The Plymouth Rock Breeders thread

[uphilljill]

Here's the original female I hatched from Fred's eggs, and some of her pullet offspring:

 

[Fred's Hens]

Stealing a line from the Brits, my BR partner and I are only keeping the "the heir and a spare" among the boat load of males she hatched last year. That's it. That's all we need. It is quite unlikely that more than 4 of the females will be used. With age comes increased pickiness about these birds. With us hatching, brooding and growing out cooperatively, we are hoping to put every bit of 60 chicks on the ground this year. We're so determined to sort through those chicks and find 4 or 5 youngsters to take the shows in late fall, early winter next year.
We want to show off these wonderful birds and maybe bait others into keeping them.

 

[Fred's Hens]

Here's the original female I hatched from Fred's eggs, and some of her pullet offspring:

Yeah, well, you're killin' me, Jill. You're knockin' 'em stiff and I love what you're doing. I'm your biggest fan.

 

[Fred's Hens]

This is Blue25, aka "Holly" who was bred and hatched by Anne Norman. Anne was kind enough to let my grandson take her Knoxville and exhibit her. She took Reserve Variety. Is she perfect? Goodness NO!!! Her faults leap out at me.

But her strengths are also there. She's not for sale, at any price, because I know her line back 4 generations. I've turned down many offers for her. With the right mating and some good fortune, I simply cannot wait to hatch out her offspring in 2015. She IS laying, almost 5 eggs a week.

 

[Fred's Hens]

Good Morning Rock Breeders and let me wish you an early Happy New Year
in poultry and in other aspects of your life.​

Yesterday's somewhat spirited discussion reminded me of how different being a breeder is than being a backyard keeper of a small flock for eggs. 95% of the folks here on BYC I suppose, without knowing for sure, most have a "flock" and they probably think of their birds as a "flock".

I think of the birds as individuals, as I'm not going to flock breed, I'm going to breed individuals. I also think of them in small groups of pullets, let's say, of the same year. I may even think of these pullets over here as one "class" or strain of females and that group of pullets over there as a different "class" or strain of females as they were bred differently.

I look at my #1 male, #2 male and #3 male and each were kept as breeders for a reason; something I desire genetically from each one to pull out.


Then, over here, let's say I have this, that and another hen. Females from last year who are valuable to my breeding efforts for this year and will likely go under their sons, or bred precisely as they were las year as last year's match produced some good results.

When you begin to think of your birds individually and by sex, age, grouping, "family line" etc, they are no longer a "flock" per se. There's no need for them to all relate to everyone else. They are not housed together nor are they pastured together. Thus, no "pecking order" need be developed among them all, as a single group, as a flock.

 

[aoxa]

YOU ABSOLUTELY want to keep both of those guys.!!!!! There some sick law of the cruel universe that if you only keep on, the coyotes eat him. Since they're both from Good Shepherd stock roots, they're both from the XW Ranch branch, you've got the righ two guys. That big guy being so tough and strong minded? That's a good thing, whether you completely see it right now. Trust me. It's a good thing. There's nothing worse than a Barred Rock male who is a whimp and doesn't mate or keep the females fertile. Trust me.
You WANT him kickin' butt and takin' names, as my old man used to say.

As long as they aren't going after me, kickin' butt is fine (if it is not the hens or chicks)

 

[Fred's Hens]

Hey Justine, good to "see" you.

I don't mean to imply a foul spirited male is a good thing, of itself. But, the fertility rates and sexual activity of these Barred Rocks males is widely discussed as being less than impressive. We have had some that simply were not active enough in that department. So, to get a male that actually is busy about acting the part of the cockbird and being a bit feisty? I'd pretty much rejoice in that, to be honest. It is frustrating beyond words to have a high percentage of infertile eggs in March.

I was raising these three White males together all summer and fall. They were fine. Too passive in fact. Finally, as maturity began to kick in around November, these little flared hackles fights and squaring off moments began to happen with some regularity. It was time to move them out.

The best got dropped off to a super nice lady in Cincinnati on my way through her area. He's her crown prince, for sure. The other two were roasted a golden brown and were delicious.

 

[Fred's Hens]

One day as I was working on some firewood out by the area of the cockerel's grow out pen, I heard an awful commotion. It was the familiar sound of one cockerel finally having enough and pounding a lesser K into the ground. It's a fairly distinctive sound, when you hear it. Generally, this "settles" things, as to who is above who in Varsity Letterman versus second string JV rankings.

It didn't go on long, but there was a clear winner and a clear loser that day. By the time I walked over to see if everyone was OK, it was already over. The loser was hunching in the back and the winner was strutting in open part of the pen with a glint in his eye, fluffing and re-arranging his gorgeous self and I swore I heard, "Oh yea." "Oh yea, I am the cock of this walk". And he surely was.

 

[Tumbleweed Farm]

Wow, my head is spinning. I love reading the posts and realize I need to make some serious adjustments to my setup and plans. Jill and Fred your birds are nice.

Me a backyard breeder--I'm afraid so-- but am hoping to get it in a better situation in the coming months. I am going to do a single mating however. I have one female that is way darker than the other one. I may not even breed the other one as she is more grayish colored like the male--boy was she hard to sex! I don't want to pass on that trait.

 

[Fred's Hens]

Funny thing is? I might well WANT to test mate her. I'd want to see what comes of it. There's nothing wrong with it, per se, and might, might, maybe, give you a better bird, especially if she throws some male chicks. Those young male chicks might pick up her lighter color and be stunning!!!

Just my mind whirring, that's all. hahahahah

Not to get anyone all confused, but there are male lines and females lines, ie, lines that produce better pullets and lines that produce showier males. My line is currently a pullet dominated line and I wouldn't mind working on a side project to make some showier males. She might be right at the top of my list, if I had an itch to make some flashy males.