No progress today, just a cute chick's butt

Well, that didn't turn out exactly how I hoped. But whatever, she's cute so it's easy to forgive her pooping on the coffee table.

This is one of our two Rhode island reds. They don't have names yet except "Red," which works for both of them. They'll probably end up being Sweet Red and Stinky Red just like the old Goldies.

Rhode island reds are an old American heritage breed that was one of the first heritage breeds here along with Plymouth Rocks and wyandottes. Back then they were considered dual purpose birds, but they're popular now for egg production.

Back in the day, chicken was much more of a delicacy than it is now. Due to hybridization and feed developments of the late 20th century, chicken has become much more commonplace as a cheap meat. Back then, if you wanted a full size chicken to eat, you had to wait a half a year to grow it. Nowadays the hybrid meat birds finish out in six to eight weeks.

Dual purpose birds are usually called that because they get big enough to make a substantial meal. These ones get pretty big, I think I read males top out around eight pounds. Big ol chikkin.

One of our other breeds, the gold sex link, is a hybrid between a RIR rooster and a Rhode island white hen. The reds are a standard for hybridizing to make these super productive hybrid layers like sex links, cinnamon queens, red stars, etc. Good stock.

I decided not to go with all one breed like I'd originally thought. I like a cute variable colored flock. It adds soul. I've got five GSLs, three wyandottes, two RIRs, so now I need four of another type and one of another. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 to hit the fifteen bird laying flock goal. We'll see what breeds they get in next. Maybe some rocks and a something else.💚

The #dailychicken is an initiative from waaay back that was started by @mariannewest and her @sustainablelivin podcast. She and @goldenoakfarm we're my main sources for chicken info back when I started my first flock. I used to post a #dailychicken daily and got out of the habit. Now I'm trying to get back into it because chickens really are the best medicine. That way you'll always have something to post about too! Bump that SP a tad more! I'm going to set my @ginabot to follow the tag, and I'd like to extend the invitation to the Homesteaders of steem to join in! It can be a serious informational post, a fun goofy pic, or an awesome interview style like @riverflows used to do. Have fun with it, steem loves chickens!