Mystery Chicken

[lilliesanchicks]

Oh I see, so when you use the phrase "production red" you mean a hatchery quality RIR? Prior to this I thought that the phrase "production red" was synonymous with "sex link" layers eg Isa brown, Hi-line, etc. Thanks for clearing that up!

http://www.cacklehatchery.com/productionredpage.html
Some times they are inter bred and then called rir or production reds

 

[Tricoglossus]

OK, and do all the hatcheries in the US have their own variety of Production Red?

 

[lilliesanchicks]

OK, and do all the hatcheries in the US have their own variety of Production Red?

use search google or what ever you use "production red hatchery" and plenty will pop up.

 

[Fred's Hens]

OK, and do all the hatcheries in the US have their own variety of Production Red?

The problem is this. There is no "Breed police". Thus, in the US, the hatcheries crank out all kinds of birds, almost none of which are true bred to the Standard. They can and do call them anything they wish. Just about anything red gets called RIR, New Hamp, production red, etc. They sell all kinds of BLS, commercial blacks, tons of different Red Sex Links, most with some kind of "cute" name. They sell made up, invented versions of Easter Eggers too, passing them off as Americana (sic) and other invented names. It just is what it is.

We've got more Tints and Ambers and Reds than you can shake a stick at.

True bred, bred to the Standard birds here are really only going to be sourced from breeders. The rest is profits, marketing and salesmanship. The hatcheries serve a purpose. Available, healthy, cheap birds. That's what they do well. True bred birds? Not so much.

 

[WalkingOnSunshine]

The problem is this. There is no "Breed police". Thus, in the US, the hatcheries crank out all kinds of birds, almost none of which are true bred to the Standard. They can and do call them anything they wish. Just about anything red gets called RIR, New Hamp, production red, etc. They sell all kinds of BLS, commercial blacks, tons of different Red Sex Links, most with some kind of "cute" name. They sell made up, invented versions of Easter Eggers too, passing them off as Americana (sic) and other invented names. It just is what it is.

We've got more Tints and Ambers and Reds than you can shake a stick at.

True bred, bred to the Standard birds here are really only going to be sourced from breeders. The rest is profits, marketing and salesmanship. The hatcheries serve a purpose. Available, healthy, cheap birds. That's what they do well. True bred birds? Not so much.

Tricoglossus, For a good comparison of Production Red and RIR, go back a page and look at the differences between Fred's "real" RIR and my hatchery RIR. You'll see that mine is lighter in color than Fred's, has a less square body, and holds his tail higher. And even with all that, mine was actually a pretty darn good hatchery version of a RIR, one of the better I've seen. Some hatchery "RIR" are just awful. I feel better when hatcheries call their birds Production Red and are at least telling the truth.

 

[Tricoglossus]

Ok thanks for the info. It's interesting as we do not have hatcheries in Australia and we do not have the diversity of choice. You either find a hobby breeder for a specific breed or you buy an Isa Brown chick or pullet from the pet shop/feed store.