The Plymouth Rock Breeders thread

[desertmarcy]

My last hatch of the season of the GSBR line X Stukel line is out. 7 nice healthy chicks, all hatched that went to the hatcher. I am thinking I am already seeing increased vigor since with my pure GSBR hatches, there were always some eggs that went to the hatcher that didn't hatch. This makes 48 chicks out of this cross and 35 out of the GSBR X Duckworth cross. That will be more than enough for me to be able to house and feed, what with all the other breeds I'm raising this year

I'm also doing a not terribly scientific experiment. I decided on the last several GSBR X Stukel hatches to start the chicks on 28% soy-based turkey starter and keep them on that for....not sure how long. The older chicks are being fed 22% no soy or corn chick starter. Both feeds are organic. Just curious to see if the higher protein makes a difference. They are all getting unmeasured amounts of diced hard boiled egg in the morning as a treat, so like I said, not an exact "science" experiment. If the younger chicks are all overtaking the older ones in size by the time I need to start combining them in outside pens...well maybe that will tell me something.

 

[Kinmera]

We'll I finally got some white rock chicks to hatch about 3 weeks ago. Took a couple of pics on my phone.

 

[Yard full o' rocks]

My last hatch of the season of the GSBR line X Stukel line is out. 7 nice healthy chicks, all hatched that went to the hatcher. I am thinking I am already seeing increased vigor since with my pure GSBR hatches, there were always some eggs that went to the hatcher that didn't hatch. This makes 48 chicks out of this cross and 35 out of the GSBR X Duckworth cross. That will be more than enough for me to be able to house and feed, what with all the other breeds I'm raising this year

I'm also doing a not terribly scientific experiment. I decided on the last several GSBR X Stukel hatches to start the chicks on 28% soy-based turkey starter and keep them on that for....not sure how long. The older chicks are being fed 22% no soy or corn chick starter. Both feeds are organic. Just curious to see if the higher protein makes a difference. They are all getting unmeasured amounts of diced hard boiled egg in the morning as a treat, so like I said, not an exact "science" experiment. If the younger chicks are all overtaking the older ones in size by the time I need to start combining them in outside pens...well maybe that will tell me something.

Wow. You are certainly brave raising chicks this late in the yr! It has to be hotter there than here

Weather here has reached 90+ every day and humidity is HIGH.

If I tried to raise chicks this time of yr here I'd lose a bunch to cocci and with the heat, their appetites are never great enough for them to reach their full size potential.

I'll watch with anxious anticipation to see yours....hoping they do GREAT. You have a great cross going to fix your vigor!!

 

[racertomtom]

Wow. You are certainly brave raising chicks this late in the yr! It has to be hotter there than here

Weather here has reached 90+ every day and humidity is HIGH.

If I tried to raise chicks this time of yr here I'd lose a bunch to cocci and with the heat, their appetites are never great enough for them to reach their full size potential.

I'll watch with anxious anticipation to see yours....hoping they do GREAT. You have a great cross going to fix your vigor!!

I just put my last set in the incubator tonight. I've been hatching weekly and have never hatched in June before much less July. Plenty of water, free range and shade and mine will hopefully be OK (I'm not in Tucson). I've been playing a numbers game this year to regain some selection plus some test mating. I currently have 5 empty 8x8 pens in the main chicken house with 8'x36' runs on each one. That's about to change. Hope hatching this late doesn't prove to be a bad idea.

 

[desertmarcy]

Wow. You are certainly brave raising chicks this late in the yr! It has to be hotter there than here

Weather here has reached 90+ every day and humidity is HIGH.

If I tried to raise chicks this time of yr here I'd lose a bunch to cocci and with the heat, their appetites are never great enough for them to reach their full size potential.

I'll watch with anxious anticipation to see yours....hoping they do GREAT. You have a great cross going to fix your vigor!!

Ha, ha, well I would call it more OBSESSED than BRAVE! I got that male late in the year, so if I wanted to work with the outcross, I just had to start and I also had a 3-week wait for the hens to become infertile from the previous male, add 5 days after incubating the last eggs to candle to see that they were indeed infertile! And some time for the new male to do his thing, so there was a month waiting after that new cockerel was unexpectedly brought to me!

Yes, raising them in the heat is the pits as far as getting the size on them, it is high 90's-low 100's every day. I am keeping the chicks indoors as long as I can, where it is cooler. Knock on wood, I have never had cocci in chicks and I don't feed medicated. I just think it is too hot and dry here. We do get a brief summer rainy season--typically early July to early Sept, when the humidity goes up and it is hot then, but it does dry out in between those brief rainstorms. I don't even know that much about coccidia lifecycle, does it lay dormant in the soil and then rear it's ugly head? The chicks have to be exposed somehow, I guess, and if the soil is "sterile" of it due to extended dry heat, I would think it just wouldn't exist.

 

[maryhysong]

Ha, ha, well I would call it more OBSESSED than BRAVE! I got that male late in the year, so if I wanted to work with the outcross, I just had to start and I also had a 3-week wait for the hens to become infertile from the previous male, add 5 days after incubating the last eggs to candle to see that they were indeed infertile! And some time for the new male to do his thing, so there was a month waiting after that new cockerel was unexpectedly brought to me!

Yes, raising them in the heat is the pits as far as getting the size on them, it is high 90's-low 100's every day. I am keeping the chicks indoors as long as I can, where it is cooler. Knock on wood, I have never had cocci in chicks and I don't feed medicated. I just think it is too hot and dry here. We do get a brief summer rainy season--typically early July to early Sept, when the humidity goes up and it is hot then, but it does dry out in between those brief rainstorms. I don't even know that much about coccidia lifecycle, does it lay dormant in the soil and then rear it's ugly head? The chicks have to be exposed somehow, I guess, and if the soil is "sterile" of it due to extended dry heat, I would think it just wouldn't exist.

Marcia, why incubate the eggs instead of break them open and look for the bulls eye?

My last hatch of the season of the GSBR line X Stukel line is out. 7 nice healthy chicks, all hatched that went to the hatcher. I am thinking I am already seeing increased vigor since with my pure GSBR hatches, there were always some eggs that went to the hatcher that didn't hatch. This makes 48 chicks out of this cross and 35 out of the GSBR X Duckworth cross. That will be more than enough for me to be able to house and feed, what with all the other breeds I'm raising this year

I'm also doing a not terribly scientific experiment. I decided on the last several GSBR X Stukel hatches to start the chicks on 28% soy-based turkey starter and keep them on that for....not sure how long. The older chicks are being fed 22% no soy or corn chick starter. Both feeds are organic. Just curious to see if the higher protein makes a difference. They are all getting unmeasured amounts of diced hard boiled egg in the morning as a treat, so like I said, not an exact "science" experiment. If the younger chicks are all overtaking the older ones in size by the time I need to start combining them in outside pens...well maybe that will tell me something.

If nothing else maybe they will at least grow as fast with the higher protein in the heat. My thinking being that appetites are often depressed when it's too hot but if what they are eating has more protein then maybe they will get enough and keep up.

 

[Matt1616]

Wow. You are certainly brave raising chicks this late in the yr! It has to be hotter there than here

Weather here has reached 90+ every day and humidity is HIGH.

If I tried to raise chicks this time of yr here I'd lose a bunch to cocci and with the heat, their appetites are never great enough for them to reach their full size potential.

I'll watch with anxious anticipation to see yours....hoping they do GREAT. You have a great cross going to fix your vigor!!

Scott, I hatch late every year because I don't want to mess up my show birds by putting them in the breeding pen until March/April. I just hatched my last batch this past weekend. I have never had any trouble with them not achieving their potential size. I think that is a myth or sometimes an excuse for inferior birds. A couple years back I just wanted to see so I hatched some in December and January...then hatched some of the same breed and parents in June. There was no difference in them at maturity. I do fight with Cocci at times but I have had it in January as well so I think that is more of a moisture thing.
Genetics, good food, clean water and space is what determines the potential of your chickens.

Matt

 

[desertmarcy]

Marcia, why incubate the eggs instead of break them open and look for the bulls eye?

I am not confident enough in that method.

 

[desertmarcy]

Scott, I hatch late every year because I don't want to mess up my show birds by putting them in the breeding pen until March/April. I just hatched my last batch this past weekend. I have never had any trouble with them not achieving their potential size. I think that is a myth or sometimes an excuse for inferior birds. A couple years back I just wanted to see so I hatched some in December and January...then hatched some of the same breed and parents in June. There was no difference in them at maturity. I do fight with Cocci at times but I have had it in January as well so I think that is more of a moisture thing.
Genetics, good food, clean water and space is what determines the potential of your chickens.

Matt

Matt, that is very interesting because this is something you hear all the time. I have heard it from judges, too, that they don't grow well when it is hot. How many of each batch did you raise, that you compared, and what breed? Did the late hatched birds take longer to get up to size?

 

[Fentress]

Matt's comment makes sense to me. If the birds are stress free to begin with, then the heat will be the only thing they have to deal with. Mine have a variety of water sources and shady spots to choose from, so they can more or less choose for themselves how to cope.