The Plymouth Rock Breeders thread

[Wynette]

I've been using (and am happy with it thus far) gameFISH pellets to increase protein. They are animal protein-based, 32%. I do have some pens that are fussy about it & will pick it out of their feed (I feel a pelled layer/breeder pellet that's 22%), so for those pens, I put the fish pellets right into their water (it floats...for awhile). That attracts the chickens & they peck it right out of the water.

 

[DMRippy]

Quote:
The feed I have seen other than tuckers says ANIMAL BY PRODUCTS that could include chicken and I don't want to feed chicken to my chickens.... just me. I love the pork based feed and the chickens do GREAT on it.

 

[Ripster]

I have bought that from Amish stores for cheap too for canning. I take it everyday in a pill. GREAT STUFF. I think it has kept my seasonal eczema at bay this year.

I might try that will the birds that should have yellow legs. I know it will stain your clothes, and floor.... I spilled some bread and butter pickle mix on the floor.... it is still there. LOL How much would you use? I would think you could mix it in the water too but it will stain the water container.

I would just sprinkle some of the top of their feed. It doesn't take much and you're right it will STAIN. I would start off fairly light with it and if you don't get the results you're looking for add a little more until you do. Too much of that stuff and you could wind up with orange legs.

 

[tigercreek]

Stan,

If there is an FRM feed dealer in your area I think their Game Bird feeds have animal protein in them if I'm remembering correctly.

Ripster

found a Flint River dealer within 17 miles. That is as close as anything... lol... Was not able to find the ingredients of their feed, just the analysis. I'll give the game bird a try and get the bag tag... thanks.....stan

 

[Yard full o' rocks]

Since this is a breeder/breeding related thread, with breeding season upon us and in hopes of providing some useful breeding tips.....to new and old alike.

One area I have seen that routinely plagues many a flock of Plymouth Rocks is a "rainy day back" or a back that slopes downward from neck to tail. The standard calls for a back that is long, broad (or wide) and flat, sweeping slightly upward at the tail (not word for word)....and it is the same in females and males. Backs account for the largest % of points (in type categories) in the Scale of Points, thus indicating an importance/significance to the overall appearance and function of the bird.

With the permission of the owners, here are a few pictures illustrating a "rainy day back". These birds are not Rocks so as not to pick on anyone unnecessarily. However, they do illustrate well what we want to avoid in our birds

In MY yard, if I experience this fault, they are immediately culled. I have the benefit of having many birds to select from each yr but that may not be an alternative for everyone. If you are just starting out, have limited few birds and are forced to use a rainy day back...."can it be fixed"? SURE

Compensatory matings (or corrective mating as some call it) will get you on your way. Single matings would be best in my opinion so you can identify the pairs providing improvements, or for identifying pairs who continue/make worse the fault.

There are varying schools of thought, but basically your plan would be to use a bird with a faulty back and mate it to a bird that has a "proper" back. The result should be an improvement in the fault (although it may take several generations to completely remove it). Some theories say you can mate "extremes". In other words, mate a rainy day backed bird to one that is overly upwardly curved. Sometimes this works, sometimes it doesn't.

At any rate, if you can avoid using a bird with a poor back, you are better off to do so....remember the back carries the highest point value and obviously there is a reason. If you are forced to use one, try to use a method whereby you can identify the resulting offspring BY parental pairs. Keeping those that are improved, culling those that are not. Also, in my opinion, once you get an improvement going, stay the course with that lineage. Mate improved offspring back to their sire or dam and keep the improvement going until you have it fixed.

Hope that helps and have a great breeding season!

 

[uphilljill]

Very helpful illustration and observations. Thank you!

 

[Fred's Hens]

You'll likely hear old timers say things like, "need to pull that tail up" or "need to put a tail on those" or other expressions. What are they saying? Does it just happen? No.

Where is the correction going to come from? Mid air? No. You have to take compensatory action. Here's where "go small" comes into play as well. Let's say I had a really nice pullet who had great features I want/need, but dang it, she's rainy day.

Let's use this pullet, by way of example. She's an F1 that didn't make the breeding pen, but she'll lay eggs in the barn for the table.



Let's say she's all I had, or she's was so fantastic in every other way? (the bird above isn't fantastic in every other way, she's just being the model here) What could you do?

Well, for starters, I be looking for a K with a back line that was a bit exaggerated, like this fellow's perhaps.



I'd single mate them and give them a short run. Once I had 16-20 eggs or so in the incubator from this mating, I'd move on. I wouldn't make it my life's work. Go small means a quick, small run at the issue. Keep tight records. Going small makes record keeping easier.

If I have other birds to focus on? I'd be much better off just getting on with "going down the middle". Focus on the good birds and just go down the middle. My only little voice here is just to say, don't get all fixated with compensatory breeding to the neglect of your solid birds we should be focusing on. But there are some occasions where compensatory breeding is just the right thing to try. Hope that is simple enough to be helpful.

 

[Yard full o' rocks]

You'll likely hear old timers say things like, "need to pull that tail up" or "need to put a tail on those" or other expressions. What are they saying? Does it just happen? No.

Where is the correction going to come from? Mid air? No. You have to take compensatory action. Here's where "go small" comes into play as well. Let's say I had a really nice pullet who had great features I want/need, but dang it, she's rainy day.

Let's use this pullet, by way of example. She's an F1 that didn't make the breeding pen, but she'll lay eggs in the barn for the table.



Let's say she's all I had, or she's was so fantastic in every other way? (the bird above isn't fantastic in every other way, she's just being the model here) What could you do?

Well, for starters, I be looking for a K with a back line that was a bit exaggerated, like this fellow's perhaps.



I'd single mate them and give them a short run. Once I had 16-20 eggs or so in the incubator from this mating, I'd move on. I wouldn't make it my life's work. Go small means a quick, small run at the issue. Keep tight records. Going small makes record keeping easier.

If I have other birds to focus on? I'd be much better off just getting on with "going down the middle". Focus on the good birds and just go down the middle. My only little voice here is just to say, don't get all fixated with compensatory breeding to the neglect of your solid birds we should be focusing on. But there are some occasions where compensatory breeding is just the right thing to try. Hope that is simple enough to be helpful.

Fred

Glad you showed this girl we were talking about.....shows a GREAT illustration using ROCKS as examples here instead of the generic pictures I used.

 

[normanack]

I'd love to hear the mechanics of all your hatch schedules. I.e. do you collect eggs weekly and incubate them, or add them to the incubator daily, or some other schedule -- and does it make a difference how many hens and eggs you have to work with? (Would you do it differently if you had two hens vs. twelve?)

If you hatch in succession, how do you deal with the difference in age of each batch of chicks? Does each batch get a separate brooder space? Or do you mix ages?

How many chicks do you keep over the summer/into the fall/into the winter/till the next spring?

Thanks for your tolerance of a newbie with too many questions.

p.s. If you have a broody hen when you're setting eggs, do you give some to her? Do you ever give new chicks to a broody hen?

Edited to add: Do you ever separate the girls from the boys? If so, at what age? Thanks again.

 

[Yard full o' rocks]

I'd love to hear the mechanics of all your hatch schedules. I.e. do you collect eggs weekly and incubate them, or add them to the incubator daily, or some other schedule -- and does it make a difference how many hens and eggs you have to work with? (Would you do it differently if you had two hens vs. twelve?)

If you hatch in succession, how do you deal with the difference in age of each batch of chicks? Does each batch get a separate brooder space? Or do you mix ages?

How many chicks do you keep over the summer/into the fall/into the winter/till the next spring?

Thanks for your tolerance of a newbie with too many questions.

p.s. If you have a broody hen when you're setting eggs, do you give some to her? Do you ever give new chicks to a broody hen?

Edited to add: Do you ever separate the girls from the boys? If so, at what age? Thanks again.

Ok, I'll take a stab at it...

I collect eggs for a week and set eggs every Saturday (that way eggs always hatch on the weekends!)

I will mix hatched chicks up to 3 weeks of age difference in the initial brooder (I have 2 brooders). After age 3 weeks, they move to the larger brooder. They stay in there until they are about 6-7 weeks old. At that time, I put them into a grow out pen, with a nominal heat source close to the grown birds.

# of chicks/youngsters I carry thru to Fall totally depends on what I am trying to accomplish. By fall (my hatching is DONE by mid-March) I am down to my best 6-8 pullets and best 4-5 cockerels normally.

I will give a "proven broody" eggs I've collected if she shows definite signs....none proven girls may get a few "test eggs" to see how they do and yes, I have given new chicks to a broody....normally at night I'll slide them under her

Separating boys/ girls is IMPORTANT....I do it as soon as I can tell the difference between them. Otherwise, the girls will be pushed around to get food