The Plymouth Rock Breeders thread

[Fred's Hens]

Bob Blosl would repeat his favorite stories so many times, one came to believe in them, even if they were fables. In the end, it didn't matter. Here's a short version of Bob's story of compensatory mating by E. B. Thompson, the master himself.
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This is what Mr. E B Thompson use to do write down all the good points and the poor points then go out in the chicken yard and look for a female that could compensate for his faults. If he found one he would put her next to the male in his conditioning house and go out and look for another one. If he did not find one he said the matting was complete and would move on to the next male. He had as many as 50 mat tings per year when he was breeding in the old days of 1910 to 1920.

 

[Silver Rock]

Hi all I want to share some of the things that was noticed in the selective breeding setup of my Silver Penciled Plymouth Rock breeding pens. The information below is what I have noticed in the SPR that I have received from Dick Horstman & Danny Padgett. In my opinion they are very close to being equal as both lines have their good points and their bad points.

I will start with the Dick Horstman line.
The "GOOD' in this line is the cockerel is of a very nice size being a little over the Standard weight. The pullets are egg laying machines and they show very little to no feather stubs on their legs.
The "BAD" in this line is the pullets are the smaller of the two lines I have. The pullets also show a brownish base color tint and more cushion than the other line I have.



Now for the Danny Padgett line.
The "GOOD" in this line is they are the larger of the two lines I have and showing much less to no cushion. This line is also lighter in color with the pullets coming much closer to what the Standard calls for.
The "BAD" in this line is they show more feather stubs on their legs "the birds I have from this line being 1/4 Dark Brahma has very much help beef up the size but also brought along a slight feather stub problem".

This is just what I have noticed in the two lines I have and like I said before in my opinion they are close to being equal in quality and I do think a selective bred Horstman/Padgett cross between the two lines will greatly help me move forward in my breeding of the Silver Penciled Plymouth Rocks.

Clayton Grace

 

[desertmarcy]

Those folks who shop at Family Farm and Home chain of stores, in the upper midwest, take a look at the Turkey/Game Bird feeds they sell. Pork is the 3rd ingredient. Animal protein products are getting harder and harder to find, but Family Farm still stocks these Armada brand specialty feeds.

Armada's standard chick starter and Layer formulas are vegetarian, sadly.

Feeding organic, it is particularly impossible out here in the west to find animal protein in the feed. There is one company that adds fish meal. But if you read about ethoxyquin, used to preserve fishmeal, it doesn't sound like a good additive. My feed supplier recently started offering a 28% turkey starter. And it is all vegetarian, like all the rest of their feeds. *sigh*

 

[smarsh]

sorry to bother, but what are "cushions"

 

[Silver Rock]

sorry to bother, but what are "cushions"

A Cushion is a profuse mass of feathers over the back and base of the tail of a fowl giving a rounded effect; very pronounced in Cochin females in which it is a breed requirement, a defect in most other breeds. A problem in the Silver Penciled Plymouth Rock females.

 

[Fred's Hens]

Cushion is too loose of feathering on the back of bird, especially noticeable in the female. This loose, tufted looking feathering is located just before the tail and is call a cushion. It looks a bit like a fluffy mattress of feathers in front of the tail.

These two females, one a pullet and one a hen are example of a touch of cushions. Believe me, not as bad as some appear but this is as bad as I can take. Once in a while, you see some really horrid examples. To be truthful, I cannot even keep a badly cushioned female in the layer pen. Ack!!!

 

[Fred's Hens]

Scott, sober cushioning DOES appear in the Rocks because of the ancestry of the breed and the breed's varieties. When it shows and it will show up, do not put it in the breeding pen.

I honestly think all of us Rock breeders need to tighten up our feathering. Just my point of view. It's easy to let them go fluffy, tufted and wispy. Ack.

 

[Fred's Hens]

Had a friend send me some photos of his White Rocks again. Just thought I'd share them. He's just tormenting me, but I allow it.

 

[Beekissed]

Just lovely...simply lovely! Lovely teaser pics there, Fred!

You know, I was out there looking at mine today and the one that I love the most and has the widest tail, largest size, and best feathering, is the one with cushion...a good bit. The other one looks more like the bird in this pic, which is the one that I've not liked as much....but am starting to re-evaluate. I was really giving her the eye today. Both are lovely as all get out, but bird #2 doesn't have that excess of cushion at all. I'll try to get more recent pics soon.

I love it when you make me think and help me learn!

 

[Fred's Hens]

Well Bee, this is a BREEDERS thread, ya know.

We gotta get you a male for those lovelies.

Put a long back male of them. A long backed male has the potential to compensate for that one pullet's cushion issue, which is typically exacerbated by being short backed. Find a tight feathered male too, while you're at it. hahaha. Then, breed them both. They've got good DNA. Just pull it out of them!! Not saying that if you put 30 chicks on the ground that every last one would be great, but you'd very likely have a little group of 4 or 5 that would be lights out.