Plymouth Rock thread!

[Silver Rock]

Hi All
I was hoping by now my Silver Penciled Plymouth Rocks leg's would be a more rich yellow. This weekend I am going to start throwing a handful of scratch (corn) feed to them every morning. I plan to get a small digital scale soon and start keeping records of their weight. I was thinking I would start at 4 months old then check every 2 months thereafter until they reach 1 year old. If their weight's turn out good I will then focus on color.

 

[Silver Rock]

Can anyone please tell me what weights I should be looking for in my SPPR's at 4, 6, 8 & 10 months of age.

 

[Yard full o' rocks]

Silver Rock

I find that the weight gain in my Rocks varies tremendously based upon the time of year they were hatched. I try to hatch everything from my breeder pens in Dec and Jan (keep in mind I am in NW Ga and winters are not too harsh here). I find that time of year gives me the largest framed birds PLUS they are nearly grown when the heat/humidity hits around June.

I don't normally weigh my birds at all until around 4 months with a target of 5lbs + on pullets and 7lbs+ on cockerels at 6 months. Cockerels are extremely slow to mature, so don't jump to conclusions too soon. In my line, cockerels are still gaining weight and filling out at 1 yr old.

As for yellow legs, the color you want comes from a chemical compound called "xanthophyll". I find that most green, leafy vegetation contains xanthophyll and the more I free range my birds the better their leg color. My birds range daily on clover, chickory, wheat, rye, kale, fescue, iron clay peas (all depending upon the season). Corn does contain some xanthophyll as well, but I don't think you want to feed your birds as much of it as it would take to make a difference.

At 7 weeks old I personally think its way too soon (given your limited numbers) to make many decisions. If I recall you have 7 cockerels and 5 pullets, correct? At this point I would cull ONLY if you see a significant DQ or a serious issue with vigor.

If so, in your shoes, I would set my goals to keep

- the best 4 pullets (perhaps selecting based on double mating if you are going that route) Call them 1, 2, 3, 4
- the best 2 cockerels. Call them X, Y

Next season start 2 family lines
Breeding pen 1 - Cockerel X and pullets 1,2 (or whichever)
Breeding pen 2 - Cockerel Y and the other two pullets not used above

Hatch as many as you can afford to feed and toe punch them according to the pen they came from. When I got started, I'd hatch 125-150 per yr. Your going to need some numbers of birds on the ground before you will begin to pick up the differences you see in type between birds. From the birds you hatch, set your goals for the year and cull down to your best 3-4 pullets and 1-2 cockerels that best meet your criteria for that year.

Hope that helps

 

[PEI chicken]

Wow, really need to hatch a lot and cull heavily to progress towards the perfect standard type. I'm really gonna hafta build at least another coop!

I plan to pick up some unrelated spprs in Nova Scotia to bring back to PEI on our way back from vacation this summer. I still haven't made a plan for where to house these new birds. (Mental note: build new coop asap!)


Oh well, coffee break is over, time to get back to work. Bye for now BYC.

 

[Wynette]

SR, leg color is an issue with the silver penciled. And once the pullets begin laying, you will note that their yellow legs become a dusky yellow, at best. They will be their yellowest before they begin to lay.

Scott is oh so right when he says you really need to put a ton of them on the ground in order to have lots to cull from. The more you hatch, the more you can cull, and the better your flock will look in the long run.

Most serious breeders keep just 10-15% of what they hatch. Now think on that for a minute. If you did that at this point, you would only be keeping 1-2; it's not likely you'll want to cull THAT heavily your first year, but it's definitely something to keep in mind.

At this point, cull for side sprigs and vigor. If you see any that are much smaller than the rest, I would cullf or that as well. It's way too soon to know, however, whether they'll hit the mark for SOP weights.

Catdaddy - back to the point of what to use to increase size and improve type. There are lots of choices, each has it's own drawbacks. White Rock - we all know there are a whole lot of ginormous ones out there. My worry with useing a White, though, is that I fear it would make the issue of incomplete lacing in the upper/front neck worse. It's already a problem, and I don't want to lose what I have. Using a brahma would seem like the best choice...however, the feather shanks and comb issues, plus the loose feathering scott mentioned and cushions...would all need to be worked out. Yes, the color & pattern would work well. But, in all honesty, even in the Dark Brahma, I have seldom seen one with CRISP penciling; many are smutty, as are most of the sivler penciled rock I see. It's quite the conundrum, and you can "get there" in many ways. I just am choosing, at this point, to stick with Rocks to improve my Rocks. If I feel like I'm running into a brick wall, then I'll go another route, and of course, I'm always open to suggestion & feedback!

 

[cbnovick]

Scott I agree and I love experimenting and esp with the ones as you say you can eat if all else fails. The good Lord knows a lot of my experimental mistakes were not very edible, matter of fact some were down right nearly fatal. pshwee glad I made it out of those too.

Hey Cindy glad all is well so far with those Buff eggs I hope for you to get a good great hatch from them too maybe some day when I get all done with my other umpteen hundred projects or wanna be projects that I can get me some of those awesome Buffs to behold too.

The WRs are doing good I'm fairly sure I have 2 pullets I already placed an order for either jwhip or Mrs. Kathy to keep me back a good male for use in the future. I'm glad I got 2 pullets though and it is what I really needed now for one of my famous(

) projects I have in mind now.


Jeff

lucky on the WR pullets...should be easy enough to get a male from Kathy/Jwhip I'd imagine..
Sure, I would love to spread some Buffs around when I am able

 

[Silver Rock]

Hi Scott
Thank you very much for the information. I will print it out and put it in with my notes I have got on my SPPR chicks so far. I have my chicks free ranging as long as I am outside. I wish I could let my chicks free range 24/7 but possums, raccoons, coyotes and hawks are a constant threat around my place. I culled one chick when they were around 3 week old. A male chick that was not active and very small. I will grow out the rest of my 11 chicks 6 males & 5 females so I can keep a record of how each chick changes from day old to adult. I want to thank you again and I look forward to receiveing more breeding information in the future.

 

[Silver Rock]

Hi Wynette
Yes to get as many chicks on the ground as possible to cull from is in my plan. My goal this year was to get high quality Silver Penciled Plymouth Rock breeder stock this year. My goal next year is to put as many chicks on the ground as possible. To get a perspective on the Silver Penciled Plymouth Rock breeding flocks I have sent Dick Horstman a email asking the size of his breeding flock. If you don't care can I get the size of your Silver Penciled Plymouth Rock breeding flock so I will know what to go for.

 

[Yard full o' rocks]

Hi Wynette
Yes to get as many chicks on the ground as possible to cull from is in my plan. My goal this year was to get high quality Silver Penciled Plymouth Rock breeder stock this year. My goal next year is to put as many chicks on the ground as possible. To get a perspective on the Silver Penciled Plymouth Rock breeding flocks I have sent Dick Horstman a email asking the size of his breeding flock. If you don't care can I get the size of your Silver Penciled Plymouth Rock breeding flock so I will know what to go for.

Clayton....my advise to you is to aspire to what the standard calls for, not to what is in someone else's flock. Cockerels - 8lbs, cockbird - 9 1/2 lbs. Pullet - 6 lbs, hen 7 1/2 lbs

 

[Silver Rock]

Clayton....my advise to you is to aspire to what the standard calls for, not to what is in someone else's flock.  Cockerels - 8lbs, cockbird - 9 1/2 lbs.  Pullet - 6 lbs, hen 7 1/2 lbs

Hi Scott
I think you misunderstood what I was asking. In size of breeding flock I meant size in number of breeding birds not weight of breeding bird.