The Plymouth Rock Breeders thread

[Beekissed]

Here's a dilemma. I started out with one good female and one good male....both having the deep chest, wide backs, tall in the leg, decent backlines, the male has some good feathering except around the tail, the female doesn't have good feathering and she has a split tail. The female came late into lay(8 mo.) but all the birds her age did that year, no matter the breed or if from heirloom or hatchery lines. She laid well until she went broody, went back to laying after that episode, went broody again later on in the summer, molted and then laid a bit in the fall. Then she stopped laying, started molting again and hasn't laid a single egg all winter long(Nov-Feb.) and is just now starting to get over her molt, though still not back to fullness. She is now coming into her second year of lay, though not laying.

I don't particularly care to breed this female again, so I've got three WR offspring of the male to choose from(one from her line and two from another) and from which I will start breeding this year simply because I have little choice but to continue with what I have.

Would you breed from that original female again? I'm not real impressed with the two offspring I have of hers right now, as they are smaller than the other line and also have poor feathering compared to the other line, not to mention the female seems to have a split tail also. I plan on keeping this original hen for broody duty and have no plans to breed her right now.

 

[Fred's Hens]

Lots of us started with a very limited, small number of birds, Bee. It's not uncommon. We'd all like to start, perhaps, with a dozen choice birds, but that rarely happens. A female will lay 70-80 eggs from March 1 to July 1. Set them all. That's just one good female!!! Wow!

Make a ton of chicks. That simply is the answer, for although we may only have a pair or a trio, inside them is not precisely the same little set of genes. Instead, locked inside them is all the genetics of all their ancestors. When we hatch 8 chicks, we do not have much chance of enticing or coaxing to the surface the myriad of genetic possibilities locked within them.

When we hatch out 50 chicks we suddenly see a much greater variety, although we see bad, bleh and downright poor as well.

When we hatch out 80 chicks we increase our odds of seeing those 3 or 4 or 5 very special birds, birds so much better than even their parents stock.

Had we started with a half dozen stunning, long bred, level looking birds, our job may have been easier, but very few of us start that way. We start with what is in front of us. But, we also keep our eyes and ears open. We shall find someone who share our line and more importantly, shares our strain. Through a friendly conversation and patience we shall find someone from whom we can secure a box of fertile eggs or a better, a box of juveniles or even that one terrific K or P that we can blend into our own group and sometimes that little addition can make a great deal of improvement. But meanwhile, we breed what is in front of us and make lots of chicks. The excess culls are sold off or eaten. They don't go to waste.

 

[Beekissed]

In my definition of a good layer, this bird is a definite cull. If she was perfect in every other way, I might be tempted to go ahead and breed her in hopes of getting something else from her, but she has several strikes against her. In my gut I don't want to breed such a poor performer...does it make sense to go ahead and breed her on the off chance that out of her get there may be a keeper?

By sheer necessity, my breeding project is and will remain pretty small and I cannot put the number of chicks out that many others can. As this hen's laying is so dismal, hatching enough of hers will be a challenge anyway.

 

[SilverRockFarm]

I would like to know everyones thoughts on my question below. It is very common in Silver Penciled Plymouth Rocks that the lighter down colored chicks will be male chicks. My question is with the "gray strip down the back" is this something that has changed over the years as the color description for a Silver Penciled Plymouth Rock chicks calls for a rich chestnut strip down the back in the past. Any information on this would be greatly appreciated.

Below is a lighter down colored male chick with the gray strip down the back.

A darker down color female chick with the chestnut strip down the back.

The "Standard Color For Baby Chicks" out of the 1945 Standard of Perfection.

 

[NeilsHamburgs]

I wouldn't worry about the color of the chicks too much. The fact that you can sex the chicks at hatch is pretty impressive.

 

[SilverRockFarm]

I wouldn't worry about the color of the chicks too much. The fact that you can sex the chicks at hatch is pretty impressive.

Ok & thank you for the reply Neil. At first I thought it was just lucky guessing but over the last few years the color of the chicks down has been very accurate in determining the sex of the chicks at hatch.

 

[Fred's Hens]

-10 here this morning. No eggs or hatching for us for a while yet. So envious of all those that have chicks. Great start!

Wait til this coming week.

For those in the North to North East, check your 10 Day forecast. It is to weep.

There will be no setting here until early March for a late March hatch day. Ain't gonna happen.

 

[Yard full o' rocks]

I would like to know everyones thoughts on my question below. It is very common in Silver Penciled Plymouth Rocks that the lighter down colored chicks will be male chicks. My question is with the "gray strip down the back" is this something that has changed over the years as the color description for a Silver Penciled Plymouth Rock chicks calls for a rich chestnut strip down the back in the past. Any information on this would be greatly appreciated.

Below is a lighter down colored male chick with the gray strip down the back.

A darker down color female chick with the chestnut strip down the back.

The "Standard Color For Baby Chicks" out of the 1945 Standard of Perfection.

Since 1945 I would guess genetic intelligence has increased tremendously.

Chick down color is based on the E locus. You can google chick down color and see how they vary based on the E locus

 

[SilverRockFarm]

Since 1945 I would guess genetic intelligence has increased tremendously.

Chick down color is based on the E locus. You can google chick down color and see how they vary based on the E locus

Thank you for the information Scott, I have been talking this over with Michael Gilbert & Robert Anderson on the "Silver Penciled Breeders Facebook Group" and they both agree that the authors of the earlier Standard may not have gotten the description 100% correct the first time around and that the Silver Penciled pattern genetics hasn't changed that much over the years. I have had Silver Penciled Plymouth Rock chicks in the past that didn't have any gray at all in their chick down and these had a problem with showing a brown overcast as adult females. I do like to seeing as much gray in body & gray strip chick down in these male chicks as I think these will produce the cleanest "Silver" penciled female offspring.

 

[Yard full o' rocks]

Thank you for the information Scott, I have been talking this over with Michael Gilbert & Robert Anderson on the "Silver Penciled Breeders Facebook Group" and they both agree that the authors of the earlier Standard may not have gotten the description 100% correct the first time around and that the Silver Penciled pattern genetics hasn't changed that much over the years. I have had Silver Penciled Plymouth Rock chicks in the past that didn't have any gray at all in their chick down and these had a problem with showing a brown overcast as adult females. I do like to seeing as much gray in body & gray strip chick down in these male chicks as I think these will produce the cleanest "Silver" penciled female offspring.

The mahogany stripe is likely the result of the failed outcrossing to partridge