The Plymouth Rock Breeders thread

[Beekissed]

Peace restored on the farm this morning...happy chickens picking bugs from the freshly tilled earth of the garden plot, the big guy back with his whole harem and back on the green grass. Two WRs confined and seem to be doing great with it, which was a surprise....last year the same, now older, WR hen went frantic about being penned in that same pen, both for breeding and for brooding eggs....stopped laying for the breeding session and crushed all the eggs for her brooding session. This year she seems content to be confined along with her daughter...we'll see if they continue to lay.

Will switch them out of that pen once I have enough eggs to load up this broody....almost there. I want to give her 15 eggs. She's large enough to handle that many and if any are duds I'll still have a good measure of eggs hatching in the nest. Only 4 eggs short right now, so a couple of days and those girls are out of the pen and she is in it, sitting on eggs.

I hope to get another broody while I'm away on a fishing trip...the eggs will build in the nests at that time and it just might get me another broody. At that time I'll pen the ones I don't want to hatch from, save up eggs from those I do and do this all over again.

 

[Fentress]

I feel your pain. I find support in the fact that someone as experienced at keeping chickens as you is having problems. I keep coming back to those first K's I processed from the hatchery and how dissapointed I was. Maybe the answer is to run a batch of meat birds every year for the freezer and don't worry about it. But, for now, I am going to keep plugging along, as slow as it may be and find a process that works for me. My goal is to punch some chicks and at least avoid sibling mattings next year, while monitoring compliance with the SOP. It will be interesting to find out how finely tuned my Duckworth BR's are and what degree of SOP degradation may result from a breeding program that will not be as sophisticated as his. A local partner would help as well.

 

[Beekissed]

I've never really done one breed, intensive and planned breeding like this, so I have nil experience in that. What I'm going to try to do for awhile, at least, is to band my cockerel of choice from this year's breeding and see if I can't pen him up with his sire for a month until I see all clear eggs from the flock this next spring, then let the sire out, while penning his dame and aunt up with the cockerel for breeding and laying and just try to incubate those eggs separately from those of his sire and siblings. I feel like I'm just going to have to build/establish another pen before then, just can't do it this year....my body is just not going to let me do it this year.

I'll have to study up on how folks do flock breeding and still keep the outcome from degrading. Back to the drawing board and trying to do it right, but in a different way.

 

[Beekissed]

Got enough eggs collected now and the broody is waiting, so tonight I move the broody into the spare pen and remove the unwanted WR hens....doing the spare pen shuffle!

She will be sitting on 15 eggs, twelve of which are pure WR, 3 are 3/4 WR. If this is the way it has to be, so be it. If I get another broody this season I'll do the same thing....incubate those eggs I know are from my chosen hens under her and just hope for the best.

Going away for a week on a fishing trip and will have eggs mounting up in the nests...I'll be surprised if this other WR that went broody a couple times last year don't do the same thing this year and start sitting on those eggs. I'll just let her and see what farmer's mix will come out of it...most of them will be from my three good pullets, so I'm bound to get some I want from it. Will try to pull out the ones I know won't be wanted...a BA's eggs and an old NH hen whose eggs I'd love to have offspring from but never make it past the 3rd day of incubation.

 

[Beekissed]

Broody was moved to larger nest in the spare pen and placed on 15 eggs tonight. Each time I reached to place an egg, she tucked it under her...I think she's going to do fine this year. She has matured and isn't so rattlesnake mean when handled. She hissed a little and gave a little peck but that was it. Last year she brought blood and was so fast I couldn't avoid her....struck like a rattlesnake and hurt me each time!

Will keep her in the dark until midday tomorrow, letting her settle onto those eggs. If everything goes well, hatch date is May 22.

This is a pic of my broody, Aunt Goldie, with last fall's hatch....

 

[dreamofglory]

I have a pile of chicks on the ground now of all varieties ranging from 16 weeks to day olds, my question is what does everyone look for early on to cull for? What traits are you focusing on this year?

 

[Beekissed]

I won't be culling until these I'm hatching are around 4-5 mo. of age, depending on how quickly they are showing their basic characteristics. With the cockerels it will come down to SOP and temperament, with the pullets it will be SOP, temperament, age of POL. In the spring I'll do another cull after I've had time to evaluate the pullets and the remaining chosen cockerels over the winter months. I know many of the OT breeders won't cull a cockerel until he's got a lot more size and age on him to get the true feel for where his body is going, but I don't have that kind of room and pens here, so have to make a snap judgement from a younger age and hope I picked a winner.

 

[Fowling around]

My barred rocks have 4 hens laying and a young roo I'm waiting to see if he will meet my standards for the bred pen or the pot

 

[Fowling around]

Please critique as you see fit. I am new to barred rocks and never tried to bred anything but my hounds for specific traits

 

[Beekissed]

I'm no expert on the BRs, having just had them from hatchery genes, so I'm not the one you'll likely need...but I seem to be one of the few on here of late, so here goes. The hens in the pics seem to have the kind of bodies one sees from hatchery stock....tails are pinched and too high. With the cockerel, it's too soon for me to tell much about him. Can't tell much more than that from the pics being a little dark but maybe someone with more experience judging the BR feathering and body can pitch in with a critique.