The Plymouth Rock Breeders thread

[Beekissed]

I'll tell you how mine came out....all of these chicks came from medium sized eggs, which are small for my liking, but that's what size my pullet eggs have been this year. The first set of chicks came out small, the second set of chicks came out of the same size eggs, but as huge as a butterball turkey. The only difference between these sets of eggs was 16 day's time and the second set of eggs were laid when the birds were out on range, while the first set was when they were confined to a pen and eating only layer mash that had been beefed up with calf manna.

Personally, I believe the food they were getting out on forage was superior to the grain based feed and it produced bigger chicks, as they all came from the same sized eggs.

Just this morning I handed the flock a baby snake that was a foot long....one chicken ate the whole thing. Now, that's a lot of digestible protein and calcium.

 

[uphilljill]

Just curious: My pullets started laying last fall & winter, but I didn't collect from them for hatching until they were 1 year old and the eggs were a good size and laying was regular. Would those be considered pullet eggs because it is their first real laying season, or hen eggs because they are technically a year old?

In any case, I see no difference in the size of the egg or chick hatched from these younger birds vs older hens.

 

[Beekissed]

I stop calling them pullet eggs when they gain their normal, production mode size for that breed. Sometimes a bird never gets eggs that are normal for the breed. If I am breeding a breed intentionally like I am now, that bird wouldn't make the breeding roster. I pretty much want a standard bird that performs like a WR should....a nice large or extra large egg in the nest each day.

 

[Beekissed]

This breeding thing is harder than it looks. I'm seeing some serious mutations here and wondering if I've inbred the flock too much. At first I just thought this was your standard 2 headed bird.....



.....but upon closer inspection, I found it actually has 3 heads. Do you think it could be the GMO grains or should I be infusing some new blood into the project?

 

[radams]

This breeding thing is harder than it looks. I'm seeing some serious mutations here and wondering if I've inbred the flock too much. At first I just thought this was your standard 2 headed bird.....



.....but upon closer inspection, I found it actually has 3 heads. Do you think it could be the GMO grains or should I be infusing some new blood into the project?

Funniest BYC post have seen all week! I have been keeping up with the thread for quite some time picking up on pointers and learning as much as I can about successful line breeding before I get into it myself. Im not sure if I keep reading for the education or the humor. Between you, Fred and several others I get tears in my eyes laughing at least once a week. At first I thought "great, another learning opportunity about line breeding." Well...needless to say this country boy ended up with tears in my eyes after seeing the first pic! Its all good.

Thank you.

 

[Beekissed]

Glad it brought a chuckle! That's one of the reasons I even post here, so that folks can laugh at my fumbling, bumbling efforts to turn out a Rock.

I actually took that pic a moment or two too late....what made me grab the camera was when the barred hen stuck her head out from under the wing of the white and that's all I could see of her was this head sprouting out from under a wing. Truly caught me off guard for a minute, then I grabbed the camera to snap it but by the time I got back, she had moved a bit. Still funny, though.

 

[LindaB220]

I'll tell you how mine came out....all of these chicks came from medium sized eggs, which are small for my liking, but that's what size my pullet eggs have been this year. The first set of chicks came out small, the second set of chicks came out of the same size eggs, but as huge as a butterball turkey. The only difference between these sets of eggs was 16 day's time and the second set of eggs were laid when the birds were out on range, while the first set was when they were confined to a pen and eating only layer mash that had been beefed up with calf manna.

Personally, I believe the food they were getting out on forage was superior to the grain based feed and it produced bigger chicks, as they all came from the same sized eggs.

Just this morning I handed the flock a baby snake that was a foot long....one chicken ate the whole thing. Now, that's a lot of digestible protein and calcium.

Bee, you can surely tell the ones that are free ranging. Mine were mostly penned up and they were all smaller. Love the Blosl smoke on the feathers. Ha.

 

[Beekissed]

Me too, but it's an odd thing to see these should-be-yellow chicks with that smoky grey blush on them. This spring's hatch really had it, way more than those hatched last fall.

All three of the pullets I chose for breeding stock this spring went broody in the month of May. I think that's pretty remarkable, as that's what I had wanted out of a Rock line. Two are brooding chicks right now and the third went too late in the month for me to let her sit eggs, so I'm giving her some chicks to foster. Ideally, I would like them to go broody once a year, in April or May, but no later, set their own eggs and raise their own broods and then be done with that for the year...no more broody episodes and then a normal return to laying afterwards.

 

[weavers rocks]

U want that smoky down that's the silver gene keeps em from turning yellow when out in the sun . Plus it gives em a nice sheen

 

[Beekissed]

That's what I've heard! If that's a good thing, this year's hatch has it in spades!

Way more than those in the fall hatch, that's for sure. Guess breeding the big boy over his daughters must intensify that effect.