Red Stars-true breed?

[JodyJo]

here are 2 shots of mine...beautiful birds.

 

[Pele]

You're getting awesome and accurate info in this thread. It's unfortunate, but breeding the actual hybrid itself will be a game of gene roulette.

I have found my birds to be docile, quiet, and very curious and sweet. I have heard that some people have not had luck with the personalities on their Red SLs, but I personally attribute that to individual hatchery lines.

Here's an interesting pic of what the females and males look like all grown up. They are both Red SLs:

 

[Rathbone]

We call ours the "viejitas" - the little old ladies. They are sweet if skittish. I am hoping they feather up some. I am embarrassed someone will see them and think they are mistreated.

 

[aggie9296]

Quote:
That is not a breed characteristic. That is a probable lack of protein. Or mites or something.

 

[Rathbone]

THANK YOU! I will try to make extra protien available. I know she fed them organically and raised a lot of veggies for them. All her other breeds DID NOT look like this. So we will see if the extra protein helps.

 

[Pele]

Quote:
That is not a breed characteristic. That is a probable lack of protein. Or mites or something.

I agree. I have noticed that Red SLs seem to need higher protien than your average bird going into their third year. They probably have wrung themselves out by that time producing eggs like crazy on just regular layer feed. I feel that if you have a bird producing double volume of eggs from a normal bird, you're going to need higher protien for them to sustain it.

I don't feed my girls on anything less than 18%, and I also give them greek yogurt for an extra protien kick. I can't imagine trying to keep up with losing 6 grams of protien a day, and then sustaining my own muscle mass and body functions. Poor girls.

 

[donrae]

I don't have rsl, have a couple of bsl though. They're 3 1/2 yrs, laying great and have nice shiny feathers. We feed an all in one 18% with all the food scraps they can get before the dog chases them away.

 

[Tres Amigas]

We love our sex links! They were sold as "Golden Comets." They are calm, sweet and excellent layers. They laid all through winter with no additional light or heat and they lay huge, delicious brown eggs!

 

[aggie9296]

Mine are 8 months and have been laying an egg a day each for about 3 months. Even in the heat. They get meat scraps, cottage cheese, and meal worms as extra protein.

 

[Rathbone]

Those little gals are growing on me. One has a completely bare rump. We called her Fanny. One is quite delicately framed. We called her Minnie. The others still remain under the group name the "viejitas". I have them cooped seperately from my other hens so in the mornings I open their coop door first and give them some hard boiled eggs and...cockroaches (I know - yucky! but it is a fact of life here so I try to make do with what nature provides and I set up roach traps in the night and in the morning the chickens get an extra treat) and then I let the other hens out - that way the Viejitas get a chance to eat up the high protein snacks before I let the other hens out.