The Rhodebar thread!

[RICHIEBARKER72]

The more I read the more confused I get I need a breeding chart for dummies that tells exactly what breed to start with

 

[RedRidge]

Welcome to the Rhodebar thread.
Looks like you are here in TN.
Are you looking for RIR for a Rhodebar breeding project or just RIR in general? Production or standard bred? RC or SC? What exactly are you looking for?

I am wanting to make my own rhodebar line. I bought some from dmrippy and love them. They are light do far, but easily sexable. In my mind I think I would want standard and sc. Does that found about right? This will be my first breeding program and I want to do it right.

Thanks for the welcome, I just moved here from Iowa and am glad to be on a farm now. I have been learning alot from this group.

I will have some SC mid summer. If you want to stay a breed improvement program I'd pick your best Rhodebar cockerel and put him over the Reds.

 

[RedRidge]

The more I read the more confused I get I need a breeding chart for dummies that tells exactly what breed to start with

If you want Rhodebars we have plenty. .. I just hatched more today and rumor has it most are cockerels. (They are at a school, I haven't seen them yet.). I also have a hatch from January available. .. All easily autosexed at hatched.
Now. .. If you want Rhodebars as a project and want to improve them, then some knowledge about genetics will help. There are some confusing posts on this thread but if you go back and read nicalandia's posts he has some very good basics to get you started.
Several of us on here have started with some quality standards bred RIR hens and put a Rhodebar cockerel over them. There are other ways to do it, that is simply the breeding project several of us are working on here. That will create F1s... From there some will go back to Rhodebars in the next generation immediately for a backcross and others will out cross one or two more generations.

 

[RICHIEBARKER72]

That's what I am interested in is the breeding project what do I need to breed together to get F1 read RIRXBR then read that wasn't right so could someone please explain

 

[Ihilani Coffee]

@michaelf and @ Ihilani
Statistically id give the darker striped ones a 75% chance of being being female and the lighter a 75% chance of being male.
My opinion, FWIW ;-) I would mark and use only the darker striped group.
Tail sexing in a few weeks has proven to be pretty accurate if you just can't stand. Lol
What I did was mark them as chicks. Then at 6 weeks I divided them into two separate grow out pens. I try not to look too closely at them every day when I feed and water... It makes grow out pass quicker.

That's my plan, keeping the darker/stripier ones. How long do you try to not look at them?

I despise the crow stage where they're all long and tall and awful looking. It passes.

 

[RedRidge]

That's what I am interested in is the breeding project what do I need to breed together to get F1 read RIRXBR then read that wasn't right so could someone please explain

For F1 you want to find the best Rhodebar male you can and put him over the best RIR female you can. Do not keep any chicks that ate wheaten and use the darker chicks as your F1. You can either take those F1 Females with the best type back to the RB cockerel or use the best males over the rir females or breed the F1s to each other. You simply need to make sure you eliminate correctly as you go, getting rid of those who are wheaten and who aren't correctly barred for that cross.

Remember, Rhodebar are a barred, autosexed RIR. The females are single barred and the males are double barred

 

[dheltzel]

My first 3 chicks hatched looking like pullets and I started to wonder if they were just not autosexing well. These 3 hatched Monday (ignore the orange New Hampshires):

I would have been fine with only one male, LOL, but at least now I know they are all clearly autosexable, and the first 3 really are pullets. So, I have a few surplus cockerels, if anyone in southeast PA would like one or 2.

 

[Lady of McCamley]

Okay...I'm new to Rhodebars as I just hatched some eggs under a broody hen (or rather she did). They are 2 days old.

I have what I think are 3 pullets and 1 roo per coloring as confirmed by the breeder (who is working to improve her line and remove all wheaten)....I've got 2 darker chipmunks with no head dot, 1 lighter/yellowish chipmunk with no head dot, and then a yellow chick which *may* have a very indistinguishable head dot...or simply all yellow.

I'm confused after reading this thread...and the much linked Greenfire Farm is part of the confusion...along with the discussion that wheaten is bad.

Greenfire shows males as dark with white head dot, and the females chipmunks with no head dot...wheaten (yellow) per discussion on this thread is considered undesirable as harder to sex???...but when you scroll to Greenfire's to purchase area, the photo of the male chick for sale is all yellow....making it appear the females are chipmunks (no head dot) and the males are yellow (no head dot, or often pale head dot).
http://greenfirefarms.com/store/category/chickens/rhodebar/

So...is the yellow indeed a roo, but wheatan and "bad" ?

As I am watching them (now 3 days), the yellow chicks are already getting wing feathers in, but the darker chipmunk chicks are not....so that adds to the confusion.

What's up? (Other than my personal confusion).

I'm planning on re-homing the rooster (I've gotten the Rhodebars for laying/utility purposes not breeding), so I personally don't care what color they are as long as they lay well....but I want to be accurate and truthful to anyone who gets the rooster...assuming I find a home.

Thanks.
Lady of McCamley

Photos below...sorry no real close ups...this broody is a first time nervous mom, and I didn't want to stress her too much with an extended photo shoot or messing with the chicks too much until she settled (didn't want her abandoning the whole project).

 

[melroseladi]

Okay...I'm new to Rhodebars as I just hatched some eggs under a broody hen (or rather she did). They are 2 days old.

I have what I think are 3 pullets and 1 roo per coloring as confirmed by the breeder (who is working to improve her line and remove all wheaten)....I've got 2 darker chipmunks with no head dot, 1 lighter/yellowish chipmunk with no head dot, and then a yellow chick which *may* have a very indistinguishable head dot...or simply all yellow.

I'm confused after reading this thread...and the much linked Greenfire Farm is part of the confusion...along with the discussion that wheaten is bad.

Greenfire shows males as dark with white head dot, and the females chipmunks with no head dot...wheaten (yellow) per discussion on this thread is considered undesirable as harder to sex???...but when you scroll to Greenfire's to purchase area, the photo of the male chick for sale is all yellow....making it appear the females are chipmunks (no head dot) and the males are yellow (no head dot, or often pale head dot).
http://greenfirefarms.com/store/category/chickens/rhodebar/

So...is the yellow indeed a roo, but wheatan and "bad" ?

As I am watching them (now 3 days), the yellow chicks are already getting wing feathers in, but the darker chipmunk chicks are not....so that adds to the confusion.

What's up? (Other than my personal confusion).

I'm planning on re-homing the rooster (I've gotten the Rhodebars for laying/utility purposes not breeding), so I personally don't care what color they are as long as they lay well....but I want to be accurate and truthful to anyone who gets the rooster...assuming I find a home.

Thanks.
Lady of McCamley

Photos below...sorry no real close ups...this broody is a first time nervous mom, and I didn't want to stress her too much with an extended photo shoot or messing with the chicks too much until she settled (didn't want her abandoning the whole project).

The world of Rhodebars is a very confusing one. I am just in the improvement stage working with 1 Rhodebar rooster over HRIR hens. None of mine came out yellow, BUT I believe my line of Reds is recessive wheaten. I am aiming for ease of autosexing so I am working more towards wildtype rather then wheaten. In other words, I will cull wheaten looking chicks. Back in the day the genotype of Rhodebar was wheaten (as shown by the Standard), however some (including myself) are working towards a more easily autosexing line and are aiming more towards wildtype. Your chipmunk stripe chicks should all be auto sexed as female but the yellow one could be male or could be female, and that is where the problem comes in when you are trying to obtain an easily auto sexed line.

As far as faster feathering, our F1's (Rhodebar over HRIR) showed faster feathering in the females BUT that is not to say that that will be the case with Rhodebars. I would try to find a cockerel that did not hatch out yellow and cull the yellow one. If that's not an option then use him but start weeding out yellow in future generations.

And a big thumbs up to your broody hen for a job well done.

Penny

 

[Lady of McCamley]

The world of Rhodebars is a very confusing one. I am just in the improvement stage working with 1 Rhodebar rooster over HRIR hens. None of mine came out yellow, BUT I believe my line of Reds is recessive wheaten. I am aiming for ease of autosexing so I am working more towards wildtype rather then wheaten. In other words, I will cull wheaten looking chicks. Back in the day the genotype of Rhodebar was wheaten (as shown by the Standard), however some (including myself) are working towards a more easily autosexing line and are aiming more towards wildtype. Your chipmunk stripe chicks should all be auto sexed as female but the yellow one could be male or could be female, and that is where the problem comes in when you are trying to obtain an easily auto sexed line.

As far as faster feathering, our F1's (Rhodebar over HRIR) showed faster feathering in the females BUT that is not to say that that will be the case with Rhodebars. I would try to find a cockerel that did not hatch out yellow and cull the yellow one. If that's not an option then use him but start weeding out yellow in future generations.

And a big thumbs up to your broody hen for a job well done.

Penny

Thank you. That helped a lot.

When will I be certain the wheaten is a boy or girl? Normal growth process of larger comb and wattles then hackles, saddle (which colors would be different than the girls?) Or...is the wheaten a wait until it crows?
Thanks.
Lady of McCamley