The Rhodebar thread!

[DMRippy]

I think this debate comes up on EVERY THREAD. You have to do what you feel is right for YOU. You will get hard core answers....From CULL at hatch (kill them) to they are good for meat birds to what difference does it make. Same with pullets, cull them at hatch, sell them only as layers (yeah that works) eat them, don't them out in the gene pool.

The truth is EVERY BREED HAS CULLS. Are you going to eat every not perfect pullet? There are plenty of Backyarders out there that can't breed .... yet. Is that fair to you to not sell them? Feed costs a lot of money... you have a lot of time in them.

Personal Choices all of them. I will not be selling any Roos unless they are extras I kept for backups. ALL the yellow chicks GO at hatch to the roo guy that will be eating them. All extra pullet will be sold here.... chickens have to pay their way or they go. I have enough free loaders already.

 

[nicalandia]

Quote:
Pics or... never happened... now how did you get them to become dark? RIR backcross?

 

[DMRippy]

Quote:
No same rhodebars..... I noticed one was so dark her eye liner was even really THICK and LONG. They were still drying off yesterday. I am going to tag chicks today I will get a pic to PROVE it LOL. A couple had just hatched so i COULD be off by one roo but still pretty good odds there. Pretty sure I am right as the wet chicks. They really did look to have the chipmunk strip on their heads.

 

[ortluk]

So... a similar and different topic... culling.

This past season I put all my extra cockerels in the freezer.
Purposely. I didn't want to sell the lesser quality cockerels... gives me a bad name, not to mention I have always thought that contributing the lesser quality genetics to a gene pool was doing a disservice.
I had 4 I thought were decent, would have sold 2, but didn't have buyers at the time so just butchered them.
I would NEVER sell cockerels from yellow chicks however.

So... here is my question... with such limited genetics, I am questioning butchering pullets.
I would normally butcher all but the best pullets, or at least wouldn't breed them and would put them with my production layers. This is what I do with my HRIR.
That said... I question the wisdom of this with the Rhodebars do to limited genetics.
Once I pull out all of my breeders next summer/fall, do I sell the remaining pullets?
Part of me thinks it's a bad thing to sell them... I didn't pick them, so there was a reason, so would someone else want them? or should they even be bred?
On the other hand, for someone starting out, is that a decision for me to make?

With the more popular breeds the 2nd best are still of high quality, and they may have positive attributes that someone else needs for improvement. But with a breed such as the Rhodebars, what is the ethics behind just selling everything you can vs only selling a certain % of the top ones produced?

Would love to have everyone's opinion on this. There is no right or wrong answer, just curious what everyone else's thoughts are?
My ultimate goal in a couple of years is to only sell Rhodebars that are vastly improved over what we have today. A goal... at least that's what I'm working toward. But with the interest in Rhodebars growing right now are we better off selling what we have to get as many people interested in the breed?

My opinion is this. No one ever has all perfect birds of any breed. Alto of people would be interested in them even knowing that they need a lot of work. Some may want to start and work with them to improve them themselves, which would be a benefit to the breed, since the more people working to perfect their own strain the more genetic diversity will develop in the breed. Since as far as I know, nobody has an ideal line of them, then we are all starting from the same place. One marketing idea you might try is selling split dozens of hatching eggs to starting breeders, 6 rhodebar, and 6 HRIR. That way not only are you spreading interest in improving the breed but you also are giving a potential breeder the tools to help the overall goal. Even with imperfect stock with enough chicks hatched odds are some of them will be an improvement. Just let your customers know that they are not starting at the finish line.

 

[Ihilani Coffee]

My opinion is this. No one ever has all perfect birds of any breed. Alto of people would be interested in them even knowing that they need a lot of work. Some may want to start and work with them to improve them themselves, which would be a benefit to the breed, since the more people working to perfect their own strain the more genetic diversity will develop in the breed. Since as far as I know, nobody has an ideal line of them, then we are all starting from the same place. One marketing idea you might try is selling split dozens of hatching eggs to starting breeders, 6 rhodebar, and 6 HRIR. That way not only are you spreading interest in improving the breed but you also are giving a potential breeder the tools to help the overall goal. Even with imperfect stock with enough chicks hatched odds are some of them will be an improvement. Just let your customers know that they are not starting at the finish line.

Honestly, what do you think the probability is of getting "tools to help the overall goal" from just 6 eggs of any breed? Not being snarky, but I hear all the time about culling hundreds of birds to find one or two worth breeding forward. There is a Rhodebar person near enough to me but he doesn't sell adult birds. I'm looking at buying chicks from him but they are expensive. I have only 3 left of 12 Rhodebar eggs just locked down...all the rest were infertile or early quitters (shipped eggs), and I am not hopeful for the three left in the incubator. The local person has eggs available and I'll do that if I need to, but "a bird in the hand is worth 20 in the incubator" if you get my meaning?

 

[DMRippy]

This is ALL of the chicks but one she was a little messy and still wet so I left her in the hatcher during the photo op....

The 2 roos are the really yellow ones and they will be going to the roo guy ASAP



There are a few I will be keeping..... the VERY DARK ones.



She is the DARKEST one I have.... look at that eye liner on her.



Here is another pullet that is darker.

 

[ortluk]

Honestly, what do you think the probability is of getting "tools to help the overall goal" from just 6 eggs of any breed? Not being snarky, but I hear all the time about culling hundreds of birds to find one or two worth breeding forward. There is a Rhodebar person near enough to me but he doesn't sell adult birds. I'm looking at buying chicks from him but they are expensive. I have only 3 left of 12 Rhodebar eggs just locked down...all the rest were infertile or early quitters (shipped eggs), and I am not hopeful for the three left in the incubator. The local person has eggs available and I'll do that if I need to, but "a bird in the hand is worth 20 in the incubator" if you get my meaning?

The point I was trying to make is, with the current state of the rhodebar stock out there, a new breeder who wants to improve the breed would want some Heritage Rhode island reds to cross back into the line as well, so by supplying eggs, or chicks from an imperfect rhodebar line, as well as chicks or eggs from a quality HRIR line, you would be supplying that customer with two things. #1 the current genetics of the Rhodebar breed, and #2 Quality HRIRs which the current breeders on this thread are saying is the best way to improve the type and color of the Rhodebars. then numbers and suck(i.e. 6 of each) was arbitrarily chosen. the idea is to propagate the rhodebar breed as well as the HRIR that can be used to improve them. The exact way it's done is up to the breeder. Whether what is actually sold is eggs, chicks, or adult culls that don't quite cut the mustard for the breeder's project for whatever reason is immaterial.

 

[DMRippy]

Quote: I actually LIKE that idea! At least OFFER some HRIR.... or some from you Crossed birds.

 

[TNBEARCHICK]

we will have pullets available in the spring or sooner.

 

[RedRidge]

Does anyone have egg production stats on their Rhodebars?