Red Kuban breed of chickens

In 1995, at the Labinsk breeding farm in the Krasnodar Territory, work began on breeding a domestic egg breed for industrial use. The ancestors of the new chicken were Rhode Islands and Leghorns. Then a new egg breed appeared, called the red Kuban chicken. Officially, the breed is registered under the name “UK Kuban – 7” and is more of a cross than a full-fledged breed. Breeding work on the Kuban breed of chickens is ongoing today. The goal of breeders is to increase the egg production of the breed.

Red Kuban breed of chickens

Breed description

Kuban chickens, belonging to the egg direction, have a decent weight for laying hens: a chicken weighs 2 kg, a rooster 3 kg. Red Kuban is an early maturing breed. Young start laying eggs at 4 months. The Kuban laying hen lays 340 eggs per year. Egg weight 60-65 g. The shell is the same as that of broken browns, that is, brown. Meat quality is also good. The meat of Kuban chickens is tender and juicy.

On a note! Like any egg cross, Kuban red laying hens reduce egg production starting from the second year of life.

However, experienced farmers generally do not leave any bird, except for peacocks, for the second year, since females have the maximum egg production in the first year of life.

Important! When buying a chicken, you need to be able to determine its age so as not to buy a decommissioned from the factory and already reduced egg production.

How not to make a mistake when buying laying hens

How not to make a mistake when buying a laying hen?

Exterior of the breed

With a relatively massive body, the Kuban red breed of chickens has an elegant light skeleton and a small head. Comb leaf-shaped red. The lobes and wattles are red, but the lobes may have whitish spots. The face is light pink or red.

Red Kuban breed of chickens

The neck is short, set high. The back and loin are wide and straight. The tail, on the other hand, is set low. The rooster sometimes continues the line of the back. The chest is broad, with well-developed muscles. The wings are close to the body. Paws are strong, set wide apart. Hocks are light.

The color of the Kuban red laying hen does not always correspond to its name. The plumage may contain white or black feathers, although the main color remains dark red or light brown. The plumage is dense.

On a note! The breed is “half” autosex. Chickens can be distinguished by sex at the age of not earlier than a month.

At this age, the sex of normal chickens is often not yet possible to determine. Therefore, sometimes such indicators are called autosex. At the beginning of the breeding of the breed, 9 lines were obtained from parental crosses, in which the silver and golden genes are sex-linked. But basically, the autoskeksity of chickens is shown by the speed of feathering.

Keeping chickens of the Kuban breed

Chickens of the Kuban breed have strong immunity only if the conditions of keeping and feeding are observed. Like any cross-country cell content, chickens are afraid of dampness, and when building a chicken coop, it is necessary to ensure the absence of dampness. Forced ventilation must be provided in the chicken coop. If this is not possible, arrange a window and regularly ventilate the room, making sure that there are no drafts.

Red Kuban breed of chickens

To prevent chickens from contaminating the litter with food and water, drinkers with feeders are placed above the floor. The height is calculated so that the chicken can safely eat and drink, but cannot climb into the pan with its paws.

For laying eggs, chickens arrange wooden boxes on the floor with straw bedding. So that the eggs do not get dirty in the litter, the litter is changed as it gets dirty.

To ensure good egg production, chickens are satisfied with a daylight hours of at least 12 hours. If the day length is shorter in winter, artificial lighting is used.

The temperature in the chicken coop should not fall below -2°C. Kuban red chickens are thermophilic and at lower temperatures they can freeze their scallops. Trying to keep warm, chickens will begin to consume food in incredible quantities.

On a note! If the chicken coop is colder than + 10 ° C, egg production decreases in chickens.

Kuban reds also do not tolerate summer heat well. At temperatures above + 27 ° C, chickens stop eating. The quality of the shell deteriorates in eggs. She’s getting too thin. In some cases, chickens in the heat lay eggs without shells at all. And it seems that this is the legacy of the Loman Browns.

A comfortable temperature range for this breed of chickens is 17-19 ° C. Such conditions for laying hens can only be provided in a modern factory equipped with climate control.

Red Kuban breed of chickens

The diet of the red Kuban breed of chickens

Cross UK Kuban – 7 is also demanding on feed. Cereals should predominate in the diet of red Kuban chickens, accounting for about 50% of the total diet. The red Kuban has a high need for protein food, therefore, feed containing vegetable and animal protein must be included in the diet:

  • peas;
  • slaughter;
  • alfalfa;
  • cottage cheese;
  • whey;
  • meat and bone meal;
  • meat broth.

To replenish calcium in the diet, fodder chalk, crushed eggshells or shells should be present.

On a note! The chicken will willingly eat finely chopped fish, but it is not advisable to feed it because of the specific smell that chicken meat acquires.

In spring time, vitamin and mineral premixes are added to the feed for chickens. In summer, chickens are given grass and greens from the garden. For winter, you can make hay from alfalfa or clover. But you need to make sure that there are leaves in the hay. From dry hay, chickens will be able to peck only foliage and flower petals. They cannot eat hard alfalfa and clover straw. After the hens choose the leaves, the straw can be used as bedding.

Important! Wet mixers on whey, cottage cheese or broth should not be left in the feeders for a long time.

In hot weather, dairy products turn sour very quickly, which can lead to digestive problems in chickens.

The specifics of breeding the Kuban red breed

When breeding a herd of hens of the red Kuban breed in such a way that there are 1 hens per 10 rooster. Kuban red hens are not very good hens, like their parent breeds. For breeding, eggs of the red Kuban breed are seized and laid in an incubator or under chickens of other breeds. The breed of the mother hen is selected from those that sit well on the eggs and lead chickens.

Photo of chickens of the Kuban chicken.

Red Kuban breed of chickens

The chicken of the Kuban breed immediately after hatching has a golden color and acquires an “adult” red color only after the juvenile molt. The survival rate of chickens of the red Kuban breed is 95%.

On a note! Kuban red chickens are very disease resistant.

Feedback from private owners

Larisa Kalinina, Art. Novomyshastovskaya
I kept the cross UK Kuban – 7. I took it from the factory, so the breed was without deception. Outwardly, they look like broken browns. What I liked: high egg production and increased friendliness. They were completely tame. But the cons are much more serious. They have very poor stress tolerance. Even during a simple thunderstorm, they freaked out so much that they began to peck at each other. Free-range pecked each other’s cesspools to death. If closed indoors, they “reduced” their number to a minimum, pecking at the weaker ones. In general, a bird for cages where they cannot turn around. I killed them all and don’t want any more.
Margarita Klenova, Art. Nizhny Novgorod
Bought 10-month-old red Kuban chickens. I don’t know what happened, but 3 died almost immediately. The remaining 7 survived, although the conditions were all the same. When they grew up, they released them to the main herd. I don’t know where they are calm, but the rest of the chickens are terrorized. In relation to people, yes, they are calm. They don’t run away, even if they get very close. They started laying eggs a month ago. And seven hens fully provide our family with eggs. It still remains for sale. So we are satisfied with the egg production of this breed. But there is no character. In general, the breed is little known. A neighbor advised us red Kuban, but I could not find them for a long time. So far, the forum has not suggested that the official name of this breed is “cross UK Kuban – 7”

Conclusion

The breed of chickens Kuban red is unlikely to be able to win the attention of chicken breeders in the near future. With high egg production, the breed could win by its unpretentiousness to the conditions of detention and feed, as well as stress resistance. Unfortunately, she does not have these qualities yet. Poultry farmers, when choosing between the cross of the UK Kuban – 7 and the industrial foreign hybrid, will still prefer the hybrid. By the degree of “capriciousness” these crosses are the same, but foreign ones have higher egg production.

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