The Plymouth Rock Breeders thread

[cbnovick]

WOW Fred.....I really like her length of back!!! Front end looks good too

and love that stiff tail developing too!

 

[Fred's Hens]

I like this photo because it does a better job of capturing her wide set legs. That is a MUST feature for me. No narrow leg set birds ever make it to the breeding pens.




On a side note, I've got a little Red pullet that has the widest leg set I've seen in ages. I swore she was a cockerel for the longest time. That and her ginormous wide head. Gotta love it.

 

[cbnovick]

I like this photo because it does a better job of capturing her wide set legs. That is a MUST feature for me. No narrow leg set birds ever make it to the breeding pens.




On a side note, I've got a little Red pullet that has the widest leg set I've seen in ages. I swore she was a cockerel for the longest time. That and her ginormous wide head. Gotta love it.

Wide set legs are all good...especially on BIG birds....need that room not only for their intestines and repro. system but also to keep them stable when foraging and roosting...form and function, as always....that RIR does have uber wide legs...good station too as does your F1.

 

[Yard full o' rocks]

Evening all...

I had a good long sit with the birds tonight and I think I've finally selected the 3 pullets I will keep for next season and BOY it got much harder this year, I guess that's a good thing

I selected 3 pullets as follows

1 to be as close to a perfect female as possible (mostly in case my youngest son wants to show her)...great type (nice front end, long back, slight tail lift, nice wide skull), no black spots/mossiness on her back, nice tail lacing, no cushion, light colored butt fluff, great bright yellow legs, good balance and medium/light undercolor. Likely will not breed from her 9unless there is some catastrophe here) as her undercolor is too light

1 with decent type but extremely rich/dark undercolor, dark/well laced hackles, some mossiness in her back, slightly higher tail than standard, great yellow legs. My plans are to use her to improve my males in two ways - the striping in the hackles/saddles AND tail lift

Finally,

1 with the best type of any females I have plus a little on the large side. She is almost 8 lbs at 9 months old. She will be used to maintain overall type/size on my female side and hopefully add a bit of weight to my males and improve the length of backs. The males aren't really lacking in weight vs the standard, BUT, I need size if I'm gonna compete with the White Rocks

I seem to have made really good progress on my females, so next year my focus is going to be on the males as they are quite a bit behind my females in terms of improvement. After I get these 3 separated from the rest of the flock, I'll post pictures of each of them

 

[wekiva bird]

Evening all...

I had a good long sit with the birds tonight and I think I've finally selected the 3 pullets I will keep for next season and BOY it got much harder this year, I guess that's a good thing

I selected 3 pullets as follows

1 to be as close to a perfect female as possible (mostly in case my youngest son wants to show her)...great type (nice front end, long back, slight tail lift, nice wide skull), no black spots/mossiness on her back, nice tail lacing, no cushion, light colored butt fluff, great bright yellow legs, good balance and medium/light undercolor. Likely will not breed from her 9unless there is some catastrophe here) as her undercolor is too light

1 with decent type but extremely rich/dark undercolor, dark/well laced hackles, some mossiness in her back, slightly higher tail than standard, great yellow legs. My plans are to use her to improve my males in two ways - the striping in the hackles/saddles AND tail lift

Finally,

1 with the best type of any females I have plus a little on the large side. She is almost 8 lbs at 9 months old. She will be used to maintain overall type/size on my female side and hopefully add a bit of weight to my males and improve the length of backs. The males aren't really lacking in weight vs the standard, BUT, I need size if I'm gonna compete with the White Rocks

I seem to have made really good progress on my females, so next year my focus is going to be on the males as they are quite a bit behind my females in terms of improvement. After I get these 3 separated from the rest of the flock, I'll post pictures of each of them

Scott., Love to see the photos.

 

[Fred's Hens]

Can't wait.

 

[cbnovick]

Me too...birds don't appreciate being separated...just did some of that tonight...those cockerels were just a tad shaken...lol...good way to test temperament too IMHO

 

[uphilljill]

Fred your pullet looks very familiar to me.

Here's some updated photos I took this morning of the pullet we have from you at 16 1/2 weeks:

 

[Fred's Hens]

She's such a beauty, Jill. Really, really nice. I hope you enjoy her and you are successful in breeding many more. She is a very good representative of the look I try hard to breed into these birds.

Who's tail is sneaking into the lower corner of this shot?

 

[uphilljill]

One of the boys. (#8 leg band below) Tails and wings are still feathering in. Soooo slow.

I'll try to get photos of the other two cockerels tonight. I've decided to keep all 3 for now.