How to create a Rhodebar

[ashleyjordan]

I would like to raise my own Rhodebars, and take it seriously. I know it could take years to perfect my own, but I need the formulae for breeding this type of chicken. I have found a chart for breeding Legbars, and assume it will work the same if I replaced the Leghorns with Rhode Island Reds. Is this correct? If not, I need all input or other routes I should take in breeding. Any help is appreciated. Anyone have any successful Rhodebars or Legbars or any other Bar mixed they'd be willing to share?

 

[rc50]

RIR X barred female... use the best male you can beg borrow or steal... from a good egg laying strain.... a barred female from a breed that is a good egg laying strain and one that lays brown eggs.. you could even use a Cuckoo Marans to get darker eggs....
From this cross you only want the very very best MALE that is true to type on the RIR .. remember you only want the barred gene... not a Rhodebar that looks like the barried female breed....
With this male you breed him to the very very best female RIRs you can get.... and you keep the very best females as these will be Rhodebars... then you must use one of these F2 males and back cross them to a Rhodebar female... yelding you the most wanted male in the Rhodebar world... a true breeding one of a kind double barred Rhodebar male.... he is the money bird... as you can get all the females you want from him by breeding him to RIR females.... this is the small breeder in the back yard method... but you will have your own strain.... this is the Punnett and Peace method....then you can go with the Hagedroon method that takes about 12 years... just remember this is your strain... it's not like you are a huge huge farm that everybody in the world buys your breeds just because they are a big big farm so they know what you're doing.... i mean you're just some guy with a couple pens in the back yard and have no idea what you're doing... :O)) so no one will care about your strain.... but you... do your home work... know more about the breed you want and love then you should know.... more than anyone should know... and cull... cull cull... somewhere some breeder once said something about the best breeding tool known to the breeder is the axe.... take no one persons word on anything... beleive what you see in your breeding... even if it's some highly rated all over the internet theoretical geneticist that can at leaast spell better than you do all the research you can over over and over again...
and pray...
the male Hampbar in my avatar is the result of years... years... and over 72 culls.... and then when he is three years old and nine pounds of top dog number one alpha ROOSTER in the world... two dogs not worth his oil gland will destory the pen he is in while you are out of town... eat all the females in with him and but due to the sheer monster bad boy that he is they can't eat him... but leave him under a tree next door.. where you find him... and three hours later he dies... and if all this is what you are looking for... then go kick some arse... and breed your owe strain .....


Keith
SC
USA

 

[BriskRooster]

sounds interresting... it would be fun to make my own breed once i get more advanced

 

[ashleyjordan]

@rc50 thank you so much. Yes, I am a teenage girl who has been fascinated by genetics all her life and now finally get a chance to fool around with breeding chickens. I don't mean to sell them for profit later but only completely for my own enjoyment. Your information will help a lot and I thank you. I am sorry for your loss of your Hampbar; that must have taken years to produce. And one last question: can Dominiques and new hampshires be used, or do I need to keep the strain completely RIR and BR, or use a little bit of both?

 

[rc50]

Hi.. yes you could do that... but the breed that you get your barring from should be a breed that brings with it something other than just barring to the table ... Dominiques that you mentioned would not be a good choice to me from a egglaying and comb stand point.... you want to stay with a single comb breed... there are breeders that would think you need burned at the stake for using anything BUT a Barred Rock... Even in the example case of using a Cuckoo Marans ...it is not ideal as they do not have yellow legs and you'd want a breed that did... For me don't breed in anything you don't want ... beacuse somewhere down the road something will cause havoc and will be harder now to breed out then if you never added it at all.... no matter what good you hoped to develop....


Keith
SC
USA

 

[rc50]

To be correct I did not "make my own breed" Hampbars are Autosexing birds that were created by some very very very smart people at UBC.... Short history lesson.... After WWI in England and lots of places else, there was a need to jump start the production of food... chickens.. eggs... So at Cambridge some guys there... Punnett (Punnett square fame.... ) and Peace were certain that barring was linked to sex.... they thought if they could add this gene to other breeds and if developed correctly they could be sexed at day old.... and in 1929 they did it... adding the barring gene to Gold Campines.... these birds didn't need fancy names they were created for utility... and named them Cambars.... so now all the farmers out there could sex their chicks.... great... but then WWII came along.... right at the height of Autosexing breeds... so little was done but try to kill the dreaded Hun... and they did, won the war,,,, The use of all the might of the USA and other powers won the day.... but now no war... so what do all these production engineers do? They take all they can do, bright ideas and apply them to EVERYTHING... even breeding and raising Poultry... so up go the factor farms,... the factor breeders.. and these wiz kids of the modern world create.....wait for it "The Sex Link.....) they can very very very easy be sexed at hatch they have what is called Hyber Vigor that happens when you cross two or more breeds together the chicks are super chicks... if egg layers... they lay like mad.... a Black Sexlink one example there are many more by many names... If meat birds they grown so fast their very bones can't keep up.... think Cornish X..... Now here is the kicker.... these birds are not a breed.. that's right not a breed they are only an F1 .. so they do not breed true... breed male to female you get mud....and out goes the Hyper Vigor.... oh boy, if not a breed when sold to the breeder he can't just breed his own.. he has to go back to the hatchery each every time he needs birds and he's going to need allot of birds.... Money Money Money...
So what you have just read is the death nell of Autosexing Breeds... I hope you catch the fact i said BREED... These sexlinked birds killed off the need for any of the Utility breeds.. they didn't keep up with the Hybrids... So there they were stuck... Most breeders like me and you .. breed for one thing one thing only... LOVE.. lol that is right LOVE... we love the breeds we have... So the Old line breeds that were there before the great creation of Sexlinks were saved cause some place back in most of your minds you have memories of a farm as a kid... a poultry show... some thing that broke into your heart and took hold and never will let go.... so you breed the breeds you love... give you joy... They survive from just that... and will live long after.... The Autosexing breeds have no such following... I have been to shows .. I talk about them here... I try to get the very best stock I can... i am ignored...forgotten... emails left unanswered... I understand and don't... Seems like most not ALL New Hampshire breeders just let me go my own way... lol that is ok too... A year or so ago I recieved an email from a long time New Hampshire breeder reading me the riot act over my Hampbars... lol in 17 years of breeding New Hampshires I have never heard of such a breed or nonsense...I was use to this... I didn't get mad... didn't send him a flaming email.... I simply educate him... let him know a few place on the net he could learn about Hampbars.... and to his credit.. he emailed me back and told me he was sorry.. full apogee.. I have a male... third generation... so full of it... most would say he is meaner then a snake... and crazy... He is just alpha dog... I don't think he is mean... not at all... just full of life... he's not yet a year old... so a cockerel... To him there is none other, he has life itself... and when I see that life it makes mine better... even if for a short time... so Autosexing breeds are new and they are not.... For me old time breeders wanted eggs and meat... they could pay their bills raising selling that... those guys are gone... but not forgotten neither is their hard work to create... they created... I meerly dream the dream....and show quality or not that's beautiful to me...

Keith
SC
USA

 

[RICHIEBARKER72]

The more I read the more confused I get lol

 

[ashleyjordan]

That was deep @rc50 and very interesting thank you for sharing it and I agree, there aren't a whole lot of people like you and me raising them just because we like the breeds. I have them because they give me eggs, by mostly because I have a special love for them and I don't know why, and a lot of people think I'm crazy but it's true. Glad you sympathize with me on that.

 

[ashleyjordan]

And just wondering what part of South Carolina are you from? I'm from darlington, which is in the pee see area

 

[rc50]

Hi.... thanks... I am over in Laurens County... Clinton area...

hope you re doing great


Keith
SC
USA