The Rhode Island Red was originally bred to be a dual-purpose chicken, and is one of the most well-known chicken breeds. The egg-laying strain is now most abundant.

The New Hampshire chicken began as a strain of the Rhode Island Red breed and is a dual-purpose bird. It is a medium-sized chicken with a red hue brighter than its Rhode Island counterpart.

If you’re looking for some home-grown, hormone-free chicken for your dinners and you live in a relatively warm climate, the classic Rhode Island Red (the state bird!) will do nicely.

In the 1880s Wilbour was running a 200-acre farm with 3,000 to 4,000 chickens, Wilbour’s grandson David Patten wrote in a 1954 pamphlet.. What and Why RI: Rhode Island has a lot of villages, and ...

Production Reds, a mix between the New Hampshire Red and Rhode Island Red breeds, are the best brown egg layer, according to Leslye Woodard, the owner of Woodward Mercantile in Maize.