Plymouth Rock thread!

[sloallie10]

I just though i would start a thread for everyone who loves plymouth rocks, and for showing pictures, disscussing your birds, chicks, and eggs!

 

[Yard full o' rocks]

To my Rock Breeding friends......

I have come to know many of you (some only via threads, BYC and the internet) but I think breeding chickens is like any other hobby (hunting, softball, baseball, fishing, snow skiing, golf, etc), the hobby would not be the same without the PEOPLE that you meet and that become a part of your lives.

Please help me to keep that in mind as we raise our fowl....and please remind me if I'm falling away from that premise.

Its not just the hobby, but the people you meet, befriend, encourage, help, work with, partner to learn, etc that make the hobby the fun that it is

Sometimes I think the "manusha" gets in the way, but to my friends, please help me to be mindful of how and why we do this

 

[VeggieGoneEggie]

My 3 week old Barred Rock *looooves* perching on me. She's just not satisfied unless she's on my shoulder. AND lately she loves nestling in and draping herself in my hair!!! Love her. Just had to share.

 

[cybercat]

Well, I do not have barreds but partridge color. Love them. They are free rangeing even in this cold weather. Past 2 nights its been in the 20's. My blog on mine tells more on them. I am only working with this color and breed right now. Depending on how this next year goes I might be expanding into the Buff Rocks.

 

[Barred4Life]

Look at my jumping rock

One of my roosters @ 6 weeks

 

[speckledhen]

Pics of two of my Stukel line Rock hens, 2 year old Ida and her niece, 1 year old Druscilla. Sorry about the molt and rooster-damaged feathers.




Ida's sister, Dottie, raising her two little DelaRock sons:



My oldest Barred Rock hen, Amanda, daughter of a McMurray hen. She is going on 7 years old and is currently laying, even with seriously arthritis hip joints. She is larger than most hatchery type BR hens.

 

[Robert Blosl]

He has two roosters and I think about six hens, they were free ranging so it was kind of hard to tell. I really liked the Roos so went ahead and bought a ckl. Probably around 20 young stock from 3 to 5 months old. I have BR that I got from this guy in Ok. He used 5 lines to get the birds that he has and that I have. They look pretty good but the tail issue is still there.

Five lines of Barred Rocks crossed together?

Wow. Must be a new method to improve a old Heritage line of old breed chickens. For me I will find the best line have ten chicks sent to my home and then pick two pair and move forward. Now the question is which and where do I get the ten best chicks.

Bob

 

[speckledhen]

That is your opinion of a cull and I respect your opinion. But my opinion of a cull is I have not the time,space or money for culls in my poultry yard. JMO

Who said in my poultry yard? I said I can sell the culls from a breeding program. Plenty of folks have no idea there is any standard for chickens and just want good backyard birds. They are the ones who end up with my culls, most of which are still far superior to hatchery stock that they would otherwise be stuck with. Besides, I have a laying flock that is full of show quality birds who have aged as well as "culls" as you'd call them. I have plenty of room for good layers, plenty.

ETA: And, by the way, there are may folks on this thread with good old hatchery stock who would love to post pictures of their Plymouth Rocks. I want them to feel as welcome to do so as anyone with those "perfect" birds. I started with hatchery stock and I have a 4 yr old hatchery descended hen, a "cull", who outlays all of my younger, better quality Rock hens still. She can stay forever. Plenty of room for Fern. Since I do have chickens for eggs, if a perfect-per-Standard hen never lays, she is a cull around here. And you know what culls are called at my place? Pets. They don't live forever. And they at least give me fertilzer, which is more than I could say for a dog, so they aren't doing nothing, certainly.

I don't want to run off all the folks with their "normal" Rocks from this thread. They are welcome to be here and post as much as any with birds with "name brands".

 

[speckledhen]

I have no problem with folks eating their birds. As I raise them longer, I have less desire to eat chicken, seeing that they have more intelligence and personality than given credit for, but sometimes, it's just a rooster's lot in life to be dinner. And it's a merciful act to euthanize those poor Franken-chickens we call Cornish X at a certain point. I accept that. As I said, I will eat any human aggressive males rather than pass on those genes (other than the stupid little d'anver roosters, known for aggression, who wouldn't make a chicken nugget, and even then, I have raised up a friendly one I keep). That's my own breeding philosophy and I'm sticking to it. Works for me and we are known for having well-tempered males here, which is why people have sought us out at times for their birds.

Quality is in the eye of the beholder. Quality has more to do with than just an arbitrary standard. For instance, I know a show quality Silkie when I see one, but to me, it's a low quality bird because it does not suit my needs or my personal view of the perfect chicken. No offense to Silkie owners intended. The man who told me his Orpingtons were THE best, period, like it was decreed from some stone tablet, because they were of a certain type, didn't understand how anyone could say that they didn't like them, that anyone could have a differing opinion. And that's all it is, preference and opinion.

If the perfect-per-Standard Rock hen doesn't lay eggs or the perfect-per-Standard Rock rooster is so aggressive that I have to carry a weapon to go into the pen with him, BOTH are culls by MY standard. My standard is really what counts in my chicken pen. I can have a breeding pen and be very strict in my culling and a general pen just for fun. What's wrong with just having fun with your birds? When I have no time for fun, then I need to reexamine my life. Some get a kick out of being an aggressive super breeder and taking an axe to every bird with a minor flaw. Some are not built that way. I'm just not, but I do know what the Standard says about my Rocks. I just must decide how much I care about it.

I hope our members who own the everyday, inquisitive, funny, intelligent, quirky, friendly Plymouth Rocks are still willing to participate in this thread. BYC is inclusive, not exclusive. There are other places for that, which is why I am here and not there when I talk about chickens.

I love to hear from Bob Blosl and Walt Leonard, who have a wealth of knowledge, and I thank them and others for sharing their knowledge, but I also love to hear the everyday experiences of people who are just loving their simple backyard Rocks as well. I'm concerned that we not exclude those members on this thread.

blaze7, you'll love your Rocks. Best of luck with them!

 

[Silver Rock]

Yep, I have a standard and have been breeding fowl for many years - PR for almost 7 years; I have shown, placed, I do know my way around showing fowl and the SOP.  Indeed, it's true that the SOP is most helpful when breeding to the standard; I would also say it would be helpful for anyone providing feedback on a breed/variety, to have more than just a few months of experience with said breed/variety.  Just my opinion. 

I feel it necessary to clear things up on my poultry experience. I have more than just a few months experience with the Plymouth Rock breed and many other breeds as I have been around poultry for the most part of my life. I am very grateful to have spent time with poultry breeders like Dr. Albert McGraw and sit in his poultry house many afternoons and talk to him about his breeding pens of Mottled Javas, Blue Hamburgs,Silver Penciled Hamburgs and many other rare breeds. How I do wish I could go back 20 years as at that time I had a very nice breeding flock of Mottled Javas that Mr. McGraw let me hand pick out of his breeder flock. I just don't want anyone to think that I have just recently got into poultry breeding. I have had great birds in the past that I was very proud of and plan to have great birds in the future that I can be proud of also.