The Plymouth Rock Breeders thread

[DMRippy]

Crossing anything to anything is to start a wild fire of genetics. My word of caution here is that this not a trivial matter. I would strongly suggest that those beginning their Rock breeding career put most of this chatter out of their minds.

Do this instead. Start with hatchery stock and learn husbandry. Then, get a box of eggs or a solid trio or quad of the very best birds you can secure, from a breeder who will tell you the truth about what you're getting.

Breed that quad with the Two Family, spiral system for 5 years. Learn this craft. Bob always said that 90% of the folks will be flash in the pan, here today and gone tomorrow.

Propagation is pretty simple. Breeding quality birds takes a life time of commitment, passion and learning, learning, learning. Keep it simple. Shoot right down the middle. Stay small. Focus on quality. Build relationships with other good breeders. Dare to allow your birds to be exposed to peer review and judging.

Focus on ONE main breed. Very few folks can juggle more than two and do it very well. There just isn't the space, the pens, the money, the time or the patience.

OK, that's me (and a whole lot of Walt, Bob, Bill and other voices in my head) so take it for what you will.

Yeah... I know the can of worms thing.... not sure I want to go down that path really. I have enough on my plate. I do know that if you keep breeding the same line and improve it every season you are making good progress. I saw that in my Marans. I have had them the longest. Rocks second longest.

 

[Silver Rock]

Yeah... I know the can of worms thing.... not sure I want to go down that path really.  I have enough on my plate.  I do know that if you keep breeding the same line and improve it every season you are making good progress.  I saw that in my Marans.  I have had them the longest.  Rocks second longest.

Hi Donna, I agree 100% as in my opinion using the Silver Penciled Plymouth Rock lines we have today while at the same time using a very strict selective breeding process we will see the Silver Penciled Plymouth Rocks improve and move forward.

Do I think my Silver Penciled Plymouth Rocks will ever be on Champion Row beating out the very popular White & Barred Plymouth Rocks? No, I don't see that happening.

Will I try to breed my Silver Penciled Plymouth Rocks to the best of my abilities to give them a chance to be on Champion Row? YES I WILL!

Clayton Grace "Silver Rock"

 

[Silver Rock]

I believe I may have gotten eggs from different matings, Justine, or it could simply be that when I got mine, fewer of her hens were laying, and so the majority of mine may have easily come from 2 or 3 hens, which were not the same as the hens your eggs came from - I say this because mine look different to me than yours do.  I do need to look them over more closely, I cannot say for sure on conformaition issues.  I know I keep saying that, and I honestly am not trying to be "coy" about - it - my barn is not well lit and, in fact, their pen doens't have a light over it.  All I have is the one barn light, which doesn't light well, so I hesitate to get pictures in the pen.  I find pictures come out much better when they can be in a more natural posture, which is not indoors, but outside.  However, the weather has been just horrible for weeks now.  It's going to probably be mid-February before I'm able to get some pics of them out in the pen.

Hi Wynette, for us that are breeding the Silver Penciled Plymouth Rocks and very interested in the development of the Canadian line Silver Penciled Plymouth Rocks you have, can you please tell us more on why you think your Canadian line Silver Penciled Plymouth Rock may have come from different hens than Justine "aoxa" Canadian line Silver Penciled Plymouth Rocks.

 

[Silver Rock]

I think this girl has a nice head. Gotta work on that cushion and raise that tail up. But I am working with what I've got. Janet did say that the tails raise up in her line after they start laying. She did mention the cushion is a problem, but I will raise some out and pick the best cushionless (or the least obvious cushioned) girls to move forward.

Hi aoxa, I would be very surprised if there is a Silver Penciled Plymouth Rock line out there that doesn't have a cushion problem. It is something that we Silver Penciled Plymouth Rock breeders will have to work on. Clayton Grace "Silver Rock"

 

[aoxa]

Crossing anything to anything is to start a wild fire of genetics. My word of caution here is that this not a trivial matter. I would strongly suggest that those beginning their Rock breeding career put most of this chatter out of their minds.

Do this instead. Start with hatchery stock and learn husbandry. Then, get a box of eggs or a solid trio or quad of the very best birds you can secure, from a breeder who will tell you the truth about what you're getting.

Breed that quad with the Two Family, spiral system for 5 years. Learn this craft. Bob always said that 90% of the folks will be flash in the pan, here today and gone tomorrow.

Propagation is pretty simple. Breeding quality birds takes a life time of commitment, passion and learning, learning, learning. Keep it simple. Shoot right down the middle. Stay small. Focus on quality. Making a mess is easy, breeding good birds is tough work. Build relationships with other good breeders. Dare to allow your birds to be exposed to peer review and judging.

Focus on ONE main breed. Very few folks can juggle more than two and do it very well. There just isn't the space, the pens, the money, the time or the patience.

OK, that's me (and a whole lot of Walt, Bob, Bill and other voices in my head) so take it for what you will.



.

I have to say, even though I do a few other breeds, the Barred Plymouth Rock is my main focus hands down.

Even though Silkies can fetch me more money, my heart lies with the Barred Plymouth Rock.

It always has.

I will continue the other breeds, as there is demand, and it helps me keep my hobby afloat..

James Carson juggles quite a few breeds and does it astonishingly well. He wins with Silkies, Modern Games, Old English Games but his best are definitely his Toulouse Geese. However, he is a licensed APA judge and has been for many, many years. He was the one that found my Rocks for me. He's my Canadian Bob

People new to this hobby really need the guidance you guys offer. Talking to you Fred.

 

[Fred's Hens]

James Carson is a pretty good voice to have inside your head.

 

[Wynette]

As I set pens up every year, I keep in mind the words of Albert Einstein...."insanity...doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results"

Rock breeders....are you started??

TRUE THAT (first sentence)!!

I'm started! Will be a very long hatching season for me this year.

 

[Wynette]

I have to say, even though I do a few other breeds, the Barred Plymouth Rock is my main focus hands down.

Seriously, it's a wonder I never got invovled with the Barred variety; there is nothing on this planet, in my opinion, that's more handsome than a well-bred Barred Rock cock bird.

 

[Silver Rock]

Robert "Bob" Murphy is a well known breeder out of Maine that had been breeding the Silver Penciled Plymouth Rocks for over 30 years. With him living so close to the Canadian border it would not take to much for me to believe that over the years a Canadian breeder got their hands on some of Robert "Bob" Murphy Silver Penciled Plymouth Rocks. Then in more recent years the line ended up in Janet "PEI Chickens" hands. I am definitely not trying to take anything away from the Canadian line as in my opinion Robert "Bob" Murphy & Janet "PEI Chickens" both have very nice Silver Penciled Plymouth Rock lines. All I am trying to say is I would not put to much hope into the thought of the Canadian line Silver Penciled Plymouth Rocks fixing all the problems that we have in the US Silver Penciled Plymouth Rocks as in my opinion they both hold many of the same problems and may very well hold the same US origins. If you look at the distance between Maine "Robert Bob Murphy" & Prince Edward Island "Janet PEI Chickens" you will notice there is not that much distance between the two. A travel time of under 7 hours.
http://www.distancefromto.net/between/Maine/Prince+Edward+Island

To put this into prospective the distance from Tennessee "myself" to Pennsylvania "Dick Horstman" it is a travel time of over 12 hours.
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&...etween+Tennessee+and+Pennsylvania&v=133247963

The distance from Tennessee "myself" to Florida "Danny Padgett" is a travel time of over 10 hours.
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&...ance+between+Tennessee+to+Florida&v=133247963

 

[Silver Rock]

To make sure we are all on the same page we do all understand that the Silver Penciled Plymouth Rocks we have today are of a US origin. As the Silver Penciled Plymouth Rocks originated in 1894 out of New York. So when we talk of a Canadian line Silver Penciled Plymouth Rock foreign blood the best we can hope for is a early separation of a Silver Penciled Plymouth Rock line of US Origin that migrated up to Canada years ago and breed without any US Silver Penciled Plymouth Rock blood being added in later over the years. I really do wish there was records on a Canadian breeder showing a long history of breeding the Silver Penciled Plymouth Rocks free of any US blood or records on a Canadian breeder of the past recreating the Silver Penciled Plymouth Rocks and breeding them without ever having to add in the US Silver Penciled Plymouth Rock blood. If anyone has such information or records of this please let me know.

Clayton Grace "Silver Rock"