weeks old, and 9-weeks old, respectively.
And here, you can see a really nice, short montage of baby Rhode Island Reds to adults.
#7 Some Rhode Island Reds are exceptionally cold-hardy. Others are prone to frostbite.
As mentioned above, the Rose Comb variety of Rhode Island Reds are exceptionally cold-hardy. Some of your single comb hens may be very cold-hardy as well.
However, many Rhode Island Red Roosters (and some larger-combed hens) have combs so large that they are prone to frostbite, which, as you might imagine, is incredibly painful.
My first year raising chickens, I did have a Rhode Island Red rooster who got frostbite on the very tips of his comb. A couple of the hens’ combs appeared to be in the initial stages as well. Before this, I had read that Rhode Island Reds were cold-hardy down to negative temperatures, and I had naively assumed that meant they wouldn’t get frostbite.
I’ve since learned that when people say a chicken is “cold-hardy,” they mean the chicken will likely survive the cold, not that they’ll necessarily thrive in the cold. The same is true of “heat-hardy.”
I live in southwestern Idaho, which doesn’t get that cold. Our winter temperatures typically stay in the twenties, and only in a very rare year will they go down to single digits. But frostbite is a serious risk even right at the freezing point.
However, there is a way you can counteract this.
When my chickens got frostbite, I felt so terrible that that had happened under my watch. I knew I could never let that happen again. I immediately purchased sweeter heaters and hung them above my chickens’ roosting bars, and I haven’t had a problem since.
You can find small Sweeter Heaters here on Amazon, medium Sweeter Heaters here, and large Sweeter Heaters here. I use them in all my coops and can’t recommend them highly enough. They are life-savers for single-combed breeds!
#8 Rhode Island Reds are fairly heat tolerant.
Rhode Island Reds do have down feathering that helps to keep them warm in the winter, but they’re not as fluffy as a lot of other cold-hardy breeds, like Plymouth Rocks or Orpingtons.
Rhode Island Red chickens tend to tolerate heat better than some of these other cold-hardy breeds. They will, however, still need cold water available at all times and plenty of deep shade during hot-temperature days.
#9 Rhode Island Reds are predator-savvy.
The Rhode Island Red is a great bird to get if you have predators in your area. Their dark reddish coloring helps them to blend in some against most backgrounds. And although they aren’t great fliers, they can fly for a short distance to help them get out of harm’s way.
Additionally, these birds tend to be extremely cautious and alert. And many strains are large enough that most birds of prey aren’t interested in them.
#10 Rhode Island Reds make excellent range birds.
Rhode Island Reds are incredibly hardy birds and love to forage. If you’re a homesteader or you’re looking for a very tough range bird, this is one of the best breeds you can get.
Below, you can see a flock of beautiful Rhode Island Reds happily free ranging.
#11 Rhode Island Reds may destroy your backyard and garden.
The flip side of being a good forager is that Rhode Island Reds do tend to be experts at tearing up your backyard and garden. They are excellent at digging for food, and if your backyard is relatively small, these birds will likely turn it into a wasteland.
One urban Rhode Island Red keeper said it this way:
“…their foraging instincts make them more destructive than any of my other hens. If you don’t keep them in a run, prepare to say goodbye to your lawn and garden.”
#12 Rhode Island Reds may be kept in backyard runs.
A lot of birds that do well free ranging don’t do well in backyard runs, but the Rhode Island Red is an exception.
While you definitely don’t want to keep your Rhode Island Reds closely confined, you can keep them in a decent-sized backyard run. Of course, like most chickens, Rhode Island Reds prefer to free range, and the more space you can give them, the happier they’ll be.
If you do keep your Rhode Island Reds in a backyard run, be sure to provide them with some entertainment. Give them plenty of things to perch on, for example.
#13 Rhode Island Reds are human-friendly, and some are docile.
I’ve never met an unfriendly Rhode Island Red.
These are curious birds who like to be in the middle of everything that’s going on. They are likely to be the first to greet you when you enter your chicken yard, and mine drive me absolutely crazy when I clean the coop. They have to be “involved.”
However, none of my Rhode Island Reds like to be handled. Not only do they act like they’re dying if you try to pick them up, but if you so much as lightly lay a finger on one, she’ll act like you’re beating her.
My Rhode Island Reds seem to interpret any type of touch as aggression. However, if I sit on the ground with my legs out in front of me, a couple of them might crawl onto my outstretched legs to hang out. But again, if I try to touch one, they’ll scream (and I mean scream!), flap, and run.
This is why I describe them as friendly, but not docile.
However, I’ve come across many anecdotes of exceedingly docile Rhode Island Reds, so temperament really does depend on the strain you get.
For example, one chicken keeper had this to say: “My Rhode Island Red is very friendly and will run up to me, almost begging to be picked up. She’ll happily jump in my lap to be petted.”
Another said this of her Rhode Island Red flock: “The hens are soft and personable, loving their cuddle time. They are… lovers of affection. They jump into my arms when I bend over and never try to get free.”
And another said, “They give us hours of entertainment. They jump on our laps for rubs and hugs.”
Below, you can see a video featuring a Rhode Island Red hen, June, who is easily picked up and handled by her owner—fast forward to 3 minutes and 30 seconds into the video to see this.
#14 You may end up with an aggressive Rhode Island Red rooster.
If you’ve ever read any book on chicken breeds, you’ll know that Rhode Island Reds can carry a mean streak. Some individual roosters are known to be extremely aggressive. I wonder if this has carried over from their Cornish heritage.
However, many Rhode Island Red roosters aren’t aggressive at all. My Rhode Island Red rooster, Rufio, is a dream. I absolutely adore him. He is such a good rooster. He’s a charming and attentive ladies’ man, and he’s never been aggressive to a person.
My Rufio loves to come say hi to me when I sit in the yard. And I mean, he walks right up to me and literally chats. He is so dear to me.
However, if you want a human-friendly rooster in your flock, you are taking a gamble if you go with this breed.
#15 Rhode Island Red chickens should be kept with similarly assertive breeds.
Rhode Island Red chickens tend to get along fairly well with other birds. My Rhode Island Red hens were moderately feisty during their first year of life, but have settled down a lot since then. It’s rare that I see one of my Rhode Island Reds even do a single peck at another bird.
The exception to this rule is in the nesting boxes. Some of my Rhode Island Red hens don’t want my Ameraucana hens to nest anywhere near them. Many times, I have seen a Rhode Island Red hen come out of her nesting box, crawl 2 nesting boxes over, and bully an Ameraucana out of her nest. Then the Rhode Island Red crawls the 2 boxes back over to her own original nesting box.
Sometimes the Rhode Island Red pecks the Ameraucana aggressively until she leaves. Other times the Rhode Island Red just gets in her face and gives her a death stare, and that’s enough to scare the other bird out.
Additionally, I have found a lot of other reports that these chickens can get a little bossy with other birds from time to time.
Because of this, you need to think twice before putting your Rhode Island Reds in with a smaller or more vulnerable breed, like Silkies or Polish.
Keep your Rhode Island Reds with other gentle, but assertive breeds. Mine do especially well with my Barred Rocks. Other examples are Dominiques, Wyandottes, or Jersey Giants.
#16 Rhode Island Red roosters may be aggressive to other roosters.
Once again, this may be a throwback to their Cornish heritage, or perhaps their Malay heritage, but some Rhode Island Red roosters may be especially aggressive to other roosters, regardless of breed.
This isn’t a hard rule. Many Rhode Island Reds roosters play nice. My Rufio, for example, gets along fine in his flock with two other roosters (both Ameraucanas). He gets in minor scrapes with the subordinate rooster—the key word here being minor. And in all fairness, that subordinate rooster, though I love him, is a real punk.
However, if you want to keep a larger flock of chickens with more than one rooster, you may want to consider a different breed. Again, you’d be taking a gamble.
#17 Rhode Island Reds are noisy.
I mentioned this earlier when I spoke about egg-laying, and I’ll say it again. These birds are noisy before, during, and after egg-laying. They are very intense when preparing to lay an egg, and make extremely loud, agitated squawking noises pretty much non-stop.
I love the noises they make—they are certainly expressive. But your neighbors may not be so appreciative.
#18 Heritage Rhode Island Reds are rare.
Alright, so you’ve probably figured this out by now, but commercial Rhode Island Reds are a whole different creature than heritage Rhode Island Reds.
Commercial birds are considerably smaller in size and lighter in color than heritage birds. They are much better egg layers and much less inclined to ever go broody. Commercial breeds have less meat and are considerably more common.
The Livestock Conservancy has put heritage Rhode Island Reds on their “Watch” list. These birds are in desperate need of preservation as they are much less popular than the commercial strains.
I, for one, love my commercial strain because I don’t want broody birds. But if you want to help conserve an exceptional heritage breed, this is one bird you’ll want to consider.
#19 Many Rhode Island Red crosses are sex-linked!
Urban chicken keepers, take note! Many Rhode Island Red crosses create sex-linked birds. You definitely will want to consider one of these crosses, rather than a purebred Rhode Island Red.
What’s a sex-linked bird, you ask? This is a chicken that can be sexed at birth to an extremely accurate degree (near 100%). The male chicks look different than the female chicks.
If you’re new to chickens, you might not think that’s a big deal, but here’s something the hatcheries don’t like to advertise:
When you order female chicks, you will commonly end up with one or more roosters.
What? It’s true. Most chicks’ sexes are determined by the vent-sexing method. This is when an expert checks inside their vents to determine if the baby is male or female, but it’s only about 90% accurate. And your odds are much worse than that with many hatcheries.
So, it’s very, very common for you to end up with some male chicks. And if you live in an urban or suburban environment, you know that may be a real problem. Most places don’t allow roosters in the neighborhood.
So what do you do when you end up with a rooster? Well, you either kill it yourself or you give it to someone else to kill. That’s the harsh reality. Try as you might to “rehome” your roosters, there’s not a market for that (despite what other blogs may tell you). And rooster sanctuaries are so rare, they might as well be non-existent.
If you have no problem killing your roosters, then you have nothing to worry about. But, if you’re like me, and you get attached to your birds, this may be devastating for you. Do yourself a giant favor and get Sex Links.
Rhode Island Reds tend to be used in almost every type of Sex Link. (New Hampshires are sometimes used in place of Rhode Island Reds.)
Sex Links can go by one of these generic names:
Red Sex Links
Golden Sex Links
Black Sex Links
Or, Sex Links can go by more commercial names, such as:
Golden Comets
Amber Star
Red Star
Black Star
Cinammon Queen
ISA Brown
Novogen Brown
They’re all wonderful birds, and any backyard keeper would be lucky to have them.
For more information on sex link chickens, check out my article, Sex Link chickens: The perfect layers for any backyard.
Breeds you may want instead of Rhode Island Reds
Aside from the Sex Links, if you’re interested in Rhode Island Reds, you may also be interested in Rhode Island Whites, New Hampshires, or Buckeyes.
Rhode Island Whites have a completely different heritage than Rhode Island Reds, but are similar in form and function. These birds all come with rose combs, which makes them very cold hardy, and are exceptional egg layers.
The Rhode Island Red shares much in common with the Buckeye, which, if you ask me, is possibly the most underrated chicken of all time.
Buckeyes are amazing free-range birds. They are incredibly hardy birds with small, frostbite-resistant pea combs and exceptional foraging skills. And Buckeyes are similar in color to Rhode Island Reds with their beautiful chestnut red plumage.
And when you’re talking about breeds similar to Rhode Island Reds, you can’t miss the New Hampshire. The New Hampshire breed was actually developed out of the Rhode Island Red breed. Breeders selected Rhode Island Red birds for faster growth and feathering and for more meat production.
So, if you want a dual-purpose bird that’s good for eggs and great for meat, go with the New Hampshire. If you want a dual-purpose bird that’s great for eggs and good for meat, stick with the Rhode Island Red.
And I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the Rhodebar. Unfortunately, this is a very rare breed, but it’s an autosex breed that was created in the late 1940s by crossing the rare Golden Brussbar with Rhode Island Reds. And it’s a really gorgeous bird.
Autosexing, like sex-linking, means the sex of the chicks are apparent at birth (to various degrees of certainty). But, unlike Sex Links, autosexed breeds are actually breeds, rather than hybrids (which don’t breed true).
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Rhode Island Red sources
Bassom, Frances. Mini Encyclopedia: Chicken Breeds and Care. Dorking: Interpet Publishing, 2011.
Damerow, Gail. Storey’s Guide to Raising Chickens. North Adams: Storey Publishing, 2017.
Damerow, Gail. The Chicken Health Handbook. North Adams: Storey Publishing, 2015.
Ekarius, Carol. Storey's Illustrated Guide to Poultry Breeds. North Adams: Storey Publishing, 2007.
Verhoef, Esther and Rijs, Aad. The Complete Encyclopedia of Chickens. Lisse: Rebo Publishers, 2005.