Speckled Sussex and Plymouth Rock Roos

[Mikaela2016]

Oh! Sorry! I actually got him from a friend. She raises her own from what I know but not sure where she got him. She gave me him and a RIR because they were getting picked on by her others but I ended up giving my aunt the RIR and keeping the rock. Hes very good about protecting my hens but they are losing so many feathers since hes came.

 

[Mosey2003]

If you want to breed to the Standard Of Perfection (SOP), ie show quality, then that is not a rooster you want to use. His head is small, he has too many points on his comb, his tail is far too upright, and his barring is not crisp. Your friend is obviously breeding with hatchery quality birds in order to produce him (whether all of her BR's came from hatchery stock or whether she's mixed hatchery and better stock is unclear). He's not the worst hatchery type I've seen, but you're right, he's not a show quality specimen. I'm sure he's a fine bird, but it depends on what your goals are whether you want to use him or not.

Where are you located?

ETA: actually, looking at him again, I would give a good guess that your friend probably DOES have some better stock in there, or just very good hatchery stock. He's not nearly as upright as many. Be that as it may, personally I won't breed anything with a small head, and if you do get some nice Barred Rock hens to breed with him, you'd end up culling a lot to get closer to proper type.

 

[Mikaela2016]

If you want to breed to the Standard Of Perfection (SOP), ie show quality, then that is not a rooster you want to use. His head is small, he has too many points on his comb, his tail is far too upright, and his barring is not crisp. Your friend is obviously breeding with hatchery quality birds in order to produce him (whether all of her BR's came from hatchery stock or whether she's mixed hatchery and better stock is unclear). He's not the worst hatchery type I've seen, but you're right, he's not a show quality specimen. I'm sure he's a fine bird, but it depends on what your goals are whether you want to use him or not.

Where are you located?

ETA: actually, looking at him again, I would give a good guess that your friend probably DOES have some better stock in there, or just very good hatchery stock. He's not nearly as upright as many. Be that as it may, personally I won't breed anything with a small head, and if you do get some nice Barred Rock hens to breed with him, you'd end up culling a lot to get closer to proper type.

I would love to breed him if he was breeding worthy but I'm starting to see flaws in him that I dont necessarily like. Hes getting more aggressive towards my other hens and since having him, I've had horrible problems with my smaller coop birds. All of my hens seem to want to fight or run away from me now when before I could walk outside and tell "come on hens" and everyone would come to me. Could his behavior be what's causing this big mess with my hens? Also, would the meaness be passed down to chicks if bred? My BR hens are not the greatest looking as they were hatchery as well so I think I might be better off not breeding him at all. I am in southwestern va. My friend has almost 100 chickens and roos but they are all free range and get mixed in together so I'm not sure about all of that since I figured It would be best to make sure I know what is breeding what.

 

[Mikaela2016]

Here is a few pictures of my girls. If I breed I definitely want to raise better chicks. For example, If i were to breed one of my horses, i would want to have great conformation and lines but no one near me has much information and I dont know of any reputable breeders so that is why I'm reaching out for help on whether hes breed worthy or not along with my girls. I'm trying to learn as much as I can

 

[ColtHandorf]

The non-barred rooster looks very much like a Barnevelder to me.

 

[Mosey2003]

Here is a few pictures of my girls. If I breed I definitely want to raise better chicks. For example, If i were to breed one of my horses, i would want to have great conformation and lines but no one near me has much information and I dont know of any reputable breeders so that is why I'm reaching out for help on whether hes breed worthy or not along with my girls. I'm trying to learn as much as I can

If you'd like to get a start in some SOP birds, I would try Jamie Duckworth first, he's somewhere closer to the East coast than I am. You could also try Kraig Shafer, he's in Ohio. I don't know if he'll have any spring availability. If you REALLY want to seriously get into Barred Rocks, you could join the Plymouth Rock Fanciers of America breed club ($20 for a year) and that would put you in touch with most of the breeders in the country. I'm not ready to sell any of my own yet.

 

[Mikaela2016]

Just wanted to say thank yall to helping me figure out what type of breed my beloved Bleu was. He actually passed away today and we are trying to figure out what went wrong. My heart is shattered.

 

[Mosey2003]

Awww, I'm sorry.