The Rhodebar thread!

[malndobe]

Bought 10, seller sent 12, one broken on arrival. Pretty good! Also bought 6 Isbar eggs from same seller who sent me 10, all intact. This is my first experience with shipped eggs.

Nice, can't wait to hear how they hatch. Can you PM me who you bought them from?

 

[ortluk]

Happy Thanksgiving, Everyone!!!

 

[nicalandia]

Happy Thanksgiving, Everyone!!!

thanks

 

[Ihilani Coffee]

Bought 10, seller sent 12, one broken on arrival. Pretty good! Also bought 6 Isbar eggs from same seller who sent me 10, all intact. This is my first experience with shipped eggs.

Those above plus these below set at noon today. The background on this photo is actually a deep forest green and the Marans eggs in foreground are darker than they appear here.

 

[TNBEARCHICK]

We do very well on shipped eggs we average 40-50%. Some shipments are total duds. In my opinion it depends on the USPS.

 

[ortluk]

So since I ordered 6 Rhode bar eggs from Pappabrooder I have a decent chance of getting a breeding trio? of course i will be happy with at least 1 cockerel and at least 1 pullet. lol, of course my luck all 6 will hatch and they will be pullets all or all cockerels

 

[RedRidge]

So since I ordered 6 Rhode bar eggs from Pappabrooder I have a decent chance of getting a breeding trio? of course i will be happy with at least 1 cockerel and at least 1 pullet. lol, of course my luck all 6 will hatch and they will be pullets all or all cockerels

If you have quality rir then at a minimum you want one cockerel. You can work with that.
My 2013 pure rhodebar hatches averaged 70%. That worked out great as it gave me a lot of cockerels to choose from. I put many birds in the freezer and kept only 2 of each sex. I did NOT sell my culls as I believe the breed needs so much improvement that that would be inappropriate. I put more than 60 in the freezer. There are a lot of folks selling Rhodebars as eggs or chicks just because they have that breed and are not working towards improving it. This will devalue the breed and create a mess by lowering the standard. This is not a long established breed that has quality and consistency. The genetics are only valuable if they are an improvement on the previous generation. Keeping only the best ones to breed will improve the breed much quicker. Do not breed your third and fourth choice just to put more birds on the ground because what you will be producing will be inferior. No matter how many you hatch each year if you will cull hard and deep then that is the key to improvement. Too many people breed many of (or all) they have of a breed that is not yet consistent in type and quality and all they do is perpetuate the poor quality.

 

[ortluk]

If you have quality rir then at a minimum you want one cockerel. You can work with that.
My 2013 pure rhodebar hatches averaged 70%. That worked out great as it gave me a lot of cockerels to choose from. I put many birds in the freezer and kept only 2 of each sex. I did NOT sell my culls as I believe the breed needs so much improvement that that would be inappropriate. I put more than 60 in the freezer. There are a lot of folks selling Rhodebars as eggs or chicks just because they have that breed and are not working towards improving it. This will devalue the breed and create a mess by lowering the standard. This is not a long established breed that has quality and consistency. The genetics are only valuable if they are an improvement on the previous generation. Keeping only the best ones to breed will improve the breed much quicker. Do not breed your third and fourth choice just to put more birds on the ground because what you will be producing will be inferior. No matter how many you hatch each year if you will cull hard and deep then that is the key to improvement. Too many people breed many of (or all) they have of a breed that is not yet consistent in type and quality and all they do is perpetuate the poor quality.

Well I actually don't have any quality RIR, and the onew I ordered last month from McMurray for delivery in at the end of January, are likely production reds. I'll have to selectivly breed them for many generations to get to a High quality RIR if it's even possible with that starting point. I really should have done more research before ordering, at that point I hadn't even heard of Heritage RIR. After seeing some pics, now I wish that that's what I had on the way. Although I haven't actually seen the quality of the reds from McMurray, I'm have my doubts that they are very close to the SOP for them. Although, I did like the New Hapshires I got from them several years ago, I might get lucky.

Odds are what I'll end up doing is putting my Hatchery chickens into a laying flock for table eggs, and trying to find a few HRIR for my breeding programs.

 

[Ihilani Coffee]

Well I actually don't have any quality RIR, and the onew I ordered last month from McMurray for delivery in at the end of January, are likely production reds. I'll have to selectivly breed them for many generations to get to a High quality RIR if it's even possible with that starting point. I really should have done more research before ordering, at that point I hadn't even heard of Heritage RIR. After seeing some pics, now I wish that that's what I had on the way. Although I haven't actually seen the quality of the reds from McMurray, I'm have my doubts that they are very close to the SOP for them. Although, I did like the New Hapshires I got from them several years ago, I might get lucky.

Odds are what I'll end up doing is putting my Hatchery chickens into a laying flock for table eggs, and trying to find a few HRIR for my breeding programs.

Good plan. The HRIR from a good breeder are shockingly (and pleasingly) different than hatchery stock (even the "dark-phase" RIR they sell for more).

 

[Ihilani Coffee]

If you have quality rir then at a minimum you want one cockerel. You can work with that.
My 2013 pure rhodebar hatches averaged 70%. That worked out great as it gave me a lot of cockerels to choose from. I put many birds in the freezer and kept only 2 of each sex. I did NOT sell my culls as I believe the breed needs so much improvement that that would be inappropriate. I put more than 60 in the freezer. There are a lot of folks selling Rhodebars as eggs or chicks just because they have that breed and are not working towards improving it. This will devalue the breed and create a mess by lowering the standard. This is not a long established breed that has quality and consistency. The genetics are only valuable if they are an improvement on the previous generation. Keeping only the best ones to breed will improve the breed much quicker. Do not breed your third and fourth choice just to put more birds on the ground because what you will be producing will be inferior. No matter how many you hatch each year if you will cull hard and deep then that is the key to improvement. Too many people breed many of (or all) they have of a breed that is not yet consistent in type and quality and all they do is perpetuate the poor quality.

At what age do you butcher the cockerels, and what is the carcass weight? I'm not yet breeding them, but I might, and that answer is an important one for me. I have 11 eggs in the incubator now and only planned on keeping the pullets to maturity and then (perhaps) buying a cock/erel from someone local (though there is only one that I know about and not sure if he is a "breeder" or a "producer").