Bright red chickens?

[LadiesAndJane]

Good quality Rhode Island Reds (not hatchery) are a deep, almost mahogany red in color. Maybe that would be a good place to start? Good luck with your project!

 

[Chookchicken]

Perhaps if you figure out the colour of chick you want (search the colour red) then take a screen shot and upload it (or save the photo if your on computer). Then people will know what shade of red you want.

 

[The Kooky Kiwi]

Someone posted a link recently where everyone showed off their favourite fancy birds. I recall one member had some outstanding birds.. in the most remarkable mahogany's and reds. But yeh.. the red of a cardinal.. that would be a very tough objective.

 

[MysteryChicken]

Show quality New Hampshire reds are the closest I can think of. Though, compared to a cardinal, they’re more orange.

My New Hampshire cockerel certainly a bright red orange, but super human aggressive, so he ended up in the freezer.

 

[MysteryChicken]

The New Hampshire I used to have.

 

[MysteryChicken]

I might have another picture with him included, but not sure though.

 

[The Kooky Kiwi]

Here are some of the links to the birds that had the really stunning red!

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[sdm111]

The

Someone posted a link recently where everyone showed off their favourite fancy birds. I recall one member had some outstanding birds.. in the most remarkable mahogany's and reds. But yeh.. the red of a cardinal.. that would be a very tough objective.

thanks
I have more lots more lol

 

[sdm111]

The problem is getting anything to breed true if you're trying to make something. And also I've found that the more tightly bred the less striking the colors get.

 

[Windrider]

Is is possible to breed a chicken that is the true red of a cardinal and not just the brilliant orange-red of a well bred New Hampshire rooster?

Absolutely!

Just not by a hatchery or backyard breeder.

The genetics for the true red pigment do not exist in chickens. So getting there by selective breeding isn't going to happen. That doesn't mean it can't be inserted into the chicken genome by some "mad scientist" type who could go through the trouble of isolating the color gene sequence in cardinals and insert it into chickens using CRISPR or something similar.

If you've been to a PetCo recently, you've seen GloFIsh. They are transgenic; they carry a gene sequence for fluorescence isolated from jellyfish. Actually, a similar thing happened in chickens, though naturally, when a retrovirus brought the blue egg gene into the chicken genome where it didn't exist before. That is kind of a thing with retroviruses, and is how some genes get modified, mixed up, or added throughout evolutionary history.

I can't imagine anyone going to the trouble of making true red chickens, though. With all the push back against GMO, I doubt there would be a market for transgenic red chickens! So who would buy them?