The Plymouth Rock Breeders thread

[Yard full o' rocks]

OH, and cushions. If you see those early? Chances a very good they get nothing but worse with maturity. Just my experience with my birds.

Anybody else?

Fred, I fought cushions in mine for a few seasons. If I saw it early, it always got worse, never better. In todays flock, if I see it, its sold off immediately as a layer in someone else's yard...I do still see it occasionally and I make note of what female/male pair is throwing it

 

[Beekissed]

Fred, what did you think of that pullet of Kathy's line? She looks much like the other one I have but with a slightly wider tail. Does she appear to have a little cushion going on? I notice they have more than on the hatchery WRs but one can't really compare them much to that.

They are around 5 mo. old in this pic.



And in this one...



Hen #1 at 7 mo. below.






Hen #2 same age below...

 

[philyaw539]

Quick Question!! ** If I take my Barred Rock bantam rooster and breed him over my standard Buff Orpington hen, what will I get? Breed name?

 

[Yard full o' rocks]

Quick Question!! ** If I take my Barred Rock bantam rooster and breed him over my standard Buff Orpington hen, what will I get? Breed name?

With all due respect....you will get a mutt

 

[BGMatt]

Quick Question!! ** If I take my Barred Rock bantam rooster and breed him over my standard Buff Orpington hen, what will I get? Breed name?

Junk. There is no "breed" name because it'd just be a crossbred mutt.

 

[mallege]

...This thread is dedicated to the Standard of Perfection, bred to that standard, Plymouth Rocks, all varieties. This is a great thread, but a brutally honest thread, designed for those who are dedicated to breeding the best Rocks possible and appreciating poultry shows as means by which the breeder's efforts can be judged and evaluated by peers...

I like the exchange of ideas between all of you. It is amazing all the things that a rank novice like me would not even think to look at. I am learning slowly, but I am working on it and enjoying this thread. One question novice question. I am curious if there is a functional reason not to have a rainy back or is it more because of a standard? Thanks in advance.

 

[Fred's Hens]

Bee, those White pullets are the XW White Rocks from Jeremy's breeding program. I like them very, very much. What's not to like? Are they perfect? No bird is. But…. What a joy it would be to put a really, really good, older cockerel or solid cockbird over them. My goodness. My mind swirls with the possibilities.

I'd love to put about 40-50 chicks on the ground out them. Pick through the results, narrow it down to 3 or 4 pullet finalists for next fall and put those back under their sire, if he was "all that". Then, I'd put the very best cockerel thrown back over that one female, who is the better of the two.

A good White male shouldn't be all that hard to locate.

Spring is still a month away, this year.

 

[Fred's Hens]

I like the exchange of ideas between all of you. It is amazing all the things that a rank novice like me would not even think to look at. I am learning slowly, but I am working on it and enjoying this thread. One question novice question. I am curious if there is a functional reason not to have a rainy back or is it more because of a standard? Thanks in advance.

The Rock has a standard for a purpose. Not all "dual purpose" birds have the same standard. The Rock standard calls for a specific top line, head, tail etc because it is this composite that makes them a Rock. If I wanted a Wyandotte, or other breed, I'd keep them instead. I want a Rock. I'm a Rock head.

The rainy day line defeats the purpose of the bird and the intents of it's creators. The Rock needs to have a gravy bowl shape. This is a meat bird that lays eggs. Not an egg layer that barely produces any meat. To accomplish the breed's purpose, the type is essential. That wide tail and beautiful backline isn't just art, although I find it extremely artful and pleasing to my eye, it forms the very nature of the bird.



Forget, if you can, the pattern. Look at this bird. These are rock females. This engraving is 100 years old. I have birds in my pens who look exactly, precisely after these bird's image. This is a Rock female.

 

[Beekissed]

Bee, those White pullets are the XW White Rocks from Jeremy's breeding program. I like them very, very much. What's not to like? Are they perfect? No bird is. But…. What a joy it would be to put a really, really good, older cockerel or solid cockbird over them. My goodness. My mind swirls with the possibilities.

I'd love to put about 40-50 chicks on the ground out them. Pick through the results, narrow it down to 3 or 4 pullet finalists for next fall and put those back under their sire, if he was "all that". Then, I'd put the very best cockerel thrown back over that one female, who is the better of the two.

A good White male shouldn't be all that hard to locate.

Spring is still a month away, this year.

I like them very, very much too. If that is a bit of cushion, I don't care too much and I really love how these birds move, look, act, feed and lay...I think they are an excellent start. They did lay late but they are making up for it on large, well proportioned eggs and only time will tell about their rate of lay. I would love to have a good cockbird to put over them and see what pops out.

Those pullets had been living on almost 100% foraged foods all summer and fall and they were maintaining that good of body condition and growth on it. They actually prefer the forage over the grain feeds and I love that in a bird...they were the last to the feeder when I could get them to come in at all. Excellent health, growth and the width of their "tents" I've never seen on any bird til now.

I'm in love...

 

[DMRippy]

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?) I hatch WEEKLY. I used to hatch every 3 days and that drove me CRAZY.

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? I put 2 hatches in the same brooder usually.

How many chicks do you keep over the summer/into the fall/into the winter/till the next spring? I hatch year round.... I do slow way down in the fall

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? I only did a brood thing once and was not great so I don't use broodies. I wish I could... my electric bill would be lower LOL

Edited to add: Do you ever separate the girls from the boys? If so, at what age? Thanks again. I have a roo guy that can take day old and if they are sex links they go to him if I don't need them. Then I weed through the roos every time he comes out and cull the ones I don't need new roos in. I also have another roo guy that takes the older roos that I was growing out to replace or to have spares but when they don't make the cut they go to him.