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In my experience good standard-bred birds remain productive well beyond one or two years. One of the reasons is their body capacity. Hatchery birds just don't have the body capacity to be very productive for much more than one year. Here's a link to a book "The Call of the Hen" I think it's...

Good post on breeding buffs and the importance of feather quality. There's a lot more breeds that would benefit from improved feather quality as well. IMHO

You nailed it ronott1, couldn't agree with you more. The hatchery birds cant measure up to the worst of the standard-bred birds, no horse race there.

Excellent points Fred. For me at least, I prefer the term "standard bred" rather than show quality, meaning the birds are bred according to the APA "Standard of Perfection". As a very rough rule of thumb if 10% of the chicks your raise during the year are "show quality", meaning they are good...

Walt, You are right on the money about birds hatched and reared by broody hens. I've seen it many, many times myself. Hard to beat those birds.

Back when we had a commercial layer operation we always called them filler flats.

BGMatt, Yes, I use the plastic egg flats since they have lots of ventilation and then just put them through the dishwasher. Although, I do an additional step of spraying with Oxine just before using them again. Works great for me.

Amen to that Vickie, I sure miss those two day events and many of the folks I knew and fellowshipped and learned from, that have passed on. Those were good times indeed. Ripster

Yard full o' rocks, Do you have a digital copy of "The Plymouth Rock Standard Breed Book"? It has a chapter dedicated to Columbian Rocks and how to breed them. If you don't, let me know and I'll pm you a link to download it. It was published in the early 1900's by the APA and has lots of...

IMHO it's very difficult for the APA to do either one without the other.

Looks like you have yourself a very nice start in White Plymouth Rocks.

I'm with you on this Laura!

I totally agree with that. She's just plain awesome.

Dragon Lady, I like the way you think.

Herb had some amazing Silver Laced Wyandottes and they were BIG.

Was it just one feather on one wing. If it is, there's a good chance it's related to some sort of environmental stress and not genetic. If it's just one feather, pull it out. Give it several weeks and see how it grows back in.

I'm with you on this point. I have just acquired Large Barred Plymouth Rocks this year and while they are too young to be laying yet, I'm happy to collaborate or help in any way I can.