The Plymouth Rock Breeders thread

[Fred's Hens]

got to ask a question. I bought hatching eggs and out of the eggs- all are PBRs, I got blues, blacks and one super light silver/blue chick. Can barred rocks be "splash"? these are less than 3 days old so no clue about feathering in. Another question, out of the GS line are they slow to feather? I have chicks from another line that are showing to be verrry slow to feather in. The other line-forgive my spelling- Shafer roo over Guy Roy hens. I was told by the breeder, so I knew this going in so not a complaint just curious about how other lines feather development. Final questions promise, would this be a good cross between these 2 lines? in other words, has anyone tried this particular crossing? if so to what end?

Not to be fussy, but the initials, PBR, though commonly used on BYC, is incorrect in sequence. The breed is Plymouth Rock and variety is Barred, so Barred Plymouth Rock. The other way reminds of a beer brand called that in slang. LOL. Just saying.

OK, now to your questions. Most Barred Rocks of the quality lines are indeed very slow, glacial almost, in feathering. Most people equate the slow feathering with better, tighter barring, although Tom has hinted at some other views on the matter. Maybe Tom will be kind enough to comment further when he drops by.

As for mixing lines, I don't personally have issue one in crossing lines if you know what you're after and how you're gonna gain something by the cross, and how best to go about it. Good question. Glad to have you on the thread.

.

 

[desertmarcy]

I'm waiting on 8 GSBR X Stukel BR chicks, due to hatch 6/17. These are the last chicken eggs left to hatch. I hate hating so late in the year, but it couldn't be helped. I've got 40 of these out now, and 35 from my GSBR X Duckworth. It has been really hot here, so very hard to work with the birds. I made the decision to cull most of the cockerels early on, from my pure GSBR matings. I did not know I was going to be doing these two outcrosses at the time I hatched the GSBRs and don't have pen space to raise them all, but I did keep the pullets. All the outcrossed chicks are wing banded at 2 weeks so I can keep track of them. When our weather turns so hot, my enthusiasm sure wans. Hopefully I will be able to make some sense out of the results of these crosses before it turns hot again---next year!

 

[alana124]

T

Not to be fussy, but the initials, PBR, though commonly used on BYC, is incorrect in sequence. The breed is Plymouth Rock and variety is Barred, so Barred Plymouth Rock. The other way reminds of a beer brand called that in slang. LOL. Just saying.

OK, now to your questions. Most Barred Rocks of the quality lines are indeed very slow, glacial almost, in feathering. Most people equate the slow feathering with better, tighter barring, although Tom has hinted at some other views on the matter. Maybe Tom will be kind enough to comment further when he drops by.

As for mixing lines, I don't personally have issue one in crossing lines if you know what you're after and how you're gonna gain something by the cross, and how best to go about it. Good question. Glad to have you on the thread.

.

This is good news indeed, esp. since I was worried that slow feathering was considered a defect...where I got that notion? Probably reading on other threads...I look forward to all the fun stuff with my pure breeds.

 

[Fred's Hens]

Slow feathering for precise barring is something that some folks do not mind. Perhaps they are focused on the precision of barring for exhibition purposes, I do not know. I've expressed my own preference for speedier results on this thread many times since it's inception. The same thing can be said for slow maturity, slow meat development and slow to lay eggs. There are different points of view of these matters.

 

[Fred's Hens]

I posted this photo from this afternoon, for a reason. (Ignore those raggedy old dark red birds who always seem to be in the photos), and take a look at that side by side with the Barred Rock pullet and the White Rock pullet. They are the same age, hatched on the same day.

 

[racertomtom]

Feeding time in the juvie pen.

When I look at my pens I usually say something like, “those barreds are holding their own against the whites”. In this pen the barred pullet is stealing the show! Excellent work Fred!

 

[Fred's Hens]

Finally put a decent tail on the females this year, Tom. Too early to be over confident, but I do like what see so far.

 

[lana10123]

Im new to chickens. But Im in love with the Barred Plymouth Rock. Does anyone know if there are any breeders in Northern NJ? Or any other way I can get some?

 

[racertomtom]

Quote:

got to ask a question. I bought hatching eggs and out of the eggs- all are PBRs, I got blues, blacks and one super light silver/blue chick. Can barred rocks be "splash"? these are less than 3 days old so no clue about feathering in. Another question, out of the GS line are they slow to feather? I have chicks from another line that are showing to be verrry slow to feather in. The other line-forgive my spelling- Shafer roo over Guy Roy hens. I was told by the breeder, so I knew this going in so not a complaint just curious about how other lines feather development. Final questions promise, would this be a good cross between these 2 lines? in other words, has anyone tried this particular crossing? if so to what end?

Did you buy blue or barred eggs? Blue, black or splash should not come from barred rocks, however, a little red and it is the correct color for a can of PBR.

I don’t know much about Kraig Shafer and Guy Roy other than they are two of the top Barred breeders and they both have very good lines. I suspect both lines and the GS are slow feathering. As with any out cross, you’ll bring out the good and bad of both lines and you’ll be a couple or more years sorting it out, but I would think the final result would be a good line.

I think the slow feathering gene does make more distinct barring, and yes it is for exhibition purposes, but it comes with a cost. It is not true to the utility traits of a dual purpose fowl as it also slows maturity and I personally believe it destroys tails over time. By that I mean many generations of line breeding. Not everyone agrees with me on that, but there are a lot of older lines with no tails and I've observed it in my own lines. The question is, how good of barring is good enough. It really depends on your goals. I think Fred and aoxa are quickly becoming the experts on good fast maturing barreds and I also think their color is plenty good. Those two lines definitely have my respect.

 

[racertomtom]

Finally put a decent tail on the females this year, Tom. Too early to be over confident, but I do like what see so far.

That's the first thing I noticed on that pullet, also a nice breast on a girl that young, you already had good breasts on the grown pullets. Looks to me like that fast maturing trait is continuing.