Back
in the spring, I asked my father to save me some Rhode Island Red eggs
from his flock. I wanted to try out the breed, and knew that he
had both hens and a rooster that would breed true.
Unfortunately, his flock
was also full of Golden Comet hens, but Daddy and I were
positive that we’d picked out the Rhode Island Red eggs for our brooding
experiment. It
turns out we were positively wrong!
Take a look at the
result of the experiment — notice how our young rooster has white
mottling on his tail and around his neck? Clearly, this isn’t a
pure breed Rhode Island Red. Instead, the genetics of his White
Rock grandmother are showing through. Nevertheless, I’ve decided
that this cockerel will father next year’s broiler experiment…as long
as he stops pecking at my sandaled feet.