Red Birds:Cofusion and arguing:

[Michael OShay]

I'm going to lay a few facts down right now......

A production red hen is a very generic term. It could mean new Hampshire's or Rhode island reds which are very poor quality in terms of breed standard but produce more than average eggs for the breed.
A production red could also be a cross breed or hybrid which is composed of a gold cockerel bred with a silver hen. This will produce yellow male chicks and brown female chicks. This is called sex linkage. The males are killed day one which is why you do not see them for sale. Because of this no one realises that they are actually white. Therefore already you can see the production red hybrid/cross does not breed true.

. Hatcheries do not market gold (or red) cockerels X silver hens as Production Reds. These are Red Sex Links and are marketed under a lot of different labels (Gold Sex Link, Red Star, Golden Buff, Golden Comet, and the list goes on and on), but not "Production Red." The birds hatcheries market under the label Production Red are red cockerels X red hens. In fact, there is often little or no difference between their Production Reds and their "hatchery quality" Rhode Island Reds.

 

[maxsgoldens]

I don't know about the us but in UK hatcheries do not sell anything known as production reds, due to the pointlessness of it when you can buy a red hybrid/cross or abackyard quality pure bred

 

[Chris09]

They look like two Rhode island reds and a new hampshire

Not even close, to either breed. That's a production fowl...

 

[enola]

I don't know about the us but in UK hatcheries do not sell anything known as production reds, due to the pointlessness of it when you can buy a red hybrid/cross or abackyard quality pure bred

In the USA hatcheries sell a lot of chickens that are of very dubious breeding. If you compare any of the chickens that have a matching "Heritage" counter part, you will see what I mean. When you take these (poor specimens of the breed they represent) chickens and breed them forward, you get more chickens that hardly represent the breeds they represent. However, most of them lay VERY well. So, the hatcheries cross these breeds and produce chickens that they label with many different names.

Actually, as long as we are happy with the chickens we have, it really doesn't make any difference if they are cross bred, hybrids or "purebreds" with no SOP. And as long as hatcheries keep offering them under all of the mismatched labels that they are using, it is hard to tell what the parentage is anyway.

And then there is the whole Araucana, Ameraucana, Easter Egger/Americana mess that the hatcheries have created...........

 

[matt44644]

 

[Chris09]

That's the thing. Not all production red is a hybrid. If it has only two parent breeds it is just a cross breed, but if one of its parents or even both are cross breeds then it is a hybrid. It needs 3 different parental breeds or more to be a hybrid

Not exactly true,

(general) Any of mixed origin or composition, or the combination of two or more different things.
(biology) An offspring resulting from the cross between parents of different species or sub-species.
(molecular biology) A complex formed by joining two complementary strands of nucleic acids

 

[maxsgoldens]

Not exactly true,

But you have just gone on wikipedia and looked at hybrids as a whole term. A hybrid layer is not the result of a turkey x chicken is it? Of you are going to use the internet look for hybridisation of domestic poultry. Not the breeding of chickens with other species of poultry though

 

[enola]

Thank you!!

 

[mayble]

That's the thing. Not all production red is a hybrid. If it has only two parent breeds it is just a cross breed, but if one of its parents or even both are cross breeds then it is a hybrid. It needs 3 different parental breeds or more to be a hybrid

I'm curious - where does this definition come from?
A sex-link is technically no more a hybrid than a golden-doodle is a hybrid. Who defines "hybrid", when it comes to chickens?

 

[Chris09]

But you have just gone on wikipedia and looked at hybrids as a whole term. A hybrid layer is not the result of a turkey x chicken is it? Of you are going to use the internet look for hybridisation of domestic poultry. Not the breeding of chickens with other species of poultry though

One I don't use Wikipedia, anybody can post what they want on there and most is incorrect.

Quote: Of you are going to use the internet look for hybridisation of domestic poultry. Not the breeding of chickens with other species of poultry though

I could pull out some books and information that I have on this situation, but if I remember right those school/ collage book on Horticulture and Livestock Breeding and Nutrition are going to say much the same that I already did.

Also don't forget a meaning in the U.K. is much different than that same word in the U.S. and your on a U.S. site.

Quote:
A hybrid layer is not the result of a turkey x chicken is it?
A hybrid? Yes.
A hybrid layer? No.