The Rhodebar thread!

[EledaWV]

My camera does make everything "shiny", but now you all have me wondering. I'll try to get good pics of the boys. They're supposed to be Green fire lines, but after reading some earlier posts, I'm wondering if that's a good thing or not...

 

[SerenityAcreslw]

Here are some pics of my boys. Are they good enough to consider breeding? I was told they are Green Fire Farms stock.
BTW, my husband does not believe me that these are cockerels...I think he is in denial. These boys mean I *need* more chickens hehe

Cockerel 1








Cockerel 2 this one is my favorite, he is more docile and gentle.








Here they are at 6 weeks

 

[nicalandia]

Quote:
the combs tell me they are boys but their feathering tells me they are females, but I have seen Males with "Salmon" breasts but they lose it once they start maturing, but thats the issue here, the males showing Wildtype feathering, that means they lack the columbian restrictor Co, this genes turns them into a RIR looking bird with barring, if you let them grow and they are males they will be basically gold crele(black breasted reds with barring ) chicks at that age should have an uniform orange shade to all of their body(with barring ofcourse) these birds show natural salmon breasts, gold hackles and wildtype pattern on the body..

 

[nicalandia]

a close up to the "Cockerel" 2, which I believe its a pullet now(no large comb, salmon breast and gold hackels just like pullets)



this further proves that GFF stock lacks the Columbian restrictor gene

 

[RedRidge]

I believe they are either both pullets. But if the 1st one is a cockerel he appears to be only single barred

 

[nicalandia]

I believe they are either both pullets. But if the 1st one is a cockerel he appears to be only single barred

I wonder why GFF stock lose their Columbian gene, maybe an outcross to Bielefelder(wildtype non columbian autosexing breed) , belive they need to hire a new breeding and genetic staff..

 

[RedRidge]

I believe they are either both pullets. But if the 1st one is a cockerel he appears to be only single barred

I wonder why GFF stock lose their Columbian gene, maybe an outcross to Bielefelder(wildtype non columbian autosexing breed) , belive they need to hire a new breeding and genetic staff..

And further more, if they are truly Rhodebar, they should be easily autosexed at hatch.
More and more all the time i believe the nightmare they have created is snow balling because people assume purebred and aren't culling. Course if I paid good money for what I thought were purebred autosexed poultry, that's what is expect to get. But having even one chick that was wheaten in a purebred hatch would tell me that those parents cannot be purebred. It's giving the breed a very bad name - I'm really getting concerned about the future of this breed here in the US.

 

[nicalandia]

I'm really getting concerned about the future of this breed here in the US.

with breeders like you and my genetic assistance the breed wont die off,

 

[Ihilani Coffee]

Correction here...
A Rhodebar cock over RIR pullets are NOT improved Rhodebars! They are mutts. But, they are mutts who have genetics you can work with to get back to pure Rhodebars with enough generations of proper breeding and culling.
Your RB over RIR create a generation called F1s who "can be" your first step toward that improvement if you keep the correct ones.

Yes finding a decent RB cock is difficult, but not near as difficult as finding quality RIR pullets. Most RIR are not quality standard bred birds - most are hatchery bred that offer little to no improvement to the RB breed.
I personally think it's more important to find high quality RIR females for this project than it is to find a high quality RB male. But there is more than one way to skin this cat. ;-)

If a RB is a barred RIR, why not? I do believe I have read this same thing here but don't have time this instant to go back and search. RB pullets are single barred. RB over HRIR is single barred pullet with improved type of a SQ RIR. How is this different?

 

[RedRidge]

Correction here...

A Rhodebar cock over RIR pullets are NOT improved Rhodebars! They are mutts. But, they are mutts who have genetics you can work with to get back to pure Rhodebars with enough generations of proper breeding and culling.

Your RB over RIR create a generation called F1s who "can be" your first step toward that improvement if you keep the correct ones.


Yes finding a decent RB cock is difficult, but not near as difficult as finding quality RIR pullets. Most RIR are not quality standard bred birds - most are hatchery bred that offer little to no improvement to the RB breed.

I personally think it's more important to find high quality RIR females for this project than it is to find a high quality RB male. But there is more than one way to skin this cat. ;-)

If a RB is a barred RIR, why not?  I do believe I have read this same thing here but don't have time this instant to go back and search.  RB pullets are single barred.  RB over HRIR is single barred pullet with improved type of a SQ RIR.  How is this different?

Ok @nicalandia please correct my explanation if I'm off the mark here...

A pure Rhodebar is an autosexed bird. There are many pairs of genes which, in combination with each other, make it what it is. Your barring genes are just one pair that needs to be considered. Another that is important is your wildtype vs wheaten gene pair. Pure Rhodebars are homozygous wildtype. Pure RIR are homozygous wheaten (well. .. Maybe not but they aren't wildtype - that's another topic - but for the sake of this explanation let's assume homozygous wheaten).
So... a RB cock over a RIR hen will give you females that are single barred BUT... they are only heterozygous wildtype and will not breed true 100% of the time when bred back to a RB - Consequently they are not pure Rhodebar.
There are other genes involved also... But your lack of homozygous wildtype alone is enough to disqualify as purebred.
More importantly THIS is what the genetic folks at GFF seemed to not understand. So this is what is being very misunderstand in the perpetuation of the breed.