The Rhodebar thread!

[RedRidge]

I have about ten Rhodebar roo...anyone interested in a screaming package deal three for $25. I am only going to pick three to keep. They are from Greenfire and range several weeks to just over five weeks old.

I was originally going to keep 3 and use 2 this coming season. I have changed my mind over the last month... I slaughtered all but 3 of mine.
They need such improvement in type, shape, and structure that I have decided to use only the best one this coming season because he is far superior to the others.
I had a choice between throwing enough chicks against the wall (so to speak) and culling chicks heavily or just breeding a few and trying to improve them.
As they grew and developed I changed my mind and am now going to cull heavily on the front end and only breed the best ones.
It's chancey doing it this way if something were to happen to the few I have left, but my feed bill will be lower and I'm hoping quality will improve quicker.
I figure if I treat them like my HRIR breeding program that I will put a lot in the freezer but get quality improvement quicker.
More than one way to skin a cat as my husband would say... depends if you want the meat or the skin. LOL

Let us know how the breeding program progresses.
How many are you pullets do you have?
How did the hatching eggs look?
How did the chicks look at hatching? Were they all autosexable? Some better than others?
I am getting a lot of variety and am curious what others are getting.

 

[nicalandia]

Quote:
this will change as soon as you start breeding back to an Uniform and Highly Homozygous breed like the RIR. you will see more Uniform chicks and deciding which birds to keep will be harder and harder, hey but thats good right

 

[familypendragon]

Holy cow!! Took 3 days but I made it through all 105 pages! My conclusion? nicilandia is awesome sauce, and I will order my base stock from PapaBrooder and work on improving from there as I know his look good and will NOT lay green mystery eggs, LOL! My head is swimming with genetic info... will have to wait to order till I have more $$ though. PapBrooder already has several things on my want list - I got to his shop and add things to my wishlist cart on a regular basis, LOL! Someday....

 

[nicalandia]

Quote:
Thanks... and you cant go wrong with PapaBrooder.... you can take it from there if you select good Quality RIR stock..

 

[familypendragon]

I just wanted to give all the Rhodebar people a heads up on this auction. Something does not seem straight up about it. I sent Greenfire an email about it and got the below response. I also sent the seller a couple questions and got zero response.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/6-Very-Rare...865?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3a6ff89789


Jonathan,


Thanks for writing.  We've only be shipping rhodebars to Greenfire's customers for a few weeks, and the oldest birds we shipped were 4-6 weeks old.  So, the oldest bird we've supplied anyone would now be 2-3 months old.  There is no way a rhodebar we shipped could now be laying eggs, and it will be probably be summer before the first birds we shipped will begin laying.  If someone is claiming they are currently able to deliver rhodebar eggs produced from Greenfire's line of rhodebars, I can't imagine how that claim could be true.  You might want to ask for pictures of the parents.  I'd be curious to see the response.


I hope this information is helpful.


Paul       


-----Original Message-----

From: Jonathan [mailto:[email protected]]

Sent: Saturday, February 04, 2012 7:31 PM

To: [email protected]

Subject: 6 Very Rare, Rhodebar Hatching Eggs & 6 FREE eggs-12 eggs total | eBay

http://www.ebay.com/itm/6-Very-Rare...aultDomain_0&hash=item3a6ff89789#ht_638wt_922


Paul,


I happened to see this auction on eBay. Just wondering if you have sold any Rhodebar that would be laying age now?


Thanks for any info

OMG! This is the same person I bought "Bielefelder" eggs from on rarebreedauctions.com I think. All 10 were totally clear on day 8. When I told him that not so much as one vein in any egg (never had that with eggs that were fertile). His response (these were only shipped within state and looked AMAZING when I unpacked them - all air cells were perfect) was that USPS must have x-rayed etc. I had a funny feeling... then he told me my best bet was to get a male Bielefelder from GFF and a New Hampshire and they would breed my own pure Bielefelders. True? I get the feeling I was scammed. Here is his listing http://www.rarebreedauctions.com/au...elder-chicken-hatching-eggs&auction_id=115859 Since we only are supposed to rate on packing he does a GREAT job on that. But I am wondering what was up with the eggs. Am I just being paranoid???

 

[DeltaBluezTess]

Let us know how the breeding program progresses.
How many are you pullets do you have?
How did the hatching eggs look?
How did the chicks look at hatching? Were they all autosexable? Some better than others?
I am getting a lot of variety and am curious what others are getting.

right now they are 6 weeks to three weeks old. Growing out nice and the hen chicks are either dark or medium color. Autosex at birth as i could tell hens from the roos....nice, robust chicks...reall go getters.......i have them in two brooder and in a couple weeks will merge and take pixs. really like what I see so far.

have no idea what eggs look like as I never got eggs, just chicks.
Diane

 

[RedRidge]

Quote:
I might suggest, if you haven't already, going ahead and taking some pics.
I took pics once a week for the first few months, and I am now so glad I did as they will hit a point where they change so much.
Documenting down markings and colors can come in very handy in your future breeding program.

 

[TNBEARCHICK]

Hey just marking my place been observing but not commenting. Mine are hopefully getting close to pol.

 

[RedRidge]

Hey just marking my place been observing but not commenting. Mine are hopefully getting close to pol.

Nice to know someone else here in East TN has some Rhodebars... make sure to take pics when you hatch.

 

[TNBEARCHICK]

No problem we r just waiting for first eggs. Where u at in TN