Barred Rocks Good Shepard Poulty Ranch

[kathyinmo]

Quote:
One male from my original birds, I had one that had a pretty decent tail. I like to mate him with my females with the highest tails. Seems to be working pretty well.... for tails, but their breasts are not as rounded as I would like. I have another pen that I work on breasts. I mate male and female with the best well rounded breasts.... though these do not have the best tail angles. Next matings will be another pen, combining the two.

I just keep plugging along, trying different matings.

 

[Mr MKK FARMS]

OK, here are my 3 BR cockerels that I think should be culled. Do you all agree these are not as good as the ones in my previous post? Also, the profile on some of my BRs looks like a V. Where is the rounded chest? Will they still fill out? They are already 9 months old. Thanks for helping.

First, No. 36. His tail is all weird. He always holds his wings funny, looks like he has split wing but he doesn't.







Here is No. 39. He is smaller than the others and looks to be to short front to back. Also has tail feathers going every which way.




And lastly, No. 41. His legs are not centered in his body--more front than back. I don't like his tail, either.

them

 

[fowlman01]

So you don't see any there that you would cull now? I have buyers for the processed birds now. At $5/pound, that helps out with my feed a lot. If I wait until they are a year, I'm feeding and feeding and they are getting tougher. That is my thinking on culling out some now. I only have 6 pullets in my starter flock and will probably not use them all for breeders. Kathy, I am impressed by the tails on your GS BRs on previous photos you've posted. I was told that is a weak point in this line. How many did you get with nice tails versus not?

I would watch the leg placement of your males, along with wing carriage. In a couple of pics they almost look knock kneed.

Walt

 

[desertmarcy]

I would watch the leg placement of your males, along with wing carriage. In a couple of pics they almost look knock kneed.

Walt

Thanks, I will look at their knees. I think they were freaked out by me having the pen door open taking photos of them and they were twisting around this way and that. It is SO hard to get good photos of a relaxed bird! Wing carriage is another issue. I know they are supposed to hold their wings level. My pullets all do, but the cockerels all hold theirs downward. Walt, what do you think of the topline of No. 43, the one I was told holds his tail too level? Do you think that will improve with age? Other than that and his slightly leaning comb, I think he is a nice bird.

 

[fowlman01]

Thanks, I will look at their knees. I think they were freaked out by me having the pen door open taking photos of them and they were twisting around this way and that. It is SO hard to get good photos of a relaxed bird! Wing carriage is another issue. I know they are supposed to hold their wings level. My pullets all do, but the cockerels all hold theirs downward. Walt, what do you think of the topline of No. 43, the one I was told holds his tail too level? Do you think that will improve with age? Other than that and his slightly leaning comb, I think he is a nice bird.

It is very difficult to get good pics of birds. All of them look kind of low tailed in the pictures, the head and hackle color of #43 should be straight lines with no "V" barring. You should breed for a stronger base of the comb. They are leaning because they have no support at the base. The base needs to be wide and then the comb gets narrower as you go up to the points. If is the same thickness from the base up, it is going to lop or wrinkle in the center horizontally. The combs follow the head of the bird, so that is a plus.

I can only critique what I think I can see. They are still pretty young , but you could probably base some part of the decision on the comb.

Walt

 

[dragonfly130]

I like #43 best Marcy. Since he's the least of your favorites just ship him to me! LOL

I'm personally gonna be breeding from my strongest legged roo. He also happens to be the best meat type roo I've got.

A view from the back wide set and straight.


They look short in this pic but they are strong!


Side view


And an upright pic
.

Fortunately or not I don't have to weed through as many as you do this year. Darn varmints! Next will be a different story. Can't wait!

I'm tickled pink with these birds though and hopefully you are liking yours!

 

[gjensen]

I agree with Kathy and Fred. It takes some patience with these males. Especially the males. As Walt pointed out, there are some things that can be culled for now. Some faults are not going to get any better with age. Just be sure about what those are.

The ones you want are the ones that never give you a reason to cull them.

 

[desertmarcy]

I like #43 best Marcy. Since he's the least of your favorites just ship him to me! LOL

I'm personally gonna be breeding from my strongest legged roo. He also happens to be the best meat type roo I've got.

A view from the back wide set and straight.


They look short in this pic but they are strong!


Side view


And an upright pic
.

Fortunately or not I don't have to weed through as many as you do this year. Darn varmints! Next will be a different story. Can't wait!

I'm tickled pink with these birds though and hopefully you are liking yours!

Your birds are looking very nice! I like the chest on that guy. I have to work on getting a nice chest on mine. I did end up keeping #43. I kept 3--that one, #38 and #42. I have 6 pullets and plan to use 3. Plan is to sequentially breed (with 3-4 weeks space in between males of course) the 3 best pullets to these 3 males, toe punch and wait and watch to see how they turn out. I love the looks and size of these Barred Rocks. They are not as naturally friendly as some of my breeds, though. I did not have time to handle them a lot as chicks and they are all a bunch of touch-me-nots. I've been working with the cockerels since I'm taking them to shows. It has helped. The 3 we butchered last Friday dressed out at 6.25, 7.0, and 7.25 pounds. That's almost small turkey hen size. Dressed out nice and clean, very good looking carcasses. For people living in an area/city which prohibits roosters, I think these are an ideal meat bird. Mine didn't start crowing until they were 6 months old and by that time, they are huge. You could raise them in the city and butcher a nice-sized heritage bird before there was any crowing, no one would know. Have other people found these GS BRs to crow late?

I need to figure out a way I can raise the new ones with more space to run. I'm sure that would help with their conditioning. I have so many predators here and I guess I'm not willing to lose even one bird to a hawk. Plus bobcats are plentiful in this area, not to mention coyotes. Never had a coyote try to climb over my 5' chain link fence, but then I've never had free range birds on the other side of the fence to tempt them. They've always been penned. I see folks post pics with their birds roaming on nice grass and sigh....but then I remember why I moved here to the desert----nice mild winters and low humidity, love it

I guess there is a downside to every place, and if there isn't a downside, more people move there, and that becomes the downside

 

[dragonfly130]

Your right about these birds not being friendly. My wife noticed it early on. I wouldn't call them flighty but not going to stand around in the open to be caught either. They prefer the brush and thicker places.

As for breeding I'm going to use all my hen's. I don't feel with seven to choose from I've got enough to pick and choose. I'll do that next year at butcher time when i do have a lot. Some hen's may be better than other's sure but I need them all producing egg's if I'm going to get enough on the ground early. I feel they are genetically close enough anyway that the worst(which are pretty good) could potentially produce the best. If I'm wrong there's always the freezer where most are headed anyway.. My priorities for now are strong leg's, shape, growth rate and color. Ideally I'll get a few that have it all under one yellow skin!

It's important to me for birds to finish by fall as, my number one goal is a dual purpose bird that can forage. I may have over a hundred birds in summer but less than twenty through winter. I guess in a way the chosen few will have more time to mature as they get to stay on through winter.

Posts are more interesting with pics so I'll throw one in.
My flock and yes that is a mostly production type hen in front of the barrel. She's keeping us in eggs. The light roo in the center needs butchered as he's a cull. The dark one on the right is number one pick and the left roo is plan B.

 

[tigercreek]

I like your breeding plan, as long as you are not breeding any hens with obvious faults. You would get even more diversity by using the plan 'B' rooster for a few weeks. You will put a lot of chicks on the ground with 7 hens, say 4 eggs a week = @ 30 chicks a week, maybe 15 pullets a week , that's 60 pullets a month? Good numbers but you will have to grow them out for a while too, and buy another freezer. Might even set up 2 pens and use both roosters?? Give 2 or3 hens to the back-up boy? Just thinking out loud. ..........stan