The Plymouth Rock Breeders thread

[uphilljill]

This is a 19 week old k. He's just a monster compared to his hatch mates. His tail's just starting to come in and has a bit further to go. I wish he was lighter colored, but I like his width. He'll get to stay and grow out more.




shown (at top) next to next to hatch mate for comparison

 

[Fred's Hens]

This years' chicks are now 16 & 19 weeks old, so I spent some time this morning going through them to see who can be culled soon.

I wanted to show a pic of this 16 week old cockerel because he was hatched with a noticeable back defect (the only one I've ever seen like this.) Not sure if I should call it roached because it doesn't hump, but rather it starts off flat then drops steeply off behind the wings. Obviously he's a cull, but thought it notable.




Hatch enough chicks and you'll see some malformed chicks. I honestly believe 90% of these kinds of things are defectively formed in the shell. The whole making a chick inside a shell and that offspring hatching from an egg is a hold over from the dinosaur era, some say, who knows, but for certain? There's gonna be some messed up getting themselves together inside the egg. A cull, yes.


And does anyone have any experience with these kinds of smutty wing feathers? Could they molt out? (This guy is being culled anyway, just interested for future reference.)



thanks!

Some folks say the feather got damaged at the base. Pull the feather and see if the new one grows back the same way. We get these non-barred, solid black feathers too in this variety.

 

[uphilljill]

Also holding onto these 2 young Ks (16 weeks old) a bit longer. I like their lighter color and width is promising. Just need a bit more time to see how they bring it all together.

 

[Beekissed]

This is a 19 week old k. He's just a monster compared to his hatch mates. His tail's just starting to come in and has a bit further to go. I wish he was lighter colored, but I like his width. He'll get to stay and grow out more.




shown (at top) next to next to hatch mate for comparison

I'm new at this but I am wondering if his wings aren't a bit low?

 

[chicken pickin]

Also holding onto these 2 young Ks (16 weeks old) a bit longer. I like their lighter color and width is promising. Just need a bit more time to see how they bring it all together.

Im glad your sharing some of your potential keeps and culls. Some of my males look similar, the two in this photo look familiar to me.

I forget, how many males are you growing out this year, so far do you have an idea on how many culls you have at this point and how many need more time. If you find a moment could you mention a few of the reasons you decided each one was a cull, if thats not asking too much

I feel like my males are still changing so dramatically over night each night, I am enjoying watching them change.

 

[chicken pickin]

I don't know how accurate this is but I was reading some info on BPR as came across a person that wrote a quick blog about their visit to Good Shepard to pick up BPRs, while she was there he talked with her to give her advice, she says he told her to look at the males at 16-18 weeks. If males are crowing or have big combs they are maturing too fast. Slower maturing birds will grow larger. Advise was to cull fast maturing males.

Is this something that most of you do?

 

[uphilljill]

His wing does look a bit low in the pics, but not so much usually. Definitely something to keep an eye on as he matures.

This weekend I'm just doing a first cull. Mostly looking for DQs (like the back defect K) and narrow bodied birds. I will do another cull sometime in early December and probably another cull when the breeding pens are being decided. Right now I just want to get rid of the junk, cut down on the feed bill, and give the remaining birds more space to grow. I'm still new and learning a lot as well, so I like to take it slow.

I hatched 52 chicks this spring and am keeping 5 Ks and 10 Ps for the next round. (I lost 7 chicks to a fox attack earlier this summer, 15 Ps have already found new homes, and 15 Ks are being processed later this week.)

Interestingly, the chicks I noted at 8 weeks as having the widest/deepest bodies are the only ones to make this cut in a blind re-selection. Birds that were narrow or short backed to start with never improved.

The male below is being culled because he is a skinny bird who narrows even more towards the hips (like most this cut.) I also don't like the way he carries his wings way up on his back.



I'm sure it's different for everyone depending on their goals and what they're trying to improve in their flock. What are others looking for in first culls?

 

[Fred's Hens]

Folks have different views and styles. Me? I do just about as Jill described. Good plan Jill.

 

[desertmarcy]

I don't know how accurate this is but I was reading some info on BPR as came across a person that wrote a quick blog about their visit to Good Shepard to pick up BPRs, while she was there he talked with her to give her advice, she says he told her to look at the males at 16-18 weeks. If males are crowing or have big combs they are maturing too fast. Slower maturing birds will grow larger. Advise was to cull fast maturing males.

Is this something that most of you do?

Here, I haven't had any that start crowing that early so it has not been an issue. I would think that there is a fine line between choosing slow and fast maturing birds. Sometimes I think the Barred Rocks mature too slowly and to me that doesn't make for a great dual purpose bird if you have to wait forever. Interested to hear what others say about this.

 

[Fred's Hens]

Frank has a poultry ranch with a direct pipeline to the top shelf, super high dollar, exotic meat bird market. He markets and sells "slow grown poultry" at prices that might make most of the members faint dead away. It's his thing and he's spent a life time making it happen. Good for him.

Different folks have different views. If you've followed this thread from it's beginning and why this thread was started in the first place, then you already know my view. Yup. These birds are far too slow. Not all of us can replicate what Frank has done and honestly, have dramatically different approaches and goals with our birds.