I will probably be taking orders for chicks as soon as I hatch enough for myself. I am using this Champion male and his brothers, I have 3 breeding pens set up right now.
I hatched between 2/10 and 3/20 of this year. They are mixed line Barred Rocks. Some are second generation Good Shepard X Marvin Stukel lines, some are 3/4 Good Shepard 1/4 Jamie Duckworth lines. I had pure Good Shepard but had too much trouble with hatchability with them, so I did some...
I'm "relatively" close..day's drive anyway! Tucson, AZ. I hatched out over 100 this year and will be culling/thinning out all summer and into the fall.
I found increasing problems with my pure Good Shepard Barred Rocks. Curled or bent toes, decreased hatchability. I felt they needed some diversity, so I crossed to a Stukel male and a Duckworth male. I like the Stukel cross better so far. This year, I'm breeding the GS/Stukel birds back to each...
Can you get photos that show a nice side view? These are taken somewhat front and side. And a view facing front. From what I can see, he is lacking a tail. Appears to have nice color and wing set. Hard to tell on his chest, is it nice and rounded? Or does he look like a triangle from the side...
This morning I went out to find one of my cockerels (about 7-8 months old) looking all dejected and his head and neck drooped. I thought maybe the others beat him up, but there is no mark or blood on him. Does anybody know what might be the cause? I have a lot of cockerels--and he did not make...
Bob, they taste great, but I haven't eaten a home grown chicken that doesn't taste great, compared to the store-bought Cornish crosses.
I never buy a dish with chicken in it when we go out to eat anymore, why bother, when we have so many tasty home grown birds. Has anybody done a blind heritage...
Hi Bob,
I like them a great deal, but have to admit they are my first "real" Barred Rock. Having some trouble getting a good male that has the desired gravy bowl front end. I hope I get a couple that do out of all the ones I'm growing right now. The barring is awesome and I personally do not...
The cockerels were in a mixed sex pen but I recently separated all the males and females, like a week or so ago. They do not free range but they have big pens. It has been really hot here, so they do not do a lot of running around, mostly sitting around and panting. I do feed certified organic...
I butchered a 4-1/2 month old cockerel yesterday, hatched on 3/3.. He dressed out at 4.75 lb, including giblets. Not really filled out in the breast yet, but good sized legs. I think one more month of growth will make these a good sized processed meat bird.
I am hoping that with all the ones I'm growing out, some will have good tails. My birds originated from Matt1616 who got them from Jeremy, so they are the same line. There's got to be some good ones in my growing birds I do not want to lose size for sure, I kept the biggest males from last...
Thank you, Bob & Walt, for answering questions regarding these two lines of BRs. I will see if I can get a couple or trio of Marvin's birds later this year as Gene suggested. Now I know a little bit more of what to expect and what not to do. In the meanwhile, I have quite a few of the GSBRs...
Oh yes, I trust you . I was told about that other line when I got my Good Shepard chicks, but I was a complete newbie at show quality birds at the time, now I've graduated to novice and was buying German New Hampshires and Reese RIRs from the breeder and I guess it was just easier at the time to...
Hi Bob, yes not too much activity. I'm just trying to survive the heat and have my birds do the same. We in the SW have been experiencing an extended heat wave with no relief in sight, hottest June on record I believe. I held back 2 Good Shepard Barred Rocks I got from Matt last year for...