The characteristics that are hard to breed are the ones you don’t possess.Ok so in the process of breeding for function as well as to work with the SoP I'm curious..
For someone starting out - given the characteristics of the rock - where do you suggest I focus first?
I am getting a set of scales this weekend so I can start weighing my birds.
I know Rocks are supposed to have a certain structure and look and weight. I do have a copy of the SOP to use as a reference. I also want a bird that lays well and looks well on my table.
Are certain characteristics easier to breed into the flock than others? Or does it simply depend on the quality of the birds you have.
I have several that should be culled because their combs aren't correct - and Last year I culled 2 hens who had legs that were too pale. So far my leg color seems to be decent.
If anyone has pictures (not drawings) of examples of white rocks that they consider to be excellent I would love to see them.
I have been luckier this year in hatching white rock chicks - last year I had 3 total hatch. This year I have had 20. I am watching them develop and marking ones to keep and cull.
Thanks
I wouldn’t cull for combs unless I was certain I had better birds than the ones with the bad combs. Forgive me for the story but I like to tell stories.
I once had a White Rock male that won more shows as a cockerel and as a cock than any other I’ve shown. He had a stupid looking huge 3 spike comb. I hated, HATED that comb. However, he was so good otherwise you couldn’t have made him look bad if you stuck a red glove on his head. I remember seeing him in the poultry press, thinking oh no! People will wonder what the heck. But, he made it in there enough that some probably thought white rocks were supposed to have 3 points. The morel of the story is, he brought too much to the breeding pen to ignore, including that stupid looking comb. BTW, I haven’t seen that comb since.