The Plymouth Rock Breeders Thread- Part Deux

[Mosey2003]

My kids all seem to be growing well. I didn't manage to band and mark everyone and keep track of which feathered the fastest, life has just been way too busy for that. It's okay though, I'll just keep choosing who looks best for now and try to put that maturity pressure on next time.

Decided to cull the lone male from the small, oldest batch. He was running the 3 pullets around and chasing them from the feeder. I have way too many male chicks to let one that acts badly already at 10 weeks keep going. He dressed at 1lb 14.5oz, I feel like that's actually pretty good for such a young age. I've had spent layers (hatchery bred) that only dressed a little over 2lbs before.

I figure I'll give everyone a good looking over starting mid-October, cull anything I need to from the older batch, then do it again last thing before it's too cold to butcher outside.

Pondering doing one more setting that would be due to hatch the first week of January. If I like what I see in these chicks in the last week of November, I'll start collecting for a December setting. Would be cool to have something I could actually show next fall, maybe

 

[Egghead_Jr]

I just set the last batch. Culled the old cock with poor fertility and oldest K's with sides springs so it's definitely the last batch this year. So far only one K with no side sprigs. Hopefully there will be another or two from this of pure Silver. It would be nice to have options next spring.

 

[Egghead_Jr]

@Mosey2003

Why are you keeping track of fastest to feather? Isn't that counter to best barring? I can see keeping track of weights as that is independent of feathering. I'm a huge fan of getting weights anytime after 8 weeks of age and banding the heavies.

The weight of your Sunday dinner seems right on par. Figure nearly 1.5 pounds added for live weight makes for about 3.5 lbs at 10 weeks. Last years potential breeder was near 4 lbs at 10 weeks. He was amazing in many ways. Too bad he developed side sprigs at 20 weeks then autosomal red at 24 weeks. I almost bred him anyway...he really was fantastic.

 

[Mosey2003]

@Egghead_Jr going with the idea that Bob Blosl presented - choose the fastest feathering to both tighten up feather quality (less fluff) and improve laying.

It's a fine line I'll be walking between improving the hardness of the feathering and the laying vs losing some sharpness in the barring. If it doesn't work out, it doesn't work out.

 

[Mosey2003]

Got some pics today. 11 week old pullets and a band of month olds.

The cockerels seem to have great heads.

 

[Mosey2003]

Update, many of the cockerels have lost their heads. Was hoping to gather more information before updating in this thread, but it would seem that my hens have some sort of comb issue they're passing down when mated with a real single combed cock. Culled 8 males and a pullet for it last night. I'm thinking that they have genes for pea combs and genes or modifiers that restrict them so much that they resemble single combs. Posted here, for reference:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/partial-pea-combs-from-single-comb-parents-help.1332195/

I'm really disappointed. I will carry on forward though, whether I have to eliminate all these birds or not. Trying to get some hatching eggs shipped in the mean time as I don't know if I'll be able to make it to either of the shows where my 'peeps' will be.

 

[Egghead_Jr]

Some lines or birds don't niche well. I've been finding that truth hard to deal with myself.

Fred and Blosl any others would say to be wary when crossing lines. It can go poorly. And I can verify when a mating does go wrong it takes a lot of numbers to get a few without the resulting flaw.

My last batch of year and only batch of Silver is chugging along in incubator. Better than 50% look fertile/viable tail end of week two.

 

[Mosey2003]

It's definitely the hens. I'm hoping to get eggs from the cock line.

 

[Mosey2003]

Been doing a lot of inspecting and thinking. One of the hens has an actual donut looking configuration at the back of her comb, thus I know it's definitely the hens. Two of them look normal, so I think once they're done molting and are laying again, I'll do a small test breeding with just them and see if it pops up again. Pretty sure I'm gonna scrap that line regardless though.
I should have two pullets laying in January/February, so might run a hatch on those. Might also just wait for March, when the rest of the pullets should be laying well. Going to inspect them like crazy first. I ordered wing bands and a tool, so I'll have everyone able to be tracked from here on out. I'm going to band everything I have besides the hens and cock when they come in, so that will be nice.
Decided I'm definitely gonna go to the Rock National in Sedalia. I hate spending money and driving long distances, but I never do anything just for me, so screw it. Gonna get a pullet from my male line, so that will be good. I can do one line like we're supposed to (lol) and then see if anything good comes of what else I have.
If I can use enough of the pullets I have in March, I ought to be able to fill two incubators in two weeks, so even if I get 75 chicks hatched, that should really open up my options. Then I should have something to breed in December and I can get back on a proper show breeding schedule.

 

[Mosey2003]

Got a new phone and was playing with the camera, few new pics.
This is the definite bad hen:

Here are some kids:

Better pics of the bad combs: