Rhode Island White
The Rhode Island White is an American dual-purpose chicken developed in Rhode Island, but it is a separate breed rather than a white variety of the Rhode Island Red. Its background includes White Wyandotte, Partridge Cochin, and Rose Comb White Leghorn blood, producing a broad white bird with yellow skin and legs, a rose comb, and brown eggs. The breed was intended as a practical farm chicken with enough body for the table and enough laying ability for household or market eggs.
Rhode Island Whites are much less common than Rhode Island Reds, so pure stock is usually found through breeders rather than ordinary layer-hybrid outlets. The rose comb is useful in cold climates, and the birds fit well in roomy coops or yard systems with a standard layer ration. They are also used in some red sex-link breeding programs when crossed with red male lines, but those hybrid daughters are not Rhode Island Whites. For preservation flocks, maintaining breed type, white plumage, fertility, and productive hens is more important than maximizing egg output alone.
Colors: Barred, Birchen, Black, Blue, Brown, Buff, Columbian, Crele, Cuckoo, Duckwing, Gold, Gold Laced, Laced, Lavender, Mille Fleur, Mottled, Partridge, Penciled, Porcelain, Red, Silver, Silver Laced, Spangled, Splash, Wheaten, White
