rirs and production reds?

[AnimalLover99]

are Rhode island reds and production reds the same? if not, whats the difference?

 

[jdavis]

production reds are a cross of rir and new hampshire reds.

 

[Chris09]

The "heritage/non-hatchery" Rhode Island Reds origin can be dated back to the middle 1840s and one of the oldest breed of chicken to be developed in America. The early Rhode Island Red sported three types of combs, the first was the Pea comb which received its comb type from the Chittagong (Brahma) second is the Single comb which received its comb type from the Chinese Shanghai (Royal Cochin China) and the Rose comb which received its comb type from the Red Java. Today the Rhode Island Red only sports two of the three types of combs the Rose and the Single comb. The R.I. Red should be a dark Red Mahogany color, brick shape and weighing around 8½ lbs for cocks and 6½ lbs for hens.

Spin Off breeds of the Rhode Island Red are the New Hampshire and the Production Red.

The Production Reds can come in two different lines, the first of the two was bred solely from the R.I. Red as with the New Hampshire but was bred more for the egg production.
The second type of Production Red is a R.I. Red with some Leghorn blood added to add to the egg production and may have added to the brown-ish color of some of the Production Red that some hatcheries call there, "Dark Rhode Island Reds".

Neither of the two Production Reds line look like, or perform like a true Rhode Island Red.
Now there are more hatcheries starting a "new" line of Production Red which is a Rhode Island Red/ New Hampshire cross, but to me there nothing more than a cross and not a "true" Production Red that was bred for performance egg laying. ​

Chris

 

[Chris09]

production reds are a cross of rir and new hampshire reds.

Not all Production Reds are a Rhode Island Red/ New Hampshire Cross.
Also the Breed is New Hampshire and not a New Hampshire red.

Chris

 

[A.T. Hagan]

A "Production Red" can be whatever the breeder says it is. No way to know for sure until you ask them specifically what went into the breeding of their birds.

I've seen some call commercial red sex-links "Production Reds." I've seen some call RIR/New Hampshire crosses "Production Reds." And I've seen some call a red colored chicken of completely unknown provenance "Production Reds." The phrase has essentially become meaningless except for two things - the bird is more or less red colored and it's likely not bred for show. It may or may not be a good layer.

 

[aoxa]

I'm glad you asked this, as I have a good picture example

Production red on right, true RIR on left. So easy to tell the difference...

 

[Chris09]

IF one wants to they could say that ANY fowl that is bought from a hatchery is a is a Production Breed i.e.
Production Red, Production Barred Plymouth Rock, Production Wyandotte and so on since hatcheries breed for quantity/ production and not quality of the fowl.

Chris

 

[cmom]

This is my Heritage RIR boy. He is such a dark red he almost looks black.



This is another of my RIR boys (not Heritage)

 

[AnimalLover99]

thanks all! im going to email the store to see which one i have

 

[Fred's Hens]

If one buys their chicks from a generic hatchery, or, from a feed store that simply resells hatchery chicks, which is 95% of what folks here own, then it is to be expected that one has purchased production or at least, off type, birds. Not that they aren't nice, healthy, sometimes pretty, often quite productive, but the odds of getting a true to type, heritage RIR, Barred Rock, New Hampshire, Delaware or any other breed is about like trying to win MegaMillions lottery. The odds are over-whelmingly against it.