Any East Tennessee Chicken lovers here?

[mymilliefleur]

Hi!

Any Tennesseans here interested in talking chicken?

I'm located in Monroe county.

Thanks!

 

[purplehen]

Hi, I am in Loudon. Love talking chickens. Hope you have plans to come to the APA National show at the Jacob building on the fair grounds in Knoxville Dec. 6/7.
What breeds do you favor?

 

[mymilliefleur]

I live down near madisonville. My favorite breeds are probably Amiracouna's, wyondottes, blue andulusians, and black sexlinks. I also have some bantams. What are your favorites?

 

[RedRidge]

I'm in loudon and have standard bred RC RIR and Rhodebars.

 

[mymilliefleur]

I've heard of the Rhodebars before........Aren't they a good duel purpose breed? Do you eat the extra roo's? if so, what size do they weigh cleaned?

 

[RedRidge]

My standard bred RIR are true dual purpose. We butchered about 3 dozen 8 month old cockerels a few weeks ago who had excellent dressed weights - some in excess of 7 lbs.
The Rhodebars "should" be an autosexed, barred version of the standard bred RIR but most are a very poor representation of what they should be. Very few I've encountered hatch 100% autosexed chicks, many do not have correct barring, and none I've ever seen have what I would call good type. And more than half of those I've seen really aren't even Rhodebars at all but frequently folks aren't aware of that.
Consequently we have been working on a genetic improvement project with the Rhodebars for quite a few generations now and the first true Rhodebars that are 100% pure through our improvement project are now about a month old. They are turning out awesome with a ton of type and guaranteed 100% autosexing and correct barring. I'm really thrilled with them. Because their type is finally now approaching what is should be they will be excellent dual purpose birds. But the originals were not meaty, or brick shaped, or had much breasts at all. Each generation was an improvement over the previous.
One day soon I hope the Rhodebars will boast the true dual purpose qualities that the standard bred Reds are.

 

[mymilliefleur]

My standard bred RIR are true dual purpose. We butchered about 3 dozen 8 month old cockerels a few weeks ago who had excellent dressed weights - some in excess of 7 lbs.
The Rhodebars "should" be an autosexed, barred version of the standard bred RIR but most are a very poor representation of what they should be. Very few I've encountered hatch 100% autosexed chicks, many do not have correct barring, and none I've ever seen have what I would call good type. And more than half of those I've seen really aren't even Rhodebars at all but frequently folks aren't aware of that.
Consequently we have been working on a genetic improvement project with the Rhodebars for quite a few generations now and the first true Rhodebars that are 100% pure through our improvement project are now about a month old. They are turning out awesome with a ton of type and guaranteed 100% autosexing and correct barring. I'm really thrilled with them. Because their type is finally now approaching what is should be they will be excellent dual purpose birds. But the originals were not meaty, or brick shaped, or had much breasts at all. Each generation was an improvement over the previous.
One day soon I hope the Rhodebars will boast the true dual purpose qualities that the standard bred Reds are.

How do you raise your chickens? I get my sex link birds up to about five and a half pounds in 5 months. sounds like you have put a lot of time into your birds. If you can, I would like to see pic's of your breeding stock.

 

[RedRidge]

We grind, mix and ferment our own ration. The ration varies a little according to management group (adults vs chicks) and time of year. We rotationally graze all our livestock 8-9 months of the year with Kencove electronetting. The also raise BSF all summer and freeze them to feed the poultry over the winter since they are omnivores and require animal protein.

There are oodles of pictures in my profile and also on The Rhodebar Thread and The Heritage Rhode Island Red threads. In addition the Red Ridge Farm facebook page and webpage.
I also have some RIR I will be showing at the Knoxville show in Dec. The young cockerel in my avatar will be shown in Dec. He's just a baby in that pic but will be 9 months old in Dec. I'm showing two pullets also.

We raise cattle, sheep, poultry and rabbits for meat, dairy and show.

 

[mymilliefleur]

I also rotate my birds in kencove fence. I have raised black soldier fly's in the past and am looking into doing it again.
I checked out your web site. Interesting about Your Dexter's. I did not know they were milking cows. How much do you get from them a day if you don't mind my asking?

 

[RedRidge]

I milk share with the calf so I get about 1-1.5 gal/day above and beyond what the calf takes.