Best place to buy/order rhodebars?

[Floof]

I want to get a dual purpose, prolific layer, that also autosexes and breeds true. I'm thinking that rhodebars are the best way to go but haven't figured out the best place to source them from. Papas poultry has them on their website but hasn't answered my emails and Greenfire Farms rhodebars seem to have had quality issues when first introduced (not sure if they worked it out). Is there another good source that doesn't cost an arm and a leg? No one in my area seems to sell them.

 

[Aapomp831]

I want to get a dual purpose, prolific layer, that also autosexes and breeds true. I'm thinking that rhodebars are the best way to go but haven't figured out the best place to source them from. Papas poultry has them on their website but hasn't answered my emails and Greenfire Farms rhodebars seem to have had quality issues when first introduced (not sure if they worked it out). Is there another good source that doesn't cost an arm and a leg? No one in my area seems to sell them.

I believe the only birds that you can autosex are hybrids, so you wouldn’t be able to breed them.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

I believe the only birds that you can autosex are hybrids, so you wouldn’t be able to breed them.

Sexlink and autosexing are different. Sexlink are mixed breeds, autosexing like cream legbars and beifeilders are purebred

 

[Painted Calls]

@The Moonshiner didn't you just order some?

 

[Floof]

I believe the only birds that you can autosex are hybrids, so you wouldn’t be able to breed them.

From a quick search:
"The following chickens are autosexing:

Amrock, Ancobar, Barnebar, Bielefelder Kennhuhn, Brockbar, Brussbar, Buffbar, Cambar, Cobar, Cream Legbar, Dorbar, Gold Legbar, Hambar, Niederrheiner, Norske Jaerhon, Oklabar, Polbar, Rhodebar, Welbar, Whealbar, and Wybar.

Most of these breeds are either extinct or extremely rare these days. The most popular and easily obtainable is the Cream Legbar which has probably remained popular with backyard chicken keepers because of their blue eggs."

 

[The Moonshiner]

@The Moonshiner didn't you just order some?

No I did not.
But I've had them and ive had some from both GFF and papas poultry. I wouldn't own them from GGF again. Papas were decent quality and layed well.
RBs are pretty hard to find now days and most lines are screwed up from people crossing in RIRs.
I would skip the RBs and look into Bielefelder. Theyre autosexing and lay about the same. For meat birds the Biels are hands down better then RBs.

 

[Floof]

No I did not.
But I've had them and ive had some from both GFF and papas poultry. I wouldn't own them from GGF again. Papas were decent quality and layed well.
RBs are pretty hard to find now days and most lines are screwed up from people crossing in RIRs.
I would skip the RBs and look into Bielefelder. Theyre autosexing and lay about the same. For meat birds the Biels are hands down better then RBs.

I thought crossing female RIR and then back to the rhodebar male was good for increasing production without sacrificing the autosexing trait. Did that not hold true?

 

[The Moonshiner]

Rhodebars are wildtype and RIR are wheaten.
The cross brings in the wheaten gene which screws up the autosexing.
You can do it but then you need to breed the wheaten gene back out to get back to good autosexing RBs.

 

[Floof]

I don't know enough about color genetics yet but I'm super interested. Does the cross back to RB not get rid of the wheaten gene? My understanding was that you could cross a RB male over a production red female, select just the females and cull the males, then breed back to a rhodebar male, and then the resulting birds would breed true as autosexing rhodebars. Does it not work out that way? Do you occassionally get throwbacks to the production red?

I like the idea of the bielefelders but worry about feed conversion. I already raise ducks and they eat a ton. My husband has noticed that they don't pay for themselves haha

 

[The Moonshiner]

You can cross a RB rooster to PR or RIR hens then cross the female offspring back to RB rooster. The result will be about half back to what you want and about half will still be mixed like their mothers are.
Problem is telling which is which if you don't understand genetics.