Cherry Eggers Vs the Real Rhode Island Reds

[catdaddyfro]

DELETED double post OOPs

 

[Robert Blosl]

I've had both.

Production reds / cherry eggers / red comets.... whatever you want to call them - are fast growing, medium size birds that lay great the first year, maybe the second year too, then are usually burnt out. Great for fast eggs and lots of them. Body size is medium with not a lot of meat if you eat the culls like we do. Nothing wrong with them. Here is some I had for around 20 years.



They are cheap, easy to find and raise, will provide you with tons of eggs to eat or sell. I personally don't have any problem with them at all. I think there is room for both kinds in this world. Like I said, I raised them most of my life.



But once you see in person a true, bred to the Standard Of Perfection, heritage type Rhode Island Red....


It's apples to oranges.

Here are some pictures from my current flock taken this afternoon.



Compared to the hatchery birds I've had, these are at least 50% heavier and gentle as lambs. I'm getting almost as many eggs and these should lay for years. Eggs are larger and more uniform too. Feed ratio is better with my new birds and I've lost none as chicks except to predators. The hatchery birds I lost an average of 5% in the brooder alone and another 5 to 10 % before they started laying. The hatchery birds started laying at about 5 months old, these started around 8 months old. But where the hatchery birds were grown by 8 or 9 months old, these are still growing and are almost a year old.

I'm hooked!




Just my 2 cents.....

edited because I can't spell.

Wow look at your Rose Comb male. This is one of the best looking males I have seen in years

.MaNy ask me that they live in Maine or Michigan and want a dual purpose bird that cant take the cold winters. This line you have are true to God Rhode Island Reds. Just think about it for a minute there are no Cherry Eggers or Commercial Rose Comb Rhode Island Red large fowl. The cousins that we talk about here are the ones that went down the road in the 1930s and lost all thier routes for high egg production. You will never see a Prouduction Cherry Egger Rhode Island Red Bantam in Single Comb or Rose Comb.

Its just the single come version that dominates the head lines and all the pictures on the internet.

If you go to Bing.com and type in Rhode Island Reds the pictures you will see on the internet that come from webs sites or posts like on this board or from musiums are dominated by the light colored birds. They get all the credit to the breed when in fact they are not even true to breed at all.

These Rose Combs at least the male are stunning in color and shape. Keep breeding this line and you will have some very prized birds and we will send the beginner to your home for new stock. This is what the folks who want something old fashion are looking for. They want to be part of the minute 0.5% of us who are preserving the rare and old fashion breeds.

You wont find these RoseComb chickens in any farm store or catalog. This is one of the best displays of what I have been trying to get across to the new beginners who think they have the real Mccoys.

Please show us pictures of these young birds as they start laying. What a great sight to see on this web site. You stain is a excellent one and one of the tops in America. bob

 

[galanie]

Not wanting to steer this to another breed, so I'll keep this pretty general. The comment about the real McCoy being 50% larger and docile in contrast to hatchery birds is right on. Same about the egg laying. Hatcheries really are not doing us a service by providing the poor quality birds they do. I was astonished at the reputation my favorite breed has in laying. They lay great though not quite as often as a sex link, and the hatchery ones supposedly crossed for better laying don't lay any better than the true breeder birds while being half the size.

As for naming, around here any red bird is called a Rhode Island red and they're all sex linked crosses. Even if the feed store labeled them plainly, "Red Sex Links" the people bring them home and tell everyone they have some Rhode Island Reds. Makes me want to scream.

 

[Robert Blosl]

I feel your pain yet 99.9/10 of back yard chicken people think this is the real rhode island red. They have no clue about the history of chickens and what they once looked like. Then they choose the breed of their liking from the picture that is next to the name they like. They say to them selves Alice this sure is a pretty chicken. It is the standard of perfection print that was used in the APA Standard of Perfection when the colored standard came out. Yet when they get their red chickens the defend them that they got as the real Rhode Island Reds.

Whats wrong with people?

At least we got a look at some real Rose Comb Rhode Island Reds in Mississippi and no one but no one can say they can get these birds at the feed store or the back of Mother Earth News. bob

 

[galanie]

This is one of my biggest gripes about hatcheries. They do not post pictures of the actual breeding stock used to produce the birds they hatch nor does the description match what you're really doing to get when you order their birds. As you said, the pictures and description comes from the standard. The only people I've heard say that their birds are as big as the website says they are supposed to be, when questioned, never actually weighed their birds. I'm sure they'd be shocked if they did. Not only on a Rhode Island Red, but especially on a really fluffy breed like the Orpington. Oh sure the hatchery birds look big, but a trip to the scales is a real eye opener.

 

[Fred's Hens]

This is one of my biggest gripes about hatcheries. They do not post pictures of the actual breeding stock used to produce the birds they hatch nor does the description match what you're really doing to get when you order their birds. As you said, the pictures and description comes from the standard. The only people I've heard say that their birds are as big as the website says they are supposed to be, when questioned, never actually weighed their birds. I'm sure they'd be shocked if they did. Not only on a Rhode Island Red, but especially on a really fluffy breed like the Orpington. Oh sure the hatchery birds look big, but a trip to the scales is a real eye opener.

Almost every hatchery claims they use a Rhode Island White in one of their sex link crosses. But, isn't the true RIW incredibly rare, and do they not have a rose comb? Yet, every RIW(sic) pictured has a single comb. None of this stops people from parroting the fact that RIW is used in RSL they bought from hatchery X.

Sorry for the distraction, but just speaking of things that drive you nuts about hatchery descriptions........ well, enough of that.

 

[galanie]

I didn't catch it, but you're right Fred!

 

[holyhart]

I have to admit, I got excited about this thread when I read the name "cherry eggers",,,,I thought it was going to be a litle like olive eggers, but pink eggs instead of green. A little dissapointing.

 

[draye]

Why all the hatchery bashing?
That was not what this thread is about.
Really folks, nocall for it.

I have had Cherry Eggers in the past, and liked them, great layers. My dad has some now and they are great layers, they did start out a little small on the egg size but after about 2-3 months laying they increased to large and extra large eggs.

 

[enel 1]