Have you ever heard of the Macomber fowl?
Posted on May 28, 2025 by Jenny ONeill
Macomber fowls / “Tripps Yaller Hens” / Rhode Island Red
Have you ever heard of the Macomber fowl?
By Richard Gifford
Westport farmer John Macomber played an important role in the breeding of the Rhode Island Red, “an egg laying machine.” He swapped hens with Little Compton farmer William Tripp, and successfully bred “an egg laying machine” originally known as the “Macomber fowl” or “Tripps Yaller hens.” The breed later became known as the Rhode Island Red.
One of the few other market men in the area was William Tripp (1812-1891), whose farm was at the SW corner of Long Highway and William Sisson Road in Little Compton. Tripp and John Macomber became friends, coordinating their New Bedford journeys so as not to flood the market, and Tripp was in the habit of stopping at Macomber’s farm on his way home to chat about agricultural matters. On one of his market days in 1854 Tripp purchased a Chittagong or Malay rooster from a returning whaler at the docks, the whaleman apparently having purchased the bird during an inebriated shore leave on an Indian Ocean voyage, and having returned home, with no intention of rising early on land, he parted with his feathered alarm clock. Tripp let this Oriental barnyard potentate run around with his scrub hens ( a more delicate appellation for the harem than the contemporary alternative, “dunghill fowl”), and noticed that the offspring not only had a darker shading but when reaching adulthood laid more eggs and were larger in size, making them a preferable table bird.
Macomber and Tripp swapped promising chickens over the next several years and can fairly be appraised as originators of what became the Rhode Island Red breed. In their lifetimes, though, the birds were called “Macomber fowls” or, more commonly “Tripp’s Yaller [Yellow] Hens.” It was Isaac Champlin Wilbour (1831-1899) of Little Compton, who had considerably more capital and political connections than Tripp or Macomber, who made further breeding improvements and popularized the breed on a national level, in the process supplying the Rhode Island Red moniker. For a time around the turn of the century Little Compton boasted that it was “the poultry capital of the world,” and photographs of that era indeed show field after field dotted with “colony houses” where thousands of chickens roosted. In the early days the chickens were only rarely fed grain, as one would expect. Instead, a flour mixture was steamed to the consistency of cookie dough, supplemented by pieces of garden vegetables. Children would pick out pieces of a potato or carrot from the steaming hen dough, and remembered it in their old age to be among the most delectable treats of their childhood.
The Rhode Island Red was realized to be of such importance to Little Compton that in 1925 a bronze plaque, which can still be seen, was erected in Adamsville along the wall at the baseball field. Alas, John Macomber’s name does not grace the plaque, nor for that matter do the names of William Tripp or Isaac C. Wilbour. Only one name is listed, that of Deborah T. Manchester, the eccentric sister of the even more eccentric Abraham & Lizzie Manchester. “Aunt Debbie” was running Manchester’s store by that time, Abraham having passed on and permanently residing at Pleasant View Cemetery (a property owned at one time, like just about everything else worth owning in Adamsville, by Abraham Manchester). Aunt Debbie donated the land for the plaque and apparently envisioned that it would become a tourist attraction, drawing customers who would cross the road to buy soft drinks, a carton of genuine Rhode Island Red eggs and a pound or two of Manchester’s famous cheese. If you could con generations of city slickers into believing that “Adamsville cheese” was made in Adamsville, so Debbie must have thought, it would be child’s play to hoodwink them into thinking that the Rhode Island Red was first bred somewhere between home plate and first base at the Adamsville ball field. History was redeemed, to some extent, when in 1954 — the supposed centennial of the birth of the breed — an additional plaque was placed about 4 miles away at the William Tripp farm. John Macomber, though, is still waiting for his recognition.
(Richard Gifford)
University of Rhode Island. Agricultural Experiment Station 1888
Capt Benjamin E. Tripp of New Bedford son of William Tripp in a letter written January 17 1900 kindly furnished the following information:
To begin with as far back as 1854 John Macomber of Westport living near what is now called Central Village but then called Westport townhouse and my father William Tripp both of them ran teams to New Bedford as marketmen. They took the matter in hand to see if they could not by crossing different strains of fowl get better layers than the fowls in the surrounding country and also better looking poultry for the market. The result of their trials was the production of the so called Rhode Island Reds of today.
Previous to that they were called the John Macomber or the Tripp fowls. It is only about eight years since they were called the Rhode Island Reds. My father and Mr Macomber exchanged I think twelve hens and a cockerel and it was a rivalry between the two who would get the best results. My father obtained the best results and in doing it he crossed the fowls through two generations by putting a Chitagong cock with the pullets he had raised from what was called the Cochin China these being the original fowl that they both started with. The result proved so satisfactory to both Mr Macomber and my father that they both kept the strain for their own use for about five years but kept picking out the best looking pullets and cockerels that they both raised and exchanged cocks until they came up to the present standard. On the start it was the intention of both my father and Mr Macomber to get the best layers and what would dress off as the best looking fowls for the market. The original Cochin China as they were called at that time were about all feathered on the legs and also on the feet but by continuous picking out of pullets and cockerels without feathers on their feet and legs he got out of them. He also picked the pullets and cockerels with bright yellow legs and marketed those that were off colored. After the death of Mr Macomber no one in Westport seemed to take an interest in the fowls. My father still kept changing and crossing but did not get any that suited like the old sort as he used to call them. He also tried to cross them with Light Bramas also with Plymouth Rocks but was not satisfied as the chicks did not seem so hardy as the originals. When his fowl began to take the lead as winter layers which if my memory is correct was about thirty five years ago people wanted to get some of the Tripp fowl and commenced to come after eggs to set as they found out that his fowl were great layers and he also got three to four cents more per dozen for his eggs than the rest of the farmers in the town.
At that time the farmers were doing quite a business with fowl but nothing compared with the present time. You wanted to know about the characteristics of my father as a fowl fancier. Not until the few last years of his life did he take so much pains about the build and plumage of the cockerels as long as they did not have black feathers on the body and feathers on the legs. They had to have bright yellow legs to be kept In the last of his fowl raising he was picking for the best looking plumage best shape and not too coarse boned fowl. You are at liberty to publish anything I have written as regards the Rhode Island Reds so called a name that was given them by Isaac C Wilbour of Little Compton one of the large poultry and egg producers. As he told me himself he thought it a good name for them.
The following notes relative to the location and distribution of the Rhode Island Reds were kindly supplied by Dr NB Aldrich of Fall River under date of Dec 31 1899
In 1890 I could not obtain any history of the Rhode Island Reds out side of the territory bounded by the Seaconnet river the Atlantic ocean the east branch of Westport river and the Massachusetts line. The great poultry farmers on the south shore Sisson Tripp Seabury Manchester Beebe Brown Wilbour etc all bred Rhode Island Reds in 1890 and fine flocks they were. At Miss Tripp’s north of the south shore one mile from Levi Sisson’s I obtained the history of her flock that dated back forty years now fifty years. She remembered her father bringing the red rooster home and they have bred the fowls ever since. There were rose and single comb fowls I should say more rose than single. They were undoubtedly of the old rose and single comb red Shanghai blood. At Tiverton Four Corners in 1891 I obtained as fine a specimen of rose combed Rhode Island Red cock as I ever saw in my life red to the skin and to day his blood is undoubtely to be found in some of the best strains of Buff Wyandottes as well as in some good strains of Rhode Island Reds. The first Reds on the Island of Rhode Island were at Bateman’s Point Newport from my eggs Later they were found in the neighborhood of Portsmouth In 1891 or 1892 I found practically no Rhode Island Reds on the Island or east of Hick’s bridge so called except one flock on the road to Horseneck Between Westport river and New Bedford there were no Reds in the early nineties Tolman’s Reds Bay View House Tiverton were raised from eggs obtained from Mr Cottrell in 1892 or 1893 Mr Cottrell’s Reds were called Red Malays They were all single comb not a rose comb in the flock and some of the best Buff Rock strains date back to these single comb Reds of Mr Cottrell’s In the Tiverton country the Reds were not rose comb but single and were called Malays more often than they were called Rhode Island Reds These Reds had no suggestion of Leghorn blood in them The rose comb Rhode Island Reds now in Tiverton were obtained from Little Compton. At Westport head of river the Reds looked Leghorny. There was no doubt some rose comb Leghorn blood in some of the flocks. At Central Village the Rhode Island Reds were rose and single comb and were bred in large numbers by Mr Booth and Mr Kirby both of whom are now dead and others between Central Village Hick’s bridge and Westport Point. At Little Compton there were rose and single comb Rhode Island Reds I have no doubt the rose comb came from the rose comb Shanghai cock rather than from any Wyandotte or rose comb Leghorn blood although the latter could occasionally be seen quite plainly Very little Wyandotte blood could be found Occasionally some white Wyandotte blood could be found introduced from cockerels raised by Fred Bowen of Fall River but 19 NOTES ON RHODE ISLAND REDS 327
the rose comb I am sure antedated any introduction of Wyandotte or Leghorn blood that is in the neighborhood of Little Compton south shore I exhibited single comb Rhode Island Reds at New York in January 1892 and won prizes on them in the miscellaneous class as Rhode Island Reds On visiting the William Tripp place Little Compton RI in October 1899 and consulting with Miss Rebecca Tripp daughter of the originator of the Rhode Island Reds information was obtained confirming several points already mentioned This estimable lady also furnished the writer with a photograph of her late father a reproduction of which accompanies this paper An illustration is also given showing the home of William Tripp on the farm The Maples where the Rhode Island Reds originated In the flock on this farm descended from the original stock were found three cockerels having respectively single rose and pea combs shown herewith in an illustration reproduced from a photograph of the heads of these three cockerels Illustrations are also given of some of the poultry farms of eastern Rhode Island where the Rhode Island Reds are grown in large numbers