Production Reds

[troy4]

Not exactly I believe the LegHorn is.I had a sweet little leghorn she died though!Her Name was Foggy AKA Fogsters

 

[PBGGG]

Aw cute! I really want to get into breeding and selling chickens soon, once we get more of our land cleared out because right now every inch of space has some kind of animal in it!

 

[One Chick Two]

Love all the pictures!

Sometime in the future I am hoping to breed and sell Production Reds. I heard they were the most popular breed of chicken in the US, is this true?

I don't know about them being most popular, but they are definitely prevalent, often extremely friendly, and extremely good at their job of laying eggs. A highly underrated hybrid breed, IMO.

Keep in mind if you decide to breed them, that being a hybrid of RIR, Leghorn and New Hampshire Red, in the second generation, the offspring will often not lay as well as the first, as their varied genetics becomes diluted.

If you do decide to breed them, you will need to be diligent to make sure to use only very large, solid/ wide hens, with wide tail width tents (helps with egg production). No thin or pinched tails. Put those few, carefully chosen breeder hens in a pen, record, and choose the hens is laying the largest eggs, most eggs consistently (for about a year). I would only use those hens who have very excellent production as that is what this hybrid is best known for. Their production will drop off tremendously if not monitored carefully.

Also, look at egg color (avoid white), very brittle feathers, make sure they have yellow legs. No genetic issues, weak vigor/ health, etc. Since they are a hybrid who mostly resemble RIR (out of the three bird lines in their genetics,) I would at least make sure their body type is somewhat similar to theirs. Feathering color is least important in this stage and is up to you, but, I would try to avoid white in the feathering- if possible.

With your rooster, I would get one who is large, weighty, with good, wide breast, nice width in hips/ tail, not pinched. Again, I would go generally with RIR type, so he should have a broad, flat back. He should have excellent vigor, great fertility, and a good personality. Color again, is not as important as these are not purebreeds, but, I would try to avoid white feathering.

 

[ChazzanHillel]

If they are cockerels, by what age would they start crowing? The ones pictured are about 6 1/2 months old.

I purchased them at what I was told was 4 months and that they were female.

 

[One Chick Two]

If they are cockerels, by what age would they start crowing? The ones pictured are about 6 1/2 months old.

I purchased them at what I was told was 4 months and that they were female.

Ours started crowing at 9 months old. lol Late, I know- Thought for sure something was wrong. They just didn't have anything to say at first, lol. Often, if there is another, adult crowing rooster around they just won't draw extra attention to themselves. Ours were raised by an adult Bantam rooster, and he still keeps them in line. lol

Check so you know for sure the feathers.
Rooster tail feathers, hackle and saddle feathers in front of the tail are thin and pointy. Hen feathers in tail and saddle feathers are rounded. Even young cockerels will have tiny stubbs coming in at the base of the tail. Eventually they droop down.

L to R
Rooster tail feather, Hen tail feather, Hen saddle feather, Rooster saddle feather



Saddle feathers of a 12 week old pullet. Notice no feathers are thin, pointy and shiny?


Here's a 6 month old cockerel. See the pointy feathers on hackle, wing bow, and on saddle?

 

[ChazzanHillel]

Wow, thanks for that explanation! Yes, if that last one pictured there is a cockerel, that looks the closest to mine that I've seen yet. They do have those bigger green tail feathers. Yikes, I'm gonna need a name change lol

 

[PBGGG]

I don't know about them being most popular, but they are definitely prevalent, often extremely friendly, and extremely good at their job of laying eggs. A highly underrated hybrid breed, IMO.

Keep in mind if you decide to breed them, that being a hybrid of RIR, Leghorn and New Hampshire Red, in the second generation, the offspring will often not lay as well as the first, as their varied genetics becomes diluted.

If you do decide to breed them, you will need to be diligent to make sure to use only very large, solid/ wide hens, with wide tail width tents (helps with egg production). No thin or pinched tails. Put those few, carefully chosen breeder hens in a pen, record, and choose the hens is laying the largest eggs, most eggs consistently (for about a year). I would only use those hens who have very excellent production as that is what this hybrid is best known for. Their production will drop off tremendously if not monitored carefully.

Also, look at egg color (avoid white), very brittle feathers, make sure they have yellow legs. No genetic issues, weak vigor/ health, etc. Since they are a hybrid who mostly resemble RIR (out of the three bird lines in their genetics,) I would at least make sure their body type is somewhat similar to theirs. Feathering color is least important in this stage and is up to you, but, I would try to avoid white in the feathering- if possible.

With your rooster, I would get one who is large, weighty, with good, wide breast, nice width in hips/ tail, not pinched. Again, I would go generally with RIR type, so he should have a broad, flat back. He should have excellent vigor, great fertility, and a good personality. Color again, is not as important as these are not purebreeds, but, I would try to avoid white feathering.

Wow, thanks for all the info! I will make sure to take this info to help me when I start breeding them!

 

[One Chick Two]

Wow, thanks for all the info! I will make sure to take this info to help me when I start breeding them!

Just one more thing to keep in mind- in your F1 generation especially, you should get ALOT of feet on the ground to choose from.
20 birds won't really cut it. We had 100 at one point, and we only have one male and one female that I would even consider bringing onto another generation, and even they both have areas I would prefer to improve. Size is really difficult to bring back if you lose it, and this hybrid doesn't always have the biggest hens, so be really aware of that.

In our case, we are choosing body size, flat back, and the laying amount of Large- XL egg laying in that hen. In the rooster, size, weight, fertility and an exceptionally wide tail. Unfortunately, he doesn't have an extra long back, once we can get better hens, back length will be worked on.

He has less rounding in the breast than I would prefer, but the cockerel I showed you above was actually my first choice due to his back, massive size and quick growing ability, but after an unfortunate raven attack that took out one eye, I noticed he had a slipped wing. I don't know if it's genetic or from the attack (He was very hurt.) so, we can't possibly breed that possible fault into the next generation.

 

[One Chick Two]

Wow, thanks for that explanation! Yes, if that last one pictured there is a cockerel, that looks the closest to mine that I've seen yet. They do have those bigger green tail feathers. Yikes, I'm gonna need a name change lol

LOL

Yes, that's Rhode Island Rhett.

One of my fav. all time chickens is a PR rooster named, Red Chicken. He asks to be picked up and held, and we walk together while I do rounds and check in on the other chickens. He has amazing manners, and is a hugger too. A really good PR rooster can add so much to the dynamics of a flock! : )

 

[Dee Dee 2]

Bob, You are SO correct. Most casual chicken owners, like as lot of the BYC family, think a red chicken is a R.C.R.I.R. I prefer to call them Feed Store Red Chickens. I do have a true Rose Comb Rhode Island Red roo. He is a looker ! And (so far +1 yr.) is as sweet as he can be. Maybe the horror stories of 'mean' RIR roo is because they arent real RIR to start with.