Partridge Rock Thread

[cybercat]

He is way too leggy and that will not change with time. He also has no underside in the back which also will not change. He is also carrying a drop wing which is gentic and will be passed on. The under feathering showing could be covered but if not, it is another reason to cull him. I would go to the Plymouth Rock site and look at pictures of the correct body type on live birds instead of book drawings. The ones on the site are the show birds and some are extreme but you will see what I am refering to better since these are professional pictures.

Now with that said I know there is no perfect bird. Everyone has faults somewhere. But the purpose of breeding is to help correct as many as we can. If your goal is not to be toward stand why bred and undo what everyone has work for since the breed began. It is the SOP that makes the Plymouth Rock as Plymouth Rock instead of a RIR or wynadott ect. You do not have to show to bred better chickens. Heck I do not. My chickens are for me and me alone. But since i am breeding them I will work to improve them back to the SOP instead of small hatchery stock.

Sorry to sound preachy this tends to be a issue with me as I have been a breeder of animals for many years in many breeds. Please do not take it as an attack but just advise I am passing on. You can do whatever you wish with your chickens as they are your alone. But you did ask for someone opion and that is what I gave. I tend to be honest when I do it since many here will not and just tell you they are pretty chickens. My opion comes from a breeders stand point, that is all.

Have a Happy Labor Day everyone.

 

[DFCottage]

Hi all,
I've got 5 roos, and would like to bring my stock down to 2. I have a pretty good idea of who will be going, but I wanted to get some other eyes on these guys. You'll see one below with fairly light shanks (pic 7), 2 actually have minor tiny tiny shank feathers (one of which has an imperfect comb). A few have more golden in the hackles. Any input would be greatly appreciated! I'll label them pic 1, pic 2, etc so if you need to identify anything you can point out the picture #. These guys are almost 4 months old.

Pic 1

Pic 2

Pic 3

Pic 4

Pic 5

Pic 6

Pic 7

 

[cybercat]

#2 would be my keeper. I would wonder what they might be mixed with if you are seeing feather down the shanks. I have only seen that when they have been mixed with somthing in the past. Light shanks would also be a no keeper as he would not briten the hens legs. Comb I would not over worry about as they are minor and easier to fix. Light color in neck though would be a problem.

 

[DFCottage]

Thanks Cybercat! Yeah, he's my favorite too. You can see the minor shank feathering in a few of them, it only seemed to show up 2 months or so ago. Bummer. Pic 3 bird is also on the right in pic 4 and 5, he's not too terribly awful I don't think... I wasn't too thrilled with the coloring on these guys but what are ya gonna do.. sigh.. I'll be at Joel Gilman's again on Saturday for his big fall swap, I might see if I can snag a roo from him. I wish they were another month or 2 older so I could evaluate them better, but such is timing.

 

[haemony]

DFCottage, beautiful PR Roos!

How endangered are these birds? I have heard people mention that they are.

 

[DFCottage]

I don't think they're on any endangered lists, but I think there is definitely a shortage of really excellent birds. Hatcheries still carry them (although, like most hatcheries, the birds aren't always to standard), but there are several private breeders with nice stock throughout the US. Joel Gilman lives very close to me, who has beautiful PR stock (where mine came from). I had a few hatchery birds earlier this year that I sold, the quality between those and Joel's was like night and day. So I kept the top birds from Joel's stock and am really happy with what I have right now.

 

[off-grid hen]

Hello everyone, it's been a while! I am still happily raising my mixed flock of 15 hens and 1 PR rooster. My (hatchery) Dominiques started laying ( 3 are now laying yay!) before my rose comb brown leghorns, and only two of the RCBL's, are laying right now. None of my PR pullets are laying yet, and MAN are they big girls.

I'm just curious, what color brown will the PR eggs be, and will I be able to tell the difference between their pullet eggs vs another Dom who will be new to laying? My Doms lay a very light brown egg- as shown below. Just trying to keep track of which hens are laying and when. One of my PR girls squatted, so I'm thinking she is getting closer, I have 6 of them altogether.

BTW, my rooster General Tso is quite the bossypants. He has flogged my husband, chased my 6 year-old, and chased me a few times. I'm hoping dominance therapy cures him or he calms down a bit before his spurs grow in- or I'll have to rehome him or give him a tour of the dutch oven.

edited to add photo of dirty dom eggs and a photo of the general.

 

[Moonlight Piano]

Quote:
Personally #1 would be my keeper. The other roos look to be a bit too light in colour.

 

[BlazeJester]

Hey all,

I got a mixed flock in August when I ordered my chicks and am slightly less than thrilled with this particular hatchery batch.

I would be very interested in ordering breeder quality partridge rocks in the spring; it would need to be a small batch of day-old chicks as I don't currently have the resources to incubate. Anyone know of somebody near SC/GA/WesternNC or that would be able to ship small orders of day-old chicks?

Thanks!

 

[cybercat]

Quote:
PR also lay a light browm egg. So with that said it could be either of them. Mine start with eggs that are med sized and light med brown. That lightens to light brown after a few weeks. This is normal. In a few months after laying eggs will grow in size to large. Mine the following year the eggs grew in size to between large and xlrg. With an jumbo once in a great while.

The best way to tell who is laying is by comb. Mine get bright lipstick fire red when in lay. Not pink or light red. Face also is red. Hope that helps.