Sagitta Breed - Looking for Info

[EJonFire]

Those look exactly like my babies that I have right now that I got from Pinepride hatchery and he calls his the Red Star Freedom Ranger...Hmmmm wonder if they are the same bird.. Some of mine are naked necks though..

Sagitta is a Centurian Poultry patented hybrid; it is not the same as red star freedom ranger, etc.

I have just one Sagitta hen, who is now one year-old and weighs 5 pounds, she is far more productive than my other standard breeds (wyandottes, australorp, orpington). She lays the largest eggs of the group and is the most consistent. She started laying at 17 weeks, 4 weeks earlier than her sisters, but also grew at least 50% faster than everyone else. When I bought the chick from Wilco (who bought her from Dunlap) , I was told that it was a RIR x NH hybrid, which is only partially correct. It's a feather sexable hybrid produced by Centurian Poultry by crossing a (New Hampshire X Rhode Island Red) rooster with a White Cornish hen. While they were created for commercial dual-purpose production, she does quite well free range foraging and eating scraps, which consist of most of her diet. She's a real sweety, and is my 5yo daughter's favorite to hold. It's a pretty good variety, although from Centurian's literature, I think I may need to try their gold sex link Bovan Brown next time.

 

[BoiseBurb]

Well, I figured I better finish off my experience with the Sagittas on this thread. When we took the chickens out to my friends farm, they were doing well. Most of them except for a few darker ones had little fear of humans. During the day, they would lay out in sun with one leg stretched out. They had dog/pet qualities to them. And there was the problem.

My friends dog got into the coop and took them all out. There was little fight or flight instinct to them.

 

[JRchickchick]

So sad!

 

[nwbella]

We got a couple Sagittas last year. Our local feed store told us they were a mix of RI Red, NH Red, and Slow Cornish. One died after a couple months, but was enormous and hung out by the feeder all day (Slow Cornish?). The other one is wonderful. She's the first hen to come running to me. And loves being petted. We named her Big Bertha because of her size. We don't think she layed the first year or at least was never caught in the nesting boxes. She's been laying since January and the eggs are Jumbo. Enjoy your Sagittas! We certainly enjoy our big girl.

 

[nwbella]

I'm so sorry. Just read your last post.

 

[mommiextwo]

Hi! I just bought a Sagitta chick today! She is lovely, a real beauty. Her marking are really unusual and striking. She has kind of a racer stripe down her back. The mgr at the ranch supply said they are typically very friendly, docile birds and are on the larger side. She fit right in with the other 7 chicks I already got this week. She'll be my only Sagitta so it'll be interesting to see how she compares with other breeds. Yeah, I couldn't find much of anything online about them, either.
Oh, wanted to say that the mgr. said they carried these last year and had farmers coming in requesting that they order them again as they came from a different breeder than their regular supplier. It was like a special order or something. The buyers here were raving about them.

 

[mommiextwo]

Nwbella and BoiseBurb, I'm sorry about your pretty girls and your losses all around, too.

 

[Farmtruck]

I have a few of these birds and at first I thought they were just dark colored New Hampshire Reds but nope they are not. Here is some info on them and where I purchased them up here in Idaho.

“The Sagitta is a dual purpose bird that is a cross between a Rhode Island Red, New Hampshire Red and Cornish Cross. They are a heavy, docile breed that will provide large eggs as well as a nice size bird on the table.”

Here is the webpage and a couple of pictures.

http://www.dunlaphatchery.net/standards.aspx

 

[pascopol]

Anybody tried to breed them? I wonder if they will breed true. I am on my way of exploring possibilities of raising real good meat birds. I have Light Sussex, just got some Dorkings, planning to get Dark Cornish soon and lets the games begin!

So far trying most dual purpose breeds for meat over the years I found their meat is tough and bland in taste. Exception White Sussex their meat is good.

Lately some idea hit me:

If somebody (like most of us) keeps a few breeds anyway, why bother with "dual purpose breeds" which are "dual" but really not very good for either egg production (efficiency) or meat (weight and quality).

So I decided to get rid of my "duals" keeping only Light Sussex for future crosses. For eggs I am raising Brown Leghorns and their cross with Easter Eggers. Very prolific and thrifty egg producers.

After years of believing that brown eggs are somehow "better" than white shelled eggs I found out that egg taste is what you feed your chicks and has nothing to do with shell color. I did several tests, my wife peeled the boiled eggs or broke them for scrambled or omlet, so I did not know if they are white eggs or brown eggs, after boiling of frying them I could not tell which are "better tasting" or any difference in taste.

I know many will disagree, but I recommend that simple test and find out if you can tell the difference.

I guess I ranted off the subject.

Sorry

So lets go back to Sagittas. Do they breed true?

I really do not expect definite answer, I posted some questions about Dark Cornish, never get any answers, so I am probably going to get some Sagittas and find out myself.

 

[Everstuff]

I just picked up a few of these birds this last week. I got them from Valley Co-op in Gooding, Id. The manager there is a friend, we got pigs from him last year to raise and he was raving about them then. I picked up 15 of the Creep Meat cornish, and then 6 other birds. The manager grabbed them for me. I had no idea what they were. Two are a yellow that looks like they rolled in ashes. Two are white with black blotches here and there, and two were the red sagittas. One with racing stripes and one with red and barred wings. I lost one little red one last night, and picked up three more little red ones with yellow-ish heads. The reds are a little smaller than the smugey yellows and the creepy meats, but their feathers are coming in faster.


I am keeping track of how much it costs to raise up the creepy meats, and my bottle calf on my blog. I'm curious to see what they all end up costing per pound. The cornish were for meat, and the others are for egg laying to replace jersey giants that are getting up there in age.

I also have a year old silver laced wyandotte roo the neighbors gave me. I keep hoping one of the jerseys will go broody soon. Two did last year. I's love to get a few chicks from a jersey/silver laced cross.