DOMINANT RED BARRED D 459 is a program attractively coloured with brown feathers and barring, differing from the D 159 program by the overall lighter colour of plumage. This is due to the influence of genes from a mother who is Sussex. It is very popular as a final hybrid for self-sufficient farms. Owing to its attractive colouring, it is also used for the export of parent breeding pairs with the objective of producing eggs in self-sufficient family farms.
The asset is the high productivity, namely laying over 300 eggs. Light brown eggshell colour is characteristic. The brown plumage colour with barring is complemented by the black flight feathers and tail. The capons are used for the production of traditional highly delicious poultry meat.
This program is the result of cross breeding the red barred BRIR paternal population and the Sussex maternal population. When hatching one-day-old chickens, colour sexing is applied by using allele of the Silver/Gold "S/s" gene, where the one-day-old cockerel acquires the dominant allele of this "S" gene from the mother and is white, and the one-day-old hen receives recessive allele "s" from the father and is brown.
