All Rhode Island Reds are heritage birds whether they came from a small scale breeder or a major hatchery.
"Production Reds" is a vague term that can mean anything. You have to ask the person that produced them specifically what went into the makeup of their birds. Some may be all Rhode Island Red, some crossed with another breed or variety such as New Hampshires or maybe even with Leghorns. You have to ask.
Whether a given breeder's or hatchery's Rhode Island Red birds are suitable or not depends on what you want them for. If you want to show then go with the show breeder. If you want a good dual purpose bird that lays well and grows quickly (for a non-hybrid) to a large size bird for butchering you're going to have to search a bit.
Show breeders and production breeders pretty well parted company decades ago. Now that hybrids rule the commercial world the situation has gotten even worse.
"Production Reds" is a vague term that can mean anything. You have to ask the person that produced them specifically what went into the makeup of their birds. Some may be all Rhode Island Red, some crossed with another breed or variety such as New Hampshires or maybe even with Leghorns. You have to ask.
Whether a given breeder's or hatchery's Rhode Island Red birds are suitable or not depends on what you want them for. If you want to show then go with the show breeder. If you want a good dual purpose bird that lays well and grows quickly (for a non-hybrid) to a large size bird for butchering you're going to have to search a bit.
Show breeders and production breeders pretty well parted company decades ago. Now that hybrids rule the commercial world the situation has gotten even worse.