Dixie Rainbows Thread

[Dara77]

Thank you Spoof I'm in Texas and was thinking about them, so I needed to know that! Got to be able to hang in this heat!

 

[Matt_Houston]

Anyone has some Dixie Rainbow eggs for sale. Really like this breed and want to hatch some. Please let me know if some one can help.

 

[Meaola]

I will have eggs in the next few months. Mine are now 17 weeks old. I have 2 roosters and 5 hens. I have been very impressed with them. Very docile birds and boy do they grow fast! Not eating any of these, but will be selling hatching eggs and chicks when I start incubating again next spring.

 

[Matt_Houston]

Thanks Meaola. The more I read about this breed the more fascinated I get. Can't wait to hatch and raise some chicks.

 

[Meaola]

An update on my Rainbows...   I've lost all but the smallest (12lbs?) hen to heat stroke.  She quit laying about a month ago when it got over 90 degrees, is now about 8 months old and I am not sure when she will start up again.  Hopefully when it cools off? 

The cochins and EE's are doing fine and still laying.  They've got shade from trees and buildings, a nice cement slab to burrow under, lots of water and a shallow pan I keep full for them to wade in.   It has been 99ish with a heat index of ~109 this last week.

Can not recommend these if you are in the deep south though they were very nice chickens and laid awesome eggs.

 

[Meaola]

I am so sorry to hear about them dying. Yes, they have a hard time in the heat. I was very worried about mine this summer. I put a mister near their pen for a while and then moved them under a shade tree instead. I also bought them a couple of kitty litter boxes that I filled with water. They actually used them to cool off. I live in the high desert of Ca. And we had temps of 107 for a couple of weeks. They did fine after I gave them their pools. Even at 95, they needed them. I never knew chickens would use the water to cool off, but they did.

 

[Meaola]

They still want to impress me...lol. I started getting an egg every other day from these pullets last week. In the last 2 days, I have now gotten 5 eggs! They are just now 19 weeks old. They have passed my Rhode Island Reds and purebred Barred Rocks, as far as start time for laying. I know they aren't known as great layers, but we shall see how this progresses. And, you wouldn't guess these are pullet eggs by the size of them

 

[Spoof]

Quote: Mine outproduced the production red hens while it was cooler, they started earlier and gave me an egg a day with lots of large double yolkers.

 

[rlhagan56]

Dixie Rainbow, Freedom Rangers, Pioneers, and I got an email from Purely Poultry about their *Madison* chickens. Are they all the same? Their pictures look the same as these.

 

[draye]

Dixie Rainbow, Freedom Rangers, Pioneers, and I got an email from Purely Poultry about their *Madison* chickens.  Are they all the same?  Their pictures look the same as these.

Not likely. Each hatchery have their own "recipe" for their birds. They all have some kind of broiler in them but the crosses are different. But yet they are similar in that they are basically meat birds.

Color schemes are quite close too.