The Rhodebar thread!

[melroseladi]

Rhodebars from GFF....will post as they grow

I would mark those dark chicks with nice horn beaks.

Penny

 

[hillfloweranch]

I would mark those dark chicks with nice horn beaks.

Penny

??? What do you mean? I figure I will wait till they feather out then start separating for cull. But is there something else I should be looking for in their beak style??

 

[RedRidge]

You want to cull any chicks that are not really autosexed and any that appear wheaten. As far as what to ultimately look for, you are looking for a barred version of the HRIR. If you are familiar with the RIR standard you will notice that beaks should be horn color, as well as horn on the front of yellow legs. You want brick shaped type and to have the proper tail carriage. These are just a few things to work toward. Because few RB have these attributes right now, having a horn break is one plus.

Avoiding the wheaten should be your first step. .. And you have to do that by analyzing the chick down color.

 

[OHfarmerswife]

Quote:
I dont see any barring on the females..?

Yes the females barring....it was dark. I will try to get better pictures.

 

[OHfarmerswife]

How old are they? They look darker then most of the GFF RB. Maybe yours came from a pen at GFF with RB and standard Reds instead of production reds. Keep posting pics of them as they grow, please.

Penny

They are 6 weeks. I was most likely too dark to get good pictures.

I will try this week end

Thanks

 

[nicalandia]

Quote:
Barring should not be that difficult to spot.

 

[OHfarmerswife]

Quote:
Barring should not be that difficult to spot.

The female chicks do have barring, its cloudy here today, and the coop is under the leanto making it even darker. The pictures are dark & the barring doesn't show. I will attempt more pictures this weekend.

 

[melroseladi]

??? What do you mean? I figure I will wait till they feather out then start separating for cull. But is there something else I should be looking for in their beak style??

Yes as RedRidge was saying RB should look like barred Rhode Island Reds. The horn color of the beak comes from RIR. That trait has been lost greatly due to hatchery crosses and breeding of Reds making them no longer to the RIR standard. Heritage Rhode Island Reds are (should be) bred to the standard which includes the horn coloring on the beak. You will not find that on most of GFF RB so to have it on your chicks is a good thing, plus those chicks have nice dark color. I would definitely keep my eye on those chicks to use as future breeders.

Edited to add: IMO your first culling/marking should be with the down color, take lots of notes and pics of each chick. You want to really focus on breeding those birds that are good from hatch and not just how they look as they feather out. Down marking and coloring is very important. Select those that are easiest to auto-sex, cull (mark and don't breed) yellow chicks, etc

Penny

 

[TNBEARCHICK]

We are currently doing some selective breeding, then next year we are planning on finding some nice RIR stock to work with.

 

[melroseladi]

We are currently doing some selective breeding, then next year we are planning on finding some nice RIR stock to work with.

That is great. RedRidge and I both have Underwood Reds that we are using to improve our RB lines. It will be nice to have more people working to improve the U.S. Rhodebar and not just re-breeding the mess that is out there right now. Selective breeding, a good line of Red blood, and culling hard, should get you a really nice line of RB.

Penny