The Rhodebar thread!

[RedRidge]

when can you tell if they are double bar? And how can you tell?

Thanks

If they are true rhodebar then all the cockerels have to be double barred. If you are doubting their genetics that is a different story but these darker cockerels should be double barred if they are from rhodebar parents. Looks like you have some nice colored chicks to choose from.

 

[ortluk]

when can you tell if they are double bar? And how can you tell?

Thanks

You will know for sure once they feather out, If they are single barred there will be much finer barring. If as they grow the bars are nice and thick then you can be certain that they are double barred. As long as the cock was double barred and the hen was barred they will all be double barred though.

 

[nicalandia]

Quote:
I would too if I hatch yellow chicks too, but I see two types of males,

 

[RedRidge]

Someone asked for pics of our breeding pens.
As you can tell the front and back door are not yet mounted but because I have a few chickens in a few pens I wanted to get the vinyl on since it was 20 last night. The vinyl rolls up for ventilation during the day and comes off totally in the summer. The middle partitions are removable so I can use the entire thing as a grow out pen after breeding season.
It's not quite finished but since several folks had asked for pics I thought I'd go ahead and share...

 

[ortluk]

Someone asked for pics of our breeding pens.
As you can tell the front and back door are not yet mounted but because I have a few chickens in a few pens I wanted to get the vinyl on since it was 20 last night. The vinyl rolls up for ventilation during the day and comes off totally in the summer. The middle partitions are removable so I can use the entire thing as a grow out pen after breeding season.
It's not quite finished but since several folks had asked for pics I thought I'd go ahead and share...

Very nice, how did you contrive to make the partitions removable? That seems like it would be very useful when you don't have breeders in them.

 

[RedRidge]

Very nice, how did you contrive to make the partitions removable? That seems like it would be very useful when you don't have breeders in them.

The top half is hardware cloth so it is permanent.
But the bottom 2' is plywood... simply attached with 6 screws with screw insets.
Just unscrew those 6 screws to remove plywood for the number of section you want.

I just couldn't justify a few hundred dollars for something I was only going to use for a few months out of each year.
I have some breeder cockerels and a roo in the pens right now.
Using it year round makes it a lot more sense.

We also adjust the angle according to time of a year a little bit.
Although we can move it more with the tractor we haven't decided if we will do that next year or not.
With the maremma we don't have to worry about predators, so that gives us a lot of options.

 

[mrshawman]

very nice! I have a problem with foxes and coyotes. No problems at night, but the foxes are getting brave and have taken a couple hens during the day. My Golden used to stay out most of the day but he is getting older and wants to stay on the couch most of the time. Is your dog with them all the time?

 

[mrshawman]

What are the dimensions of the pen. Just curious, hard for me to tell

 

[RedRidge]

Yes, the maremma live with the livestock 24/7. We live on 50 acres and they don't even know where our house is. They are not house dogs, they are working dogs. And depending on predation pressure I will sometimes work them in pairs or groups. I have tervuren, who also work the stock, but they ate herding dogs not guardian dogs... my tervs live in the house.
A good lgd would never be happy taken from their livestock.

The pen was done with all 12' material so overall footprint is 6x12. I really wanted poems that were 6x4 but... I really wanted 4 pens. I sacrificed pen size for number of pens since most will only have pairs with the occasional short term trio

 

[mrshawman]

Sounds wonderful! I wish I had that much land! And the dogs! I have 5 acres of wooded hills! I would love some flat ground! Water issues all the time.