- Mar 10, 2014
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Be
Beautiful chickens!! Thanks for sharing your pics. I've had 3 chickens for a year now, and just got a new batch of 6 chicks to add to our little flock. I guess I didn't know there was a distinction between hatchery chicks and non-hatchery chicks. How did you come upon such lovely varieties? We just buy ours from the local farm supply store... Now I'm wishing if done a bit more research before buying 2 of the cherry eggers.I've had both. Production reds / cherry eggers / red comets.... whatever you want to call them - are fast growing, medium size birds that lay great the first year, maybe the second year too, then are usually burnt out. Great for fast eggs and lots of them. Body size is medium with not a lot of meat if you eat the culls like we do. Nothing wrong with them. Here is some I had for around 20 years.
They are cheap, easy to find and raise, will provide you with tons of eggs to eat or sell. I personally don't have any problem with them at all. I think there is room for both kinds in this world. Like I said, I raised them most of my life. But once you see in person a true, bred to the Standard Of Perfection, heritage type Rhode Island Red.... It's apples to oranges. Here are some pictures from my current flock taken this afternoon.
Compared to the hatchery birds I've had, these are at least 50% heavier and gentle as lambs. I'm getting almost as many eggs and these should lay for years. Eggs are larger and more uniform too. Feed ratio is better with my new birds and I've lost none as chicks except to predators. The hatchery birds I lost an average of 5% in the brooder alone and another 5 to 10 % before they started laying. The hatchery birds started laying at about 5 months old, these started around 8 months old. But where the hatchery birds were grown by 8 or 9 months old, these are still growing and are almost a year old. I'm hooked!
Just my 2 cents.....
edited because I can't spell.
