Plymouth Rock thread!

[HallFamilyFarm]

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Another example would be the Australian Lowland Angus and the American certified Angus. About a thousand pounds difference in size. But the same breed.

 

[carondesign]

Just got thru reading the posts about size and you all are very knowledgeable, I heard alot of good ideas and you all were right. But in my opinion there is nothing prettier than a huge gorgeous rooster. I got some huge Partridge Rocks from my friend in Texas, surprisingly they lay very well. I gave my friend a trio and she emailed me the other day and said they just started laying and they were egg laying machines. They are very few Partridge rocks and I'm trying to get them out there. I would like to see more colors of rocks at the shows I go to. Usually you only see White Rocks and Barred Rocks.

 

[BlazeJester]

I love the partridge rocks and am trying to get my hands on heritage chicks for the spring... finding breeders is slow going. Several hatcheries have them but they're really a toss-up. If anyone has them or knows anyone who does... let me know!

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[halo]

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It will be difficult to determine if they are "egg laying machines" if they have just started laying.

 

[halo]

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Thats exactly why I dont show. Birds are winning that are not to Standard, and I prefer birds as close to the Standard as possible. Until the standard is changed, I dont want birds that dont conform to the standard.

Winning is not the most important thing, believe it or not.

If a bird is over or under weight per the SOP, that does not mean they are not to standard. It simply means they are over or under weight. It is a fault, not a DQ. If you interpreted every item in each standard to the letter, and walked down each row at a show, you would find that most of them, if not ALL of them, have some sort of fault. It does not mean they are not to standard, though.

In the SOP, it states:

Weight is a breed characteristic.

Any bird (except Beltsville Small White Turkeys) that deviates more than 20% either up or down from the weight listed for its breed, sex and age should be disqualified.

Example - in a bird with a standard weight of 5 pounds, a range of 4 to 6 pounds is within the scope of "the standard weight". This rule applies to all large fowl, bantams, ducks, geese and turkeys (except Beltsville Small Whites).

 

[The Yakima Kid]

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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

There were questions about the size of the Rocks in the standard being too large by the beginning of the 20th C. Many of the "ideal" Rock pullets were laying less than 100 eggs per year, while their brothers gave poor carcasses with too much abdominal size.

 

[fowlman01]

While the SOP is clear, chickens are not weighed at shows. Physical size does not always indicate an overweight bird. The only way to know for sure is if the judge is also a butcher by trade or if the bird is weighed, which is not going to happen. If one bird is weighed all birds need to be weighed. There have been after hours weighing of birds at shows and sometimes the results are very unexpected. ......meaning the birds were right on. Sometimes they were over/under weight.

This topic has been discussed forever with no resolve as of yet.

Walt

 

[jeremy]

With thousands of birds at a single show I don't see how you could weigh every single bird during judging and not be there for a week.

 

[Inkheart]

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X2

 

[speckledhen]

Yeah, I can see that being a problem. You almost have to gloss over that aspect of the SOP, in a way. I wonder how good all judges are at guessing weights, though the very experienced ones surely are pretty good at it.