The Plymouth Rock Breeders thread

[uphilljill]

At the very beginning of this thread, some of you long time readers may remember, I was sharing about our project to add some vigor to the GSBR birds that made up our foundation stock.

Our F1 pullets turned the year calendar today, so in my mind, they are now hens. Be that as it may, I am astounded by the increase in egg size as compared to their GSBR dams. I'll post a photo and hopefully show the difference. It is quite amazing and very encouraging.

The Good Shepherd females we have had for over 3 years consistently lay a very small egg. I don't know if others find that to be the case as well?



The eggs on the top row are from our F1 females, while the eggs on the lower row are from our pure GSBR females. Some of the latter females are now entering their third laying season and one sometimes expects larger eggs from a mature female, but this has not really proved to be the case with that strain.

Funny you posted this, because I was just admiring the last batch of eggs you sent. They are HUGE! Really beautiful.

 

[Big Orp]

Does anyone here have BR's from Jeremy Woepel from XW Poultry Ranch.
I ordered some chicks from him and was just wondering if anyone has any pics of birds they bought from him.
Curious how the chicks will turn out.

 

[uphilljill]

Is it true that show judges do not like wing bands? Why is that? You can't see them when the bird is feathered in...

 

[Fred's Hens]

Does anyone here have BR's from Jeremy Woepel from XW Poultry Ranch.
I ordered some chicks from him and was just wondering if anyone has any pics of birds they bought from him.
Curious how the chicks will turn out.

There are photos of XW birds throughout this thread. Scroll down through the first few pages of this thread alone and you will find many, many photos of XW Barred Rocks. Welcome to the world of Standard bred Barred Rocks!!!

 

[Big Orp]

Thank you. This is my first venture with standard bred anything. Most every thing I've ever owned has been mutts or hatchery and I never get what I want. So I am sure I will have lots of questions along the way. I am very excited.

 

[Fred's Hens]

Funny you posted this, because I was just admiring the last batch of eggs you sent. They are HUGE! Really beautiful.

Why thank you, Jill. But you know where your eggs came from.

 

[Silver Rock]

I put 12 eggs that I collected out of my "Horstman/Padgett breeding pen #1" in the incubator 3 weeks ago but only 8 chicks developed to day 18 so I'm only expecting 5 maybe 6 chicks this go around :/. After moving the chicks and cleaning the incubator I have 40 Silver Penciled Plymouth Rock eggs that will go in this time.

One chick has made it out of the incubator. This chick may make the trip to Knoxville, TN come December.

 

[desertmarcy]

Is it true that show judges do not like wing bands? Why is that? You can't see them when the bird is feathered in...

No, I don't think that is true. I have never heard any problem with them. And you are right, you cannot see them. I started using them this year because it was getting too hard to keep track of individual birds as they are growing. I toe punch, but that only tells me what the mating was from, not the individual to track. On some that I want to be sure not to mix up, I toe punch plus the wing band.

 

[uphilljill]

I started using wing bands this year as well, for similar reasons, and like them so far. Glad to hear it's not a potential show fault.

 

[kwMississippi]

I toe punch out of the hatcher then wing band at around 2 weeks. I have noticed a couple of the toe punches had almost grew back in. There was only a pin hole left. Another week or two and I would have a misidentified chick.