Plymouth Rock thread!

[PEI chicken]

Hi This is my 12 week old SPR I got from Dick Horstman. This is the only one I have right now I will be getting more this fall. I will get better pics of it standing up. Please tell me what you think of her.

I think she's beautiful; I'm partial to spprs. She looks very similar to my birds. PEI Chicken

 

[Robert Blosl]

I see that I may have started something in my opinion on the Silver Penciled issue on this tread. First there is no evidence that Wynette strain has bantam blood in her stock. That is my view only as past Secretary of The Plymouth Rock Club because of the very nice color her bird present with a lack of large fowl size compared to say the The mighty white rock large fowl they compete with at the shows. For years these lesser popular colored Rocks have lacked size. They have been at least one pound underweight in my view. Think about it is there any pure Silver Penciled, Columbiana, Buff or Partridge Rocks left in the USA. I don't know any in fact there are very few Barred Rock lines that are not contaminated with White Rock Blood in them in the past ten to twenty years. I think maybe only one line of Barred Rocks in Ohio may still be pure from Ralph Sturgeon which the owner purchased birds from Ralphs Nephew before he passed on.
So when it comes to Silver Penciled I like Wynetts line very much and send future want to be folks to here as I have for three years. I hope anyone who got birds or eggs from her on this site would come forward and say I have some and if you do do you have any birds left and if so do you have picture of them.
Next the strain I saw in Canada. Do you have any pictures of your original birds you pictured on this site a few months ago. Where ever they came from I really got excited with this line. It's like they where a line out of nowhere that popped up like my Mottle Java's I found last fall. Thought this line died ten years ago and found out they are from 1959 and still pure no crosses of blacks in them.

So now that I cleared up the issue on the possible bantam issue how do we correct the size issue on Silver Penciled. In my view you need say ten of the biggest pullets that are hatched as early as possable. Not April or May pullets but if possible hatch these girls out in Dec or January so they will get mazimume size as they can get. Then let them go through a molt and come back as hens. Then weigh the eggs and try over a five year program hatch eggs from the largest eggs and each year move up and try to get these birds to a one pound over standard weight. Its a long range goal project but thats how you put breeding pressure on a trait trying to improve some issue in your strain. I think the color will tag alog and not go downhill as in Wynettes line. Of course the issue always is Vigor then Type is what you are looking for. Would fast feathering and early development higher egg production help the size issue.? Normally it does in Rocks and Reds so maybe also in Silver Penciled Rocks to.

So in Conclusion: Start with what you have Ralph use to say. That's all we have to work with and if we can find some good stock from Canada to cross in why not do it then breed it back to the USA starin and take the good traits such as size and try to help what we have right now. Also, breed it pure and see how it does as a separate strain on its own.
Most important thing is lets all work together to try to bring and save this very rare color pattern of Rocks it's in trouble and has been for years. In regards to Dicks line they look small to me and do they have bantam blood in them? I have no idea. There are very few strains of large fowl today that have not had some cross in them. The only pure line of large fowl I know of that has never had a cross of rose comb or single comb influence in them is the Mohawk line of Rhode Island Reds which I use to own. Its 102 years old and ticking. Thank7 God no one has screwed up this old line of H fowl.
I plan to start a Rose Comb strain of this line just for the fun of it. No disrespect to the current top three or four Rose Comb Red Strains. But I just want to see if I can do something with this style of type and have a Rose Comb on it. Heck I took a Large Fowl Red and shrunk down it to a bantam. Why not try something if you think it might work.
Wynette I will still promote you strain of large fowl Silver Penciled and I will tell you this is in my view the hardest color pattern to breed. This is not a color pattern for rookies unless you want to help increase the size of the birds as I described. Ok I hope I solved the bantam issue. Its not concreat that anyone has done this but based on the history of the past twenty years I would not doupt someone had to do it to get the color into a strain.

 

[Wynette]

Bob, thanks for you post, though it wasn't necessary.

I need to grow a thicker skin; my apologies to anyone that I upset by making offhanded comments. That does not good for pushing my chosen LF H breed forward.

That said, I feel SO fortunate and blessed to have several juveniles growing out from PEI Chickens. She's a lovely woman to work with, and a BIG THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart, Janet! When they're grown out a bit more, I'll get some pics up to be sure. I think they are now 9-10 weeks, and looking very nice so far. I admit, I haven't spent a ton of time with them. It's almost as if I'm feeling like if I look at them too hard or too long, something may happen to them! I know, nuts. I'm just so, SO pleased to have them, they are under lock & key!

In the meantime, here is an older pic of some of my birds from March of 2010:



ACK! Look at the cushions on some of the females! Yikes. Lots to fix, but what the heck...I'm not doing anything else right now!

 

[LaLa Chickie]

Hi

This is my 12 week old SPR I got from Dick Horstman. This is the only one I have right now I will be getting more this fall. I will get better pics of it standing up. Please tell me what you think of her.

I WANT!!!

 

[LaLa Chickie]

Bob, thanks for you post, though it wasn't necessary.

I need to grow a thicker skin; my apologies to anyone that I upset by making offhanded comments. That does not good for pushing my chosen LF H breed forward.

That said, I feel SO fortunate and blessed to have several juveniles growing out from PEI Chickens. She's a lovely woman to work with, and a BIG THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart, Janet! When they're grown out a bit more, I'll get some pics up to be sure. I think they are now 9-10 weeks, and looking very nice so far. I admit, I haven't spent a ton of time with them. It's almost as if I'm feeling like if I look at them too hard or too long, something may happen to them! I know, nuts. I'm just so, SO pleased to have them, they are under lock & key!

In the meantime, here is an older pic of some of my birds from March of 2010:



ACK! Look at the cushions on some of the females! Yikes. Lots to fix, but what the heck...I'm not doing anything else right now!

THEY ARE ALL SO BEAUTIFUL!

 

[aoxa]

Bob, thanks for you post, though it wasn't necessary.

I need to grow a thicker skin; my apologies to anyone that I upset by making offhanded comments. That does not good for pushing my chosen LF H breed forward.

That said, I feel SO fortunate and blessed to have several juveniles growing out from PEI Chickens. She's a lovely woman to work with, and a BIG THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart, Janet! When they're grown out a bit more, I'll get some pics up to be sure. I think they are now 9-10 weeks, and looking very nice so far. I admit, I haven't spent a ton of time with them. It's almost as if I'm feeling like if I look at them too hard or too long, something may happen to them! I know, nuts. I'm just so, SO pleased to have them, they are under lock & key!

In the meantime, here is an older pic of some of my birds from March of 2010:

Our chicks from Janet are just 2 weeks apart

Looking forward to comparing with you once they have filled in more.

 

[BlackPanther]

Keep us updated with your hybrid Rock cross...would love to see how these grow out and perform etc...
You could call these "Rockingtons" ??

Thank you! It's nice to know somebody else is interested in how their development goes, too!

 

[Robert Blosl]

https://www.backyardchickens.com/g/a/6303317/fall-2012/

I was rushed to go see my dr. today so could not find these pic of the Canada birds. I hope they show up.

In my view they are something to work with and its some new blood on already inbreed stuff we have in the USA. The Partridge Rocks in the USA are just about all Dicks. No one else has them maybe Danny Padgett. in Fla.

There was some at Superior Farms that he got from a guy in Mich that where suppose to be from Canada. Dick got these and brought them home and I am sure he crossed them onto his Partridge Rocks he had. Anthony down here in Fla worked on them for four years and improved them as well then sold them to a fellow in Mississippi.

They where as big as my White Rocks color and type where improving. About a 92 point average group of birds not bad.

Look forward to see other pictures of Silver Penciled Rocks they are pretty in the paintings in the catalog and the standard but light years away from those pictures. Think about it how long has it been since a Standard Silver Penciled Rock has been in the poultry Press on champion Row. The bantams have. Mr. Roy from Mass won Champion of the show on a male about six years ago in New England. Great bird. Partridge large fowl have not been on Champion Row in years either. Keep plowing away and look forward to more pictures from Mich. Keep up the good work. I will try to be careful what I print but I call them as I see them.



look at this big boy nice color and looks like he has good size.

 

[Silver Rock]

I received 12 chicks from Dick Horstman 4/18/2013. Over the last 4 months I have culled down to 6 and have decided to breed my H001-M13 cockerel to each of my pullets. I will mark each egg to the pullet that laid it for more genetic diversity.

H001-M13 hit 6 lbs. today.
If he gains at least 3 1/2 lbs. over the next 4 to 6 months he will meet the Standard weight of 9 1/2 lbs. I will nest trap to keep track of which hen laid which egg and toe punch each chick for record keeping. I will compare next year's weights to this year's weights and only the ones that show improvements in weigh will go to the breeding pens. As proud as I am of H001-M13 I am more concerned about the weigh of the pullets than the cockerels. My first goal is to increase the weigh in my pullets so that in the future all of my breeding hens will be of Standard weight.
Sorry for the rough looking pictures they are in the middle of a molt so they are missing tail and hackle feathers.

ps : Bob I will take your advice and each year I will start hatching very early in the year and weigh the eggs before they go into incubators.

 

[Silver Rock]

At four months old it was very early to do my final culling. But I could not see the ones I culled ever catching up in size with the ones I have decided to keep. I only culled one pullet and she was being passed in weight by the other pullets.