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You may have a valid point but I have noticed that the RIWs are slightly slimmer than Rocks. Either way I personally didnt buy them as a rare breed and I dont think they costed any more than the Rocks and I didnt even buy a RIW cockerel to breed them. The reason I got mine was becuase I wanted a dom white, silver gened strain of hens to make the Golden Comet looking sexlinks, and they served me well for that purpose. BUT Saying that reminds me off a point that does separate them from Rocks is that these hens carry Dominant white when most strains of White Rocks are Recessive white AND many strains of White Rocks do not carry the Silver genes needed to produce sexlinks. So thats a separating point there and there arent many hatcheries that carry RIWs anyway and so I dont really think it would be worth it to lie about what they are selling as far as that goes, but like someone pointed out earlier. When hatcheries sale Rhode Island Reds, and most rocks and really most other breeds, they are really lying anyway becuase what they are selling doesnt hold a candle to what the breed should be. Sooooooo.
But anyway, I got mine from Privett hatchery and I personally wasnt concerned with their rarity, becuase they arent a breed anyway, just a production strain. I just needed them for their genetic makeup which proved to be from that of a RIW strain, not the White Rocks. Other hatcheries may be different but I wouldnt think so personally.
Though I do believe that Rocks and White Leghorns ( which are also a dom white carrying breed) were probably the main breeds used in their developement.
