Chickens of the rhodonite breed were bred artificially specially for factories as birds with high egg production. Consider how they get along on ordinary farmsteads.
Origin of breed
Rhodonite - chickens that were bred by Sverdlovsk breeders in order to increase productivity. Work on the breed began in 2006, and after 6 years a new species of birds with high egg production was introduced to the market. At the heart of the maternal line is the Lormann Brown breed, and red rhode island males were used as fathers.
One of the features that the chicken of the rhodonite breed boasts is the preservation of egg production in the winter, even in an unheated room. Birds of this breed are mobile, active. They are not demanding on the conditions of detention and are suitable even for beginner poultry farmers. But do not forget that these chickens were bred for factory maintenance, therefore, they have some features.
Work on improving the livestock is ongoing, today there are already new breed options - rhodonite-2, rhodonite-3.
Appearance
What are the external data of the rhodonite rock? Chicken differs from a cockerel immediately after birth, and sexual characteristics can be determined already in day-old chicks. The hens have a brown color, a lighter head and back, a dark area around the eyes. And the males, on the contrary, have a light color and a dark head, bright areas around the eyes.
Adult birds are often confused with relatives - Broken Brown and Rhode Island breeds. Rhodonite is a chicken that has a small head, a yellow beak with a stripe, large red earrings and a scallop. The color is brown, on the tail and wings there may be a grayish tint. The pen is dense, pressed to the body. The bird is light, with a thin skeleton, lively and active. The chicken weighs 2 kg, the cockerel - 3 kg.
Productivity
There is another nice feature of the rhodonite breed: the chicken begins to lay eggs at an early age - from 4-5 months. Egg production is about 300 eggs per year. The egg is brown or burgundy, its weight is 60 g. Peak productivity occurs in the first year and a half of the bird's life. When laying hens rhodonite reaches two years, egg production begins to drop significantly. In this case, the bird can be rejuvenated with a special vaccine. This procedure will extend the productivity of chickens for another year and a half.
Content
Rhodonite - chickens having the glory of unpretentious birds. But they are designed to live primarily in poultry farms, so one of the most important conditions of detention is the presence of good ventilation in the room. In a home coop, this function can be performed by a window or a hole in the wall covered with a net. Drafts should not be allowed.
Ceilings in the chicken coop should be at least 1.7 m high. Birds do not like too tight landing, therefore it is not necessary to populate more than 20 individuals per 10 square meters.
As mentioned above, hens of the rhodonite breed retain egg production even at low temperature, but should not be colder than -2 ° C in the chicken coop. The birds tolerate heat well and feel comfortable even in the heat (up to + 28 ° C).
A few words about the organization of the chicken coop. The windows should face south, but the doors should be done in the east, where less snow will be swept in the winter. Perches at a height of about 1 m are placed on the back wall.
Chickens are carried in boxes of boards, the bottom of which is covered with hay or straw. For a family of 4-5 chickens you need one box. In the place of walking or in the chicken coop itself, a container is installed, filled with sand or its mixture with ash. Chickens bathe in this mixture, this helps to get rid of parasites. In addition, birds choose small pebbles from sand to improve digestion.
A drinking bowl is installed at a low height, along the side walls - feeders for wet and dry feed. If you equip the feeders with sides, then the food will not scatter on the floor.
Food
The nutritional needs of the rhodonite breed hens do not differ from the needs of other laying hens. In addition to combined feeds, birds need vegetables, fresh herbs, grain, as well as calcium. The chicken diet should have minerals and supplements that help birds fill the calcium deficiency. Daily, laying hens should consume chopped chalk, shell rock, shell, ground limestone. To improve digestion, chickens need to be given fine gravel or sand with small pebbles.
Breeding
Rhodonite comes to poultry lovers from different factories. Chicken of this breed is a good laying hen, but not the best brood hen. Moreover, when a rooster and a chicken are crossed, chickens do not inherit all the pedigree traits of their parents. The fact is that rhodonite is a cross breed, that is, a hybrid. And such a hybrid does not work as a result of simple crossbreeding. Livestock specialists work on breeding, strictly following certain rules. Double crossbreeding or blood transfusion may be used .
The effect of hybridization is especially pronounced in the first generation of birds, and then fades away. This is the reason that the breeding of hens of the rhodonite breed at home does not make sense. Breeding is possible only in an industrial environment.
The life span of egg hybrids is short, they are designed for high productivity at the beginning of life, and after the results are reduced, they are put on meat. In the same way you need to act at home, constantly updating the livestock. It is necessary to purchase chickens or an egg in an incubator in a factory, ignoring private announcements, since thoroughbred chickens cannot be raised on a common farmyard.