The Plymouth Rock Breeders thread

[Silver Rock]

Hey you should get some Partridge Plymouth Rocks. 

I do like the Partridge Plymouth Rocks but for the next many years to come I will have my hands full in efforts of achieving my breeding goals in the Silver Penciled Plymouth Rocks.

 

[Mr MKK FARMS]

Quote: Ah okay. Well good luck with all that!

 

[Yard full o' rocks]

Ok all you "Rock heads" aka serious rock breeders....

What are your goals for the 2014 breeding season?

This will be my 5th season working with Columbian Rocks and I have 2 primary goals for this next year:

#1 is to improve the tails/tail lift in my males
#2 is to push improvement in color; hackles/saddles in the males, proper tail lacing and darkened hackles in the females

A side goal/project is the one in which I am working to remove the brassiness seen in my males.

So....to keep this thread on track, let's hear it....what are you working toward this year?

 

[Fred's Hens]

I leave Wednesday at zero dark hundred, breeders in travel boxes and heading south. It's been a horrid winter up here and there's no relief in sight. Anxious to get started. Down in KY, there are already 3 Rock pens set up and I'll get mine setup as soon as I arrive. One of the young boys has already built me two breeding tractors, with rear, outside nest access for retrieving the eggs. Brand spankin' new.

My project is put one of the best of last year's pure XW/GSBR cockerels over my 2 best F1 pullets. In the other pen, I'll put the other two "lesser" F1 pullet back under their sire, who also is XW/GSBR. After a week, I'll start collecting eggs, weather permitting and cooperating. Trio mating is indicated for this project.

I'll also bring a flashy, tightly barred, big headed 93 or 94 point cockerel (yes, there are a couple to choose from) back home with me next month. I'll keep my plans for him in my vest pocket at this point.

The objective is simple. Tighten up the barring and tighten up the overall feathering on the F1s, moving to the next gen. Do NOT screw up the great type, great top lines and great heads they have and hope to Rock heavens that we preserve most of the vigor gained in the project. I've no concerns about their wing sets, wide stance, big breasts or weights. Those will replicate. Wouldn't mind getting them up on their legs a bit.





Sorry that first shot is blurred. Best dang profile shot ever and I screwed it up. Did I ever tell you how bad as I am at photography? Some folks take great photos. I gotta settle for making great birds, I guess.

 

[colburg]

We were hoping to have some goals to work toward, but that would require eggs first. So, I have a couple of questions for some experienced breeders.

According to the fella we got the WR's from, they were hatched in April and May, but we still have no eggs. We're going on 9-10 months with no eggs, and from a functional perspective, shouldn't they start at 6-7 months. So, there are a few things I do know to improve their function. We need to find the earliest layers and breed from them without losing type, feathering, etc. They look great(to us). If we're at 10 months now, maybe 11-12 later, and need a month or 2 for the eggs to stabilize, we'll be breeding in the heat of the summer, and push breeding back by about 2 months every year until they improve, how do we work with that without breeding every other year?

So we're curious, WWFD? WWSD? What Would Fred/Scott Do? Others? We're open to suggestions.

We have 4 pairs that we're going to start a 4 pen rotational breeding program with. This is our only breed, and we're planning to hatch about 50-100 chicks this year , and get rolling to 200-300 chicks next year. BTW, I need some help picking mates this season, so pics will come soon.

Thanks all,
colburg

 

[Fred's Hens]

This go round on your Whites, find a way to leg band the early feathering chicks. It may be slight and you'll have to keep a very keen and watchful eye, but the early feathering gene is related to early egg laying. It is a sign post of faster maturing.

You'll need to hatch out those 80-100 chicks, sorting through with early feathering and pen them separately as a clan. At 9 weeks and the cockerels show themselves, move them out to bachelor pads, as young cockerels are feed hogs and growing pullets cannot stand up to the competition for feed. You'll grow and mature your layers faster this way.

If you add a week to the point of lay for your pullets, through selecting only from the early feathers, it is a step. Next year? Another week. This will be a 5 year program to put pressure on egg laying. Far too many of these older lines were primarily bred for beauty, type, or showing and that focus wasn't always a high priority.

Late February or early March hatched chicks have a chance of beginning to lay in that calendar year, especially if you provide an hour or two of supplemental light come October.

An April hatched female has almost no chance of laying in that calendar year if she is from a slow developing, show oriented strain. A White Rock CAN be pressured back to being an earlier layer and a very, very good layer. It is the ideal variety to push back to egg laying.

Finally, too many White Rocks have been bred too large. Way too large. That ginormous size, now all too common, is not a friend of early maturity. Hope this helps.

 

[Ripster]

Excellent post and advice Fred. I would add one more thing that I learned years ago from Monroe Babcock, owner of Babcock poultry farms, who bred high production commercial White Leghorns and even kept Heritage RI Reds for many years. He told me that hens that laid their egg before 10 am were always the better producers and to breed from them. I tried it myself and he was right on the money. Something to think about for what it's worth.

 

[Fred's Hens]

You're right Judge, not being an early morning layer is one of my pet peeves too. LOL

CoIberg, I got way ahead of myself. I really should have asked, have they had light? If so, when did you begin?

I know lots of folks may have some aversion to it, but in some situations, it is just one small part of the domesticated, artificial environment we already provide. That's another discussion.

It is a deep concern to me when people wish to embrace bred to Standard birds and then get discouraged by the slow maturity and heavy costs and the perceived slow and small returns that are far too common. To break that cycle and start the selective breeding, one must first have fertile eggs to hatch. Lighting is essential to this. Had you lit those birds from October on you'd likely have had eggs by now and would be able to be hatching chicks in February, breaking this whole late/wait cycle. But I got way ahead of myself, sorry.

 

[Yard full o' rocks]

We were hoping to have some goals to work toward, but that would require eggs first. So, I have a couple of questions for some experienced breeders.

According to the fella we got the WR's from, they were hatched in April and May, but we still have no eggs. We're going on 9-10 months with no eggs, and from a functional perspective, shouldn't they start at 6-7 months. So, there are a few things I do know to improve their function. We need to find the earliest layers and breed from them without losing type, feathering, etc. They look great(to us). If we're at 10 months now, maybe 11-12 later, and need a month or 2 for the eggs to stabilize, we'll be breeding in the heat of the summer, and push breeding back by about 2 months every year until they improve, how do we work with that without breeding every other year?

So we're curious, WWFD? WWSD? What Would Fred/Scott Do? Others? We're open to suggestions.

We have 4 pairs that we're going to start a 4 pen rotational breeding program with. This is our only breed, and we're planning to hatch about 50-100 chicks this year , and get rolling to 200-300 chicks next year. BTW, I need some help picking mates this season, so pics will come soon.

Thanks all,
colburg

I see Fred beat me to it this morning.....was a bit lazy and didn't get up until 730

I think Fred addressed everything I would have said.

True Exhibition Type birds take forever to mature, mine take a full 7 months. You are fighting the sexual maturity issue as well as reduced light (although it is getting better)....not a good combination for getting eggs. So, let us know about whether you have lights on them and if so, for how long

Will try to help as best we can

 

[Yard full o' rocks]

Quote:
Fred, blurry photography or not, we can see what you were looking at!! NICE

Great photos? Pictures without any comments/content/questions? Those are great for a "photo gallery thread"....but here!!??, I wanna hear about the BIRDS. It sounds like you have some major plans for this year. Can't wait to see the next generation of those barreds! If they carry on the traits of the F1s you've shown, they are gonna be something to behold