Plymouth Rock thread!

[cherylcohen]

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All my sppr roos I've raised have been sweethearts, but I hold them...

 

[HallFamilyFarm]

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Did I mention....

 

[cherylcohen]

Oh you are silly. But I do love them. Plenty of eggs and day old chicks available!

 

[The Yakima Kid]

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Hey, instead of arguing about whose birds are best, I think we should fearlessly march into the future and try to improve all of the stock. These days with ultrasound and MRIs, one could even do a carcass examination without having to kill the bird. Both conformation and production could be improved hand in hand - although the standard might need revision since some parts of the standard, like the size, don't work well for some attributes of productivity. Faster molting would be nice, too.

Anyway, Cheryl's birds are gorgeous, and so are Jeremy's and many of the other birds pictured here.

I might even post a picture of my utility girls whose production and temperament are very nice - although they wouldn't win any show prizes - but then, I was never a beauty queen myself.

 

[The Yakima Kid]

Did I mention that the girls enjoy riding around on my husband's wrist? That they will follow me anywhere if I am carrying chard?

I'll bet I didn't describe how they have been very annoyed with us the last few days because when we let them out into the chicken yard we have failed to choose the correct weather and keep having rain? They call to be let out, walk out, go back in, and then continue to call to be let out although the pop hole is open - obviously we have deliberately hidden the sunshine and are letting them out into the wrong place - the rainy day, not the sunny day.

Reminds me of cats going around and looking out every door on a rainy day, looking for the door that leads to sunshine.

 

[Hennypen]

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All my sppr roos I've raised have been sweethearts, but I hold them...

I held all of mine but one cock had
a mean streak a mile long. No way was he allowed to breed anything. Gorgeous bird but the day he scratched my legs up was his last day.

 

[punky rooster]

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Did you ever look at the link I posted? These things are being done, and it shows how to do them. They really are a great resource (I can re-post them).

I can bet you the standard will not be changed. They were and are exposed to be a large dual purpose bird, not a small one, the standard weight ensures that. Apply the article and the standard together, and you will get a productive, quality bird.

Mitch

 

[punky rooster]

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Thanks, George.
She needs to be bigger, but at least she's young. I really like the type on her.

 

[Minniechickmama]

You can take ANY breed and look at certain attributes that you like or dislike and breed them in or breed them out.
I believe that a breeder needs to stick with certain attributes like eye color, skin color, feather color, comb type, etc. However, the SOP contains many descriptive words that are subjective.
Things like "medium", "tall", "broad", "long".... well, what are they compared to?

But in the overall argument, you are always going to have two sides of the coin: production vs. standard type. If you look at DP breeds, they are bigger for the reason of being dual purpose. If you want a big, beefy bird, you are probably going to sacrifice its ability to lay well. Likewise, if you go for the slimmed down version, you may get more eggs, but you won't have a table bird for any extras. I believe the standards for DP breeds is attempt at trying a middle road for both aspects rather than going all one way or the other with the exceptions of breeds like Cornish which are meat monsters (or should be), and the other end of the spectrum is Pearl White Leghorns who are bred to pump out eggs like a factory. But neither of those are DP breeds anyway, so the point is mute.

Would I be correct?

 

[carondesign]

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I have had amazing compliments from American Poultry Association judges (4 to be exact) about the absolute beautiful Barred Rocks that I have. The last judge Steve Jones told me that he had just judged a show in Nebraska (Nebraska State fair) and these same quality of birds were there. He spotted my birds and knew where I got them and he loved them. He saw nothing wrong with them and said to keep breeding. Mr. Jones is a qualified licensed judge whom I admire and respect. Myself I hold the standard of perfection in highest regards. The standard and judges are all the I really need to go by for the results that I need to achieve. (THIS IS ONLY MY OPINION) I always try to educate the youth at 4H about showing birds. An example, I donated some eggs to the 4H raffle from my Welsummers and the girl that raised them got Champion bird of the whole show in New Braunfels last month and I was so happy to make a difference in a young girls life. I acheived this by listening to judges and talking to them and reading the standard. THIS IS ONLY MY OPINION AND IS NOT NECESSARILY WRITTEN IN STONE