The Plymouth Rock Breeders thread

[Fred's Hens]

Next year will have it's own challenges. We'll deal with it when it gets here. Usually, if winter behaves itself, we can have 30 chicks in late February and on thru March. That's plenty good.

I will hatch from pullets, but not their first dozen eggs. If I understand your concern, and it is a valid one, that this year's crop of youngsters will be delayed, because of their later hatch date, in reaching maturity. I still expect all of these March and April pullets to enter lay before the Times Square New Year's celebration. We've pushed hard on that. So, by the end of February next year, they'll be old enough to use in breeding pens. I always like to start my pens with known good hens though. Even three year old hens. Those older gals show what you're birds are really made of.

I hatched some spectacular pullets last September, on Labor Day. They're entering lay now. I will single mate them next month and hatch early May chicks. Even May hatched chicks should be able to join a March 2015 breeding pen.

Your point is well taken. You've got to think this stuff through, projecting out when a chick you hatch today will be maturing and how that fits your future plans.

edit to correct year to 2015 LOL

 

[Yard full o' rocks]

Fred

The crazy winter weather has messed us up even in the deep south. Last yr I was FINISHED hatching by mid-Feb. I'm currently still at it, with another due this Saturday and 1 more the following. I still have one girl, the one with the absolute BEST coloring of any I have ever raised, picture perfect lacing, hackle and saddle color like I need on my males. She has not laid since late Fall. Still had the same lights on her the rest have had, but she simply won't lay. She's in good shape, no bugs, same diet as the rest, great comb color.....but NADA

I'm holding on to her until Easter (she's been given a Lenten reprieve)...but if she doesn't lay by then, she's done. As Bob used to tell me, don't breed from a poor layer as you'll get more poor layers. As badly as I want to use her, I refuse to perpetuate that problem. If she doesn't start soon, then I guess I'll be done next Saturday.

I have about 50-60 hatched so far, all single mated, so there are plenty to work from. It's amazing with single mated pens how different groups of chicks with different dams, but the same sire, can look....some are night and day different

I'm in Richmond, Va today and the weather here is FAR better than Tues/Wed....Atlanta is calling for almost 70 tomorrow. Praise glory I see a light at the end of the tunnel (.....or is that a train??

)

 

[Fred's Hens]

Well, all year long, Vickie Dawson ( @thedragonlady ) down in South Carolina, has said she predicted a late, late start for her program and she surrendered to it way back at Christmas time. Vickie is one sharp gal and I listen to what she has to say and I did likewise. This winter had this "feel" about it all along. Fertility has been inconsistent and way, way down across the board and across the various breed; Orpintons, Marans, etc. We Rock heads aren't alone.

Now that the weather is breaking, the cockbirds are feeling better, we just gotta make hay while the sun shines. Let's get it done.

 

[Silver Rock]

After being convinced that collecting eggs this Spring would be a far better move than waiting till Fall I set up a breeding pen yesterday evening that consist of the "Horstman" cockerel over the "Padgett" pullets. Below is a picture of the "Horstman" cockerel strutting a little just after placing the pullets into his pen. He is one very proud cockerel!

 

[Samuel Shirley]

Wow! I see grass in some of your guys pics wish I had that up here in WI our warmest day this week was 30 degrees and our lowest was like 5 degrees, snow piles still visible. Its really going to put me behind for my hatches. My hens are now just starting to lay enough now to even think of doing a hatch. Planning on setting up breeding pens this weekend and want to start saving by then end of the week weather permitting. I see sixties in the forecast but it's suppost to snow this coming Friday, really getting sick of this unpredictable Wi weather. Good hatching everyone.

 

[Fred's Hens]

Don't Lose Your Joy Of Working With These Birds.​

Been a lot of talk about feathering on some of the breed threads, other than our own here. Some of the chat is a lot about feathering and there are different view, different goals and different ideas. That's what makes this fancy so interesting and fascinating. It's just not a boring hobby.

Since I took on Reds a few years back, I've come to "see" feathering in a new light perhaps. In 50 years, I never owned a quality Red so much of this has been a steep learning curve and I've flat out listened to some mentors and I can't imagine all that I've learned and still have so much to learn. We never "arrive", we must always be learning. No one knows everything there is to know.

But for sure. I think I've grown enormously in my "eye" for feathering over the last few years and I have to thank the Reds, and the Don Nelson/NYREDS birds for that education and the mentors who've stretched me in a previously unfamiliar breed.

I have a little pullet who is just now coming of age. She's one of the finest barred females I've ever had the pleasure to handle. She's my secret weapon for the next two years of Barred plans, good Lord willing in granting me more days.

I've waited almost 5 years for the White Rocks of my dreams. There's eggs in the incubator now. The reason it took so long to get these Whites is that I simply wasn't gonna settle. I wanted the very best feathering I could get., It was worth the wait.

Barreds, Whites and Reds. I've completely become a quality feather addict. It's a horrid disease. If you don't want to contract this horrid virus, I'd beg you to never handle a Nelson Red or Blosl White Rock. It's very contagious.

Have a wonderful, quiet, and blessed weekend everyone. Enjoy your birds. Don't ever let it become just work or a bore. I pray when you feed them, or hold them or hatch them, you never lose the joy of this fancy.

 

[Lacy Blues]

So, Fred, is it diet or is it genetics? Or is it just selection over many many years of always selecting for feather quality/strength of feather?

 

[philyaw539]

Please judge my Barred Rock Bantam pair!

 

[philyaw539]

Here's another photo.

 

[Fred's Hens]

So, Fred, is it diet or is it genetics? Or is it just selection over many many years of always selecting for feather quality/strength of feather?

It begins with genetics. Can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear, of course. But then it is indeed diet. Fats, proteins and other food stuffs, things that "put a feather on them" as the old timers used to say. May sound kind of gross, but birds that can pick through piles of horse manure, picking seeds that have been through the horse and partially digested will put a feather on a bird. I'm not even sure why, but it works.

When we talk about "selecting" for breeding, we don't mention feather nearly enough. We get be-dazzled, obsessed, or concerned with other aspects that we overlook how important feathering is. We also need to keep breeders until they are two and three years old to better judge their feathering genetics as true, mature adults.

The Standard talks about a feather as a measure of the birds ability to hold up in weather and the protection the feather provides. Some birds (like a heritage line of Barred Rocks) can be out in rain and still look good while others (like hatchery stock of egg layers) look like drowned rats.