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Rhodonite chickens are not a breed, but an industrial cross, created on the basis of two other egg crosses: Loman Brown and Rhode Island. The breeding of this cross was started by German breeders, having received two strains. In 2002, the chickens of this cross came to Our Country, where specialists from the Sverdlovsk Breeding Poultry Plant, located in the village of Kashino near Yekaterinburg, took them. The goal of breeders was to develop a breed of chickens Rhodonite, more adapted to the climatic conditions of the Federation. The resulting Rhodonite 3 became the main cross in Our Country.
Description of the cross
Rhodonite chickens are indistinguishable from the original breeds of Loman Brown and Rhode Island by photo and description. The main differences are “internal”. The first version of the Rhodonites among the Germans turned out to be unsuccessful. The performance of laying hens dropped sharply several times after 18 months. Chickens of the Rhodonite-2 breed do not reduce egg production with age, but they were bred not for private yards, but for poultry farms. Consequently, they were not adapted to keeping in different climatic conditions. The task of breeders was to preserve the productive characteristics of the Rhodonit-2 breed hens while “adding” frost resistance and the ability to adapt to the very diverse climate of Our Country. The work of geneticists has been successful, but this is the result of a 4-line cross that cannot be reproduced at home. The Rhodonite-3 cross is based on the Rhodonite-2 line imported from Germany and the Loman Brown cross from the Loman Tirtzucht company.
Breeding scheme
To breed chickens of the Rhodonite-3 breed, 4 lines of egg crosses are used:
- red Rhode Island line P35 (roosters);
- red Rhode Island line P36 (hens);
- line P37;
- line P38.
Lines 37 and 38 do not have their own name, as they were obtained as a result of the use of Rhodonite-2 chickens and the genetic material of Loman Brown.
Initially, intermediate offspring are obtained from four parental lines. Rhode Islands are crossed among themselves, selecting only roosters for further work. When crossing the other two lines, chickens are selected. The photo shows a description of obtaining a breed of chickens rhodonite-3. More precisely, its parent forms.
The offspring of these four lines are autosex in feathering speed.
Get two lines:
- cocks Rhode Island line P356;
- chickens of line P378.
In the photo, the parental lines of chickens Rhodonit-3.
Roosters still “belong” to the red Rhode Islands and have a dark red color. Chickens are “still” crosses of Rhodonite-2 and Loman Brown and have a white color.
When crossing parental forms, chickens are obtained with three color options:
- light brown;
- red;
- pale yellow.
The most common is light brown, phenotypically close to Lohman Brown, Red Bro and other “red” varieties of egg industrial crosses.
The most common color of the final result of chickens Rhodonite-3 in the photo.
The final result – Rhodonite-3 is also autosex. In the final result, autosexity is expressed not in the speed of feathering, but in the color of down in one-day-old chickens.
Cockerels have yellow fluff. Chickens have options, but there is no yellow. The main color of the back of one-day-old hens is brown. Chest, belly and sides may be light. Chickens may have dark stripes on their backs. Another variation in coloration is the spots on the head, which can be light yellow or, conversely, dark brown. The photo clearly shows the difference between the hens and cockerels of the final version of the Rhodonit-3 cross.
The productive characteristics of Rhodonite-3 hens exceeds its maternal line, which is clearly seen from the table.
Standard cross
The final result is a bird of the egg direction, which has all the signs of a good laying hen. The weight of a chicken does not exceed 2 kg, a rooster – 2,5 kg. The description of Rhodonite-3 chickens on the site says that the head of a medium-sized chicken with a yellow beak. On the top of the beak is a wide brown stripe. The comb is leaf-shaped, red, of medium size. The eyes of chickens are orange-green, bulging. Earrings are medium in size, red. The lobes are pale, pinkish in color with a pearly sheen.
The frame is light, the body is horizontally set. The top line of the body is straight. The back and loin are wide. The tail is set high, of medium pomp. Roosters have short braids. The color of the braids is black with a green tint. Although in the case of the Rhodonite-3 cross, the appearance of the roosters does not play any role. Moreover, their presence in the herd is undesirable. According to the reviews of the owners of chickens of the Rhodonite breed, the rooster has little meat. It also makes no sense to let him in reproduction. It is more profitable to buy only chickens from the factory.
The chest of chickens is wide convex. The abdomen is well developed. The legs are short with poorly developed muscles. Shoulders are poorly developed. The wings are small and close to the body. Metatarsus short, medium thickness. The color of the metatarsus is yellow, on the front there are light brown scales.
The plumage is dense. The color can be not only light brown, as in the photo, but also red or fawn.
Flight and tail feathers are light, often with an ashy tint. The character is calm. Like all industrial laying hens, Rhodonite-3 does not try to run away from people, lying down when a person approaches.
The egg shell of this cross is brown. But eggs with a dark brown shell color can come across.
The video was filmed for the largest farming portal, but the appearance of pullets is contrary to the description of the Rhodonite breed of chickens on the official website of the Sverdlovsky breeding plant. The only possible option: when shooting, there was a color distortion and the young are actually fawn, not white.
Advantages and disadvantages
Rhodonite-3 are selected for long-term productivity and high egg production. According to customer reviews, Rhodonite-3 chickens do not reduce egg production after the first year of life. The decrease in their productivity occurs only in the fifth year of life. In this regard, the cross is usually kept for four years, then replaced with a new livestock.
The second plus of the cross is their real, not advertising frost resistance. As part of the experiment, when breeding a cross, laying hens were kept in a cold barn at sub-zero temperatures. There was no significant drop in egg production. Although, of course, chickens were not bred for private farmsteads, but for poultry farms.
The third major advantage of the cross is its high vitality. And here the reviews of the owners of Rhodonite-3 chickens coincide with the description on the plant’s website. The hatchability of chickens of the final hybrid is 87%, the safety of young animals up to 17 weeks old is 99%, the safety of adult laying hens from 17 to 80 weeks is 97%.
Rhodonite-3 is also distinguished by high feed conversion.
The disadvantages of this cross include the inability to breed chickens “in themselves” and the lack of incubation instinct in laying hens, which is why chickens can “lose” eggs anywhere.
Possible pitfalls
What to do if the Rhodonite chickens chosen from the photo and praised in the reviews and descriptions do not want to rush? Find out the reasons for this behavior.
First of all, you can not buy these birds from the photo. Phenotypically, Rhodonite-3 is indistinguishable from other crosses of the egg direction. But other crosses reduce productivity much earlier than Rhodonite, and the seller may sell one-year-old Loman Brown or other similar chickens under the guise of Rhodonite. There will be no sense from such perestarok. You should try to take a bird one where the age is clearly visible. It is better to let her be a “parasite” for a month, but then she will reward the owner with eggs, which will turn out to be completely “dummy”.
An unbalanced diet is also one of the reasons for the decline in egg production. With a lack of vitamins and minerals, hens not only carry fewer eggs, but they can eat or “pour” them.
The third reason may be obesity or malnutrition. In both cases, the laying hen stops laying.
Shedding occurs in chickens when the laying season ends. During molting, chickens, if they rush, are very rare. And often they stop laying eggs altogether.
And the worst thing is parasites and infectious diseases. The latter may lead to the need to slaughter the entire livestock.
Reviews
Conclusion
Although Rhodonit-3 chickens were created with an eye on the industrial production of eggs, they are also taken with pleasure today to personal farmsteads. Cross Rhodonite-3 won the love of private owners with its unpretentiousness to the conditions of detention, high productivity and longevity.