The Plymouth Rock Breeders Thread- Part Deux

[Mosey2003]

Nice pullets, @Egghead_Jr !

I snapped a quick pic of a nosy gal the other day I'll throw up here. Liking the size and width of many of these girls.

 

[Mosey2003]

Her tail isn't finished, obviously.

Oh, while I'm thinking of it, here's a cockerel I cooked that was a few days shy of 16 weeks. Dressed weight 3lb 13oz, really not bad if you ask me:

 

[Mosey2003]

Got a first pullet egg this morning, that made me happy. I'm assuming it's the oldest girl, from the Arizona eggs. She's 25 weeks, 3 days today. Not bad. Big for a pullet egg too. Maybe I can get her bred early, that would be nice. See if the weather cooperates in February.

 

[Egghead_Jr]

That's fantastic Mosey. I've not gotten an egg in nearly two months let alone waiting on pullets.

Can I see photos of the Arizona girl? The last pic posted was really small. I need eye candy to hold me over to spring breeding.

 

[Mosey2003]

I'll see if I can get some decent pics this week.

 

[Mosey2003]

Here's one I snapped last week I think, before I had finished culling down the males to one. Can't see a whole lot as far as quality, lol. But it's a picture

 

[Mosey2003]

Another egg 55 grams, too. I'm impressed. Still next to the feeder instead of in the box

 

[ColtHandorf]

It took my English Black Orp pullet like three weeks to figure out the nest box. lol She would make herself a little nest in between them all in a corner each morning she laid.

 

[Mosey2003]

I really should take the time to catch the 3 or 4 pullets with red heads and verify that it's actually Arizona that's doing the laying. Because if it's one of the others, that would put point of lay at 18 weeks, and that would be *phenomenal* in SOP birds.

I'm really chewing on the whole breeding and genetics thing lately. Considering actually breeding quite a few of the bad-combed pullets in an effort to get much larger hatches and just seeing what I get. I do definitely want to single mate Arizona, and I also want to single mate the last two "Reese" hens I have just to verify I absolutely can't get any normal combs out of them. One of the two is the best one I had as far as type, so I don't want to toss those genes away in case I need them someday. For whatever reason it seems the Shafer cock and those hens nicked very, very well (in my opinion) - out of my small hatches I've got quite a few pullets that I am very happy with so far. Great depth and width already, some good wide heads, no sign of cushions yet. Considering I'm willing to cull and eat as many as necessary, I'm gonna plow through and see what I get. Overall type goals for me are less fluff and more thigh showing, they're still sitting a bit low/fluffy. The backs/tails/wings are much improved with this cock, and that was my first goal, so that's good.

If my cock over the F1 pullets doesn't yield more than half with good combs, I will make arrangements to just drive all the way to Ohio and get at least one pullet from Mr. Shafer. I'm not going to chase combs for multiple generations, but if one will do it, I'm willing to hatch a ton and pick through them. Hopefully I can get them all laying good sized eggs and ready to incubate in March.

 

[Mosey2003]

Some pics. They're floofing because it's cold and crops are full...