The Plymouth Rock Breeders thread

[DMRippy]

Silver Rock....I had no idea you were in TN and not that far either! there is a middle TN thread you may want to join in with us. I have blue black barred and blue barred partridge and silver pencilled rocks....I think that it is it lol.

Hi DMRippy
Thank you for the invite. I would like to join the middle TN thread very much. There are two poultry shows coming up in Tennessee. One show is next weekend 11-16-2013 right here in Lawrenceburg TN. It is a small show with majority bantams being shown. I will be there taking in as much knowledge as I can. The other show is in Knoxville, TN 12-7&8-2013 it is a larger show and will be hosting the ABA National. I am very much looking forward to going to this show as Danny Padgett will be one of the judge's and I am looking forward to meeting him in person. I would like to meet you at one of these shows also.

I don't do bantams....have not been to either show. come over to Middle TN we would love to have you!

 

[Silver Rock]

I don't do bantams....have not been to either show. come over to Middle TN we would love to have you!

Hi DMRippy
I want to breed my Silver Penciled Plymouth Rocks up to the Standard of Perfection to the best of my ability. To accomplish this I feel it would be very helpful/necessary for me to have someone close by to work with on breeding the SPPRs to the Standard. I don't know if you would be interested in this but if so please let me know and we will get started into this.

 

[DMRippy]

I don't do bantams....have not been to either show. come over to Middle TN we would love to have you!

Hi DMRippy
I want to breed my Silver Penciled Plymouth Rocks up to the Standard of Perfection to the best of my ability. To accomplish this I feel it would be very helpful/necessary for me to have someone close by to work with on breeding the SPPRs to the Standard. I don't know if you would be interested in this but if so please let me know and we will get started into this.

it would be nice if we could trade some roos so we don't keep inbreeding. you have the same line so we could keep injecting new blood without out crossing to unrelated birds. mine are not laying yet and I will need to do some culling in the roos. time will tell what I have. I will soon have to do that culling.

 

[Silver Rock]

it would be nice if we could trade some roos so we don't keep inbreeding. you have the same line so we could keep injecting new blood without out crossing to unrelated birds. mine are not laying yet and I will need to do some culling in the roos. time will tell what I have. I will soon have to do that culling.

Sounds great, I look forward to working with you.

 

[maryhysong]

OK, here goes, time to show off the birds and my current level of ignorance in this breed

I basically tried to get one decent side shot of each bird, figured if there is something of interest I can go out and get some more. These are the Buffs I got from Cindy and siblings to her pullet and to the two pairs own by desertmarcy

I will critique to the best of my ability/knowledge and hope Fred and some of you other more experienced folks correct me!
Cockerels first, #60



#63

Both of these males seem to be a little knock kneed, but I have noticed the past few weeks it actually seems to be getting a little better. #60 is lighter colored and has looser fluff, he is also a little shorter height wise than #63. Overall at this point my pick would be #63


There are four pullets. #61 is actually my favorite at the moment. I think she has a good depth to her skull, her back is very level and she has the least cushion.


#62 was the first pullet to pink up in the face; in fact when I picked these up from Cindy, she wasn't 100% sure if we didn't have a late blooming cockerel. I think her head is pretty good and I like her color, but she has a big cushion and a lot of loose fluff.




#64; not sure how she hurt herself, maybe put her face through the wire in a panic? Seems to be healing just fine tho. The friendliest of them all she will come eat from my hand, which the others won't. I think she has the lightest and patchiest color of the pullets. She is also one of the smaller pullets and has a lot of fluff.

#65 The smallest of them all, she is also the last to begin pinking up. I think her skull is not as deep as the others, especially #61s. Looking again I think she may have the lightest and patchiest color. The way she is standing here accentuates it but yes, her bottom line is more V shaped than the others.



If I had to pick today I would breed cockerel #63 to pullet #61. I might also breed him to pullet #62 as a back up set and to see what I got.

So tell me how bad I flunked

 

[Fred's Hens]

Put #63 male over #61 female? Is that your plan? If so, that's a darn good plan.

 

[maryhysong]

Put #63 male over #61 female? Is that your plan? If so, that's a darn good plan.

thank you Fred. That's a relief to know that I at least have a good idea once in awhile. Now tell me what I missed in looking at these birds, please. Besides cushions and feathering what have I missed?

PS> yes, their legs are very light. My feed has little corn and there is no grass here. In the rush of work and other things I hadn't really noticed how light they had gotten. I am now adding alfalfa pellets to the feed and already I see a little of the yellow coming back; hopefully in a few weeks they will again be the bright yellow they were.

 

[Fred's Hens]

Maryhsong, I think your own critique of your birds was very, very good. Not much I can add. We cannot see the leg width from most of those camera angles.

I think you picked your top female and your top male. Step by step. Bit by bit. Got to enjoy the ride. It will take a few generations of focus, which you are doing, to work on even color, leg width, breast, head, etc. Body type is number one, not leg color, as you know. Leg color is important, but not at the expense of other aspects.

 

[maryhysong]

Maryhsong, I think your own critique of your birds was very, very good. Not much I can add. We cannot see the leg width from most of those camera angles.

I think you picked your top female and your top male. Step by step. Bit by bit. Got to enjoy the ride. It will take a few generations of focus, which you are doing, to work on even color, leg width, breast, head, etc. Body type is number one, not leg color, as you know. Leg color is important, but not at the expense of other aspects.

Thank you Fred and thanks also for patience and your time, it is much appreciated. I guess all my reading and studying is starting to pay off. I know that as long as their legs are yellow and not white they are are OK. I just mentioned it because when you look at Cindy's & Marcy's pics the bright yellow leg really stands out and in this case it has quite a bit to do with feed.

I will look some more at them and especially look at the width between the legs and the spread of the tails. Thank you again

 

[Fred's Hens]

To me, one thing that is marvelous, is that so many of the Buff Rocks folks are near enough, out there in AZ that you all can work together, if you wish. That would be an exciting prospect to me.

I loosed the juvies today to get some air and their legs are not as yellow as I would like, but the weather has been horrid for weeks and promises no improvement this week. Getting them onto grass and in sunshine does indeed bring out that yellow in their legs that just "indoor" feed cannot.

Glad you mentioned that, Maryhsyong. This is an issue with fall raised chicks for us.