The Rhodebar :
Was originally called the Redbar and although a British breed the original Rhode Island Reds used to create them came from Denmark although the eggs were smaller than the English Rhode Island Reds, the colouring was better on the adult birds from the Danish stock.
The Rhodebar, as it is now known, was first developed in 1947 from crosses between Golden Brussbar cockerels (more about those later) and Rhode Island Reds and the development of this breed went on from there. Nowadays to get fresh blood into the Rhodebars the easiest way is to put your Rhodebar cockerel onto a good utility Rhode Island Red hen - the first cross of this will give you pure Rhodebar hens but impure Rhodebar cockerels. Your next step is to put your young 'new blood' back to your Rhodebar cockerel and the resulting offspring will all be pure Rhodebars.
The Rhodebar is starting to gain popularity again and it is important that these birds retain their utility strength that has been somewhat lost during the years when they were not so popular - why have Rhode Island Reds when you could have some Rhodebars that you can sex on hatching, basically autosexing Rhode Island Reds, with all the advantages of the mother breed without the disadvantages of having to grow on a load of birds that a few weeks down the line you will not be needing.
Rhodebars hatch with yellow chicks being boys and the girls have brown markings down their backs and my particular strain also has an eye-line. The distinction between the boys and girls on hatch needs some work as they should be hatching more clearly than they do, both boys and girls should be hatching with much clearer lines so basically the barring factor is getting a bit hazy with them but hopefully with some careful reintroduction of fresh blood into the strains this will improve.
I find these birds friendly and hardy but never cause trouble but are quite capable of sorting it out. They are good egg layers of tinted eggs and give a ready supply - egg numbers to follow - they are similar in build to the Rhode Island Reds with the same beautiful shades to them with black tips to the feathers
click any of the pictures below to see them larger ...
The Rhodebar is used to create the following autosexing breeds :
Hambar
To go back to the Autosexing and sex linked home page click here
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