Heartmoss those are some pretty nice SPRs. Where did you get your start with them?? A pretty rare variety ....Hey all, I'm not yet serious about breeding, and will probably only ever breed for production. But I am working on growing my flock of Silver Penciled Rocks, after two years of trying out different breeds while also figuring out how to make money (or at least, not lose money) on a small homestead. It's a little exhaustingSo I am stopping by to say "hi" and post some bird photos with a small amount of commentary. Feel free to critique--I love reading through this thread. I have not even developed the basic skills required for an "eye," but as of now am not going to worry about it too much. In a few years, I may get serious. We'll see. I currently have 2 cockerels and 2 pullets of the SPRs, but hope to maintain at least 20 breeders for my own egg and meat needs (I love the 16 week olds for meat). I would also like to develop the pullets to start laying at 6 months instead of 8, but don't have much of an idea of where to start. I wish I could get better photos of this bird. In this one she is filthy, flustered from raising chicks, and about to molt. She is not for the breeding program, but is to be used to produce my own birds for the table. She was a whim purchase when I first got into chickens, and I have not locally seen a LF White Rock that I like as much as her. There was a local guy who bred White Rocks and Buff Orpingtons and he bred them for dual-purpose production, but they were also beautiful birds, and this is where she came from. Sadly, he sold all of them the year after I got into chickens.
Below are photos of the SPR cockerels at 6 months. They're a little lanky still, which drives me nuts, but their weights are good. General shapes are looking better now at 7 months. This is Cockerel 1. He has feathered a little slow for my liking but is larger than his brother and I just... like him better. He's calmer, too.
This is Cockerel 2.
These are the pullets:
You can see with the pullet on the left that I am worried about her developing a cushion as the years pass.
Overall, I'm really happy with them as they are clearly Rocks to me, and not Wyandottes, though I can still see a little Wyandotte in their faces (which bothers me as I don't like Wyandottes). They look like they have excellent potential as meat birds, though I am not impressed by their egg-laying ability. I'll post some updates when I've actually started the project. Thanks for looking!
BE VERY CAREFUL....I have never known Greenfire to have SPRs. AND, Greenfire is nothing more than a "sourcing agent" for "rare birds" from which they make a lot of money....in my opinion they are not breeders, but more like a HIGH END hatcheryThank youI was surprised by them, it was pure dumb luck that I got the real deal. I bought 12+ hatching eggs from an ebay auction. (Still not sure which line they're from, but she has other eggs for sale now that are supposed to be from Greenfire lines.)
