Content
Rhodonit chickens are not a breed, but an industrial cross, created on the basis of two other egg crosses: Loman Brown and Rhode Island. German breeders began breeding this cross, obtaining two strains. In 2002, chickens of this cross came to Russia, where specialists from the Sverdlovsk Pedigree Poultry Farm, located in the village of Kashino near Yekaterinburg, took care of them. The goal of Russian breeders was to breed chicken breeds Rhodonite, more adapted to the climatic conditions of the Russian Federation. The resulting Rhodonite 3 became the main cross in Russia.
Description of the cross
Rodonit chickens are indistinguishable from the original breeds by photo and description Brown's loman and Rhode Island. The main differences are “internal”. The Germans' first version of Rhodonites was unsuccessful. The productivity of laying hens dropped sharply several times after 18 months. Chickens of the Rhodonit-2 breed do not reduce egg production with age, but were bred not for private yards, but for poultry farms. Consequently, they were not adapted to being kept in different climatic conditions. The task of Russian breeders was to preserve the productive characteristics of chickens of the Rodonit-2 breed while “adding” frost resistance and the ability to adapt to the very diverse climate of Russia.The work of geneticists was successful, but this is the result of a 4-line cross, which cannot be reproduced at home. The Rhodonit-3 cross is based on the Rhodonit-2 line imported from Germany and the Lohman Brown cross from the Lohman Tirtsucht company.
Output scheme
To breed Rhodonit-3 chickens, 4 lines of egg crosses are used:
- red Rhode Island line P35 (roosters);
- Rhode Island red line P36 (chickens);
- 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 Rhodonit-2 chickens and Loman Brown genetic material.
Initially, intermediate offspring are obtained from four parental lines. Rhode Island crossed with each other, selecting only roosters for further work. By crossing the other two lines, chickens are selected. The photo shows a description of how to obtain the chicken breed Rhodonite-3. More precisely, its parent forms.
The offspring of these four lines are autosexed in feathering rate.
You get two lines:
- Rhode Island roosters line P356;
- chickens of the P378 line.
The photo shows the parental lines of Rhodonit-3 chickens.
The roosters still “belong” to the Rhode Island Reds and are dark red in color. The chickens are “still” crosses of Rhodonit-2 and Loman Brown and are white in color.
When crossing parental forms, chickens with three color options are obtained:
- light brown;
- red;
- pale yellow.
The most common is light brown, phenotypically close to Loman Brown, Red Bro and other “red” varieties of industrial egg crosses.
The most common color of the final result of chickens is Rhodonit-3 in the photo.
The final result is that Rhodonite-3 is also autosex. In the final result, autosex is expressed not in the speed of feathering, but in the color of the down in one-day-old chicks.
Cockerels have yellow down. The hens have options, but there is no yellow. The main color of the back of one-day-old hens is brown. The chest, belly and sides may be light. Hens may have dark stripes on their backs. Another variation in color 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 Rhodonit-3 chickens are superior to its maternal line, which is clearly visible from the table.
Cross standard
The final result is a laying bird that has all the characteristics of a good laying hen. The weight of a chicken does not exceed 2 kg, a rooster – 2.5 kg. The description of Rhodonit-3 chickens on the website says that the head of a chicken is medium-sized with a yellow beak. There is a wide brown stripe on the upper part of the beak. The comb is leaf-shaped, red, medium in size. The eyes of chickens are orange-green and bulging. The earrings are medium in size, red. The earlobes are pale, pinkish in color with a pearlescent tint.
The frame is light, the body is horizontal. The top line of the body is straight. The back and lower back are wide. The tail is set high, of medium fluff. Roosters have short braids. The color of the braids is black with a green tint.Although in the case of the Rhodonit-3 cross, the appearance of the roosters does not play any role. Moreover, their presence in the herd is undesirable. According to reviews from owners of chickens of the Rhodonite breed, the rooster has little meat. It also makes no sense to let it reproduce. It is more profitable to buy only chickens from the factory.
The chest of chickens is wide and convex. The abdomen is well developed. The legs are short with poorly developed muscles. Shoulders are poorly developed. The wings are small and fit tightly to the body. The hocks are short and of medium thickness. The color of the metatarsals is yellow, with light brown scales on the front part.
The plumage is dense. The color can be not only light brown, as in the photo, but also red or fawn.
The flight feathers and tail feathers are light, often with an ashen tint. The character is calm. Like all industrial laying hens, Rhodonit-3 does not try to run away from people, lying down when a person approaches.
The eggshells of this cross are brown. But you may come across eggs with a dark brown shell color.
The video was filmed for the largest farming portal, but the appearance of the pullets contradicts the description of the Rodonit chicken breed on the official website of the Sverdlovsky breeding plant. The only possible option is that during shooting there was a color distortion and the young animals are actually fawn and not white.
Advantages and disadvantages
Rhodonit-3 were selected for long-term productivity and high egg production. According to customer reviews, Rhodonit-3 chickens do not reduce egg production after the first year of life. A decrease in their productivity occurs only in the fifth year of life. In this regard, the cross is usually kept for four years and then replaced with new stock.
The second advantage of crosses is their real, not advertised, frost resistance. As part of the experiment, when breeding the cross, laying hens were kept in a cold barn at sub-zero temperatures. No serious decrease in egg production was noted. Although, of course, chickens were not bred for private farmsteads as for poultry farms.
The third serious advantage of the cross is its high vitality. And here the reviews from the owners of Rhodonit-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 of age is 99%, the safety of adult laying hens from 17 to 80 weeks is 97%.
Rhodonit-3 is also characterized by high feed conversion.
The disadvantages of this cross include the inability to breed chickens “inside” and the lack of brooding instinct in laying hens, which is why chickens can “lose” eggs anywhere.
Possible pitfalls
What to do if Rhodonite chickens are selected from photos and praised in reviews and descriptions they don't want to rush? Find out the reasons for this behavior.
First of all, you should not buy these birds based on photos. Phenotypically, Rhodonit-3 is indistinguishable from other egg-laying crosses. But other crosses reduce productivity much earlier than Rhodonite, and the seller can sell yearling Loman Brown or other similar chickens under the guise of Rhodonite. There will be no sense in such overstuffing. You should try to take a bird where its age is clearly visible. It’s better to let her be a “freeloader” for a month, but then reward the owner with eggs, than to turn out to be a complete “dummy.”
An unbalanced diet is also one of the reasons for decreased egg production. With a lack of vitamins and minerals, chickens not only lay fewer eggs, but may eat or “shed” them.
A third reason could be obesity or malnutrition. In both cases, the hen stops laying eggs.
Molting occurs in chickens when the egg-laying season ends. During molting, chickens, if they lay eggs, do so very rarely. And often they stop laying eggs completely.
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 to the industrial production of eggs, they are now happily taken to personal backyards. Cross Rhodonit-3 has won the love of private owners for its unpretentiousness to living conditions, high productivity and longevity.
