The Plymouth Rock Breeders thread

[aoxa]

Well, to be frank and honest, you gotta tote a lot of feed to these fellers before making any kind of choice. We simply raise them all, all of them. Virtually every last one. Then, come late October or early November, we go through and get us some really nice table birds. I leave the 2 or 3 finalist to grow to 14-16 months. They simply will fool, absolutely fool you, if you jump prematurely.

To me? This is the joy of a dual purpose bird. Since you have to wait so dog-gone long to make harsh decisions (obvious sober faults excepted) you may as well enjoy their meat. This is a true dual purpose bird and we need to just figure on this, in my book. YMMV.

These are the ones I suggested holding on to. I also really like the one closest to the Houdan I circled. He is nice and wide. The others, I do not like their wing carraige.
The one closest to the bottom I circled, I just want to see it in a better picture. Hard to tell from there.

 

[racertomtom]

Well, to be frank and honest, you gotta tote a lot of feed to these fellers before making any kind of choice. We simply raise them all, all of them. Virtually every last one. Then, come late October or early November, we go through and get us some really nice table birds. I leave the 2 or 3 finalist to grow to 14-16 months. They simply will fool, absolutely fool you, if you jump prematurely.

To me? This is the joy of a dual purpose bird. Since you have to wait so dog-gone long to make harsh decisions (obvious sober faults excepted) you may as well enjoy their meat. This is a true dual purpose bird and we need to just figure on this, in my book. YMMV.

These are the ones I suggested holding on to. I also really like the one closest to the Houdan I circled. He is nice and wide. The others, I do not like their wing carraige.
The one closest to the bottom I circled, I just want to see it in a better picture. Hard to tell from there.

I know how expensive feed is but you never know how good a Plymouth Rock cockerel is until he’s fully mature. They will pass one another all along the way. To take it a step farther, I’ll hold several of the best until their molt and then decide who the best cock is. Those are my breeders.

I don't really see it too bad in the picture but a low wing carriage is a very troublesome fault in the barred variety. Unless I was low on males or had one with other traits I couldn’t ignore, I would consider that one of Fred’s obvious sober faults.

 

[desertmarcy]

Agree.

A simple drop light with a 100 watt bulb under the shield will do the trick. They're pretty hardy, but another week of night time assistance is in order. After that, they'd be good to go.

Several years ago I stopped getting the newspaper. I don't watch TV and not up on news. This has backfired on me. I did not realize the incandescent bulbs were being discontinued. Are you all using incandescents that you stocked up on? Because I have one 60 watt and one 25 watt, and that is all I can find around the house. The rest are all compact fluorescent. I have 150-watt white heat bulbs and 250-watt red heat bulbs, which are only good for large outdoor spaces for me. And the 150-watt are too hot for my indoor brooders once the chicks get a little older. What to do? I wish I had some 100-watt incandescents.

 

[Fred's Hens]

I have what is commonly known as a pullet line. This pleases me and suits me fine. That said, this year's crop of young K's look as good as I've seen since 3 years ago. I haven't put any particular emphasis on making flashy males. I may in a year to two, once I get this line shaped up to where I think it ought to be. I've a couple of ideas about what direction I'd go to build a line of males, but right now, I'm just trying just keep my nose to grindstone and focus.

Hope everyone had a wonderful holiday weekend. It's planting season, so it just means lots of work here.

 

[Yard full o' rocks]

I bought several "ceramic heat bulbs" this yr ( look on eBay). I think you can get them from 25w up. They are great!! No light, just heat. Worked wonderfully

 

[Yard full o' rocks]

These are the ones I suggested holding on to. I also really like the one closest to the Houdan I circled. He is nice and wide. The others, I do not like their wing carraige. The one closest to the bottom I circled, I just want to see it in a better picture. Hard to tell from there.

Would someone please teach me how to "draw" on a picture?? Thx

 

[Fred's Hens]

Several years ago I stopped getting the newspaper. I don't watch TV and not up on news. This has backfired on me. I did not realize the incandescent bulbs were being discontinued. Are you all using incandescents that you stocked up on? Because I have one 60 watt and one 25 watt, and that is all I can find around the house. The rest are all compact fluorescent. I have 150-watt white heat bulbs and 250-watt red heat bulbs, which are only good for large outdoor spaces for me. And the 150-watt are too hot for my indoor brooders once the chicks get a little older. What to do? I wish I had some 100-watt incandescents.

These are my favorite bulbs. At 100watts, they are far more useful, in more applications, than the super hot 250wt infra red bulbs.
Still readily available at Big Box stores here. But, I've found other outlet sources at 1/3 the price.

 

[Fred's Hens]

Would someone please teach me how to "draw" on a picture?? Thx

Your operating system, Win or OSX almost always have the software. You load the photo, and then under tools, there is usually an option to annotate or draw on the photo. You can make circles, arrows, lines, rectangles, etc. There is often options to make the lasso or arrow any color you want and any thickness of line you want. When done, save the picture. Just re-name the photo before saving. That's it.

 

[desertmarcy]

These are my favorite bulbs. At 100watts, they are far more useful, in more applications, than the super hot 250wt infra red bulbs.
Still readily available at Big Box stores here. But, I've found other outlet sources at 1/3 the price.

Ah, the flood lights. Yes, they have not been discontinued. I had some white ones and a couple years ago, tried spray painting them with a heat-resistant spray paint since I didn't want the white light. The store didn't have a red heat-resistant paint, I ended up using brown. The bulbs didn't last long at all, they burnt out. I don't know if it was because they were old, or because I painted them. I will have to look for red flood lights. I have only seen the amber ones. About what do you pay for those, at 1/3 the price? Just so I have an idea of cost. I'll go searching online. Thanks.

 

[desertmarcy]

that is good to know. There is no grass here and with my water bill already at $75 for last month no chance of any. However, as soon as I can get some fencing done I will put in a patch of leafy greens; kale, chard, maybe some buckwheat and other stuff. I am thinking of that fodder system I see that's becoming popular right now, just haven't figured out how to set up it yet; not enough sun in the house; too many hungry critters outside

It is such a challenge to grow poultry in the desert. Rocky, dry hard soil. No grass or clover. Too many predators to free range. No range anyway. Intense sun. Some days I just wonder why I am doing this. Mary, try Armenian cucumbers. They are actually a melon and thrive in the heat and sun, given enough water. Let them get big and past the stage where you would pick them for your own salad. They will get big like an overgrown zucchini. Not the bird's fav, but one cucumber will feed many when there is a lack of greens. Here in the mid-desert elevation 2500', the leafy greens don't do well in the summer. Too hot. They are for fall through early spring. Although we have some kale plants that are still growing, all the lettuce, chard, etc. has long since gone to seed and been pulled to make room for summer veggies.