The Plymouth Rock Breeders thread

[Fred's Hens]

Please judge my Barred Rock Bantam pair!

It is very hard to judge a bird through photos, as you know, but your birds look very, very nice to me. I'll bet you're very proud of them. The Standard calls for a level or horizontal wing carriage and most bantams, to my eyes, really struggle with this. Many have that Serama look to the wing carriage. The barring is very good, although your female is showing a lot of black feathers. How old are they?

 

[uphilljill]

First BR of the season is hatching!

 

[Yard full o' rocks]

Fred (and all)

Bob was always a proponent of "the fastest feathering birds" and as you know based on the WR eggs in your bator, he had some of the finest feathered WRs ever.

I have one breeding pen this year that is throwing chicks that feather significantly faster than the other 3....It will be interesting to see in a few months if the QUALITY of feather is any better in that line than the others. It's truly amazing over the course of yrs as you said, to be able to pick out certain details that you may have never looked at before. This hobby is one that provides an opportunity to continuous learning and certainly for experimentation

Would love to see a recent pix of that Aug hatched pullet too when you get time.....she's a dandy!!

 

[Yard full o' rocks]

First BR of the season is hatching!

GOOD DEAL!!

What is the blonde chick in the background??

 

[uphilljill]

Blondie is a Salmon Faverolles.

 

[Fred's Hens]

I hope I remember Bob's story correctly, but as a boy in Washington State, he fell in love with a certain White Rock strain a fellow had and he never forget them. Wind the clock forward some 25 years and Bob went searching for that line. It wasn't an easy strain to find and he wasn't 100% sure they were still being bred or who might even have them. Seems like Jim Volk's name sticks in my dusty mind, but don't hold me to that. I re-tell this story because there are lots of quality White Rocks out there but clearly Bob's search for specific line to use as the foundation of his own line shows that he knew they had the "right feather" genetics. It's got to come from somewhere.

Some of you have heard me say that as a boy I did all the chicken chores, which meant caring for and killing some 250 Leghorn for my mom's kitchen. A large family needed alot of chicken. (Leghorns were different back then, much larger) and 50-75 White Rocks for larger meat birds and a few choice pullets saved for winter over layers. I was choosing those layers who got spared the hatchet when I was 9 years old. That was the late 1950's and early 1960's.




This is the only photo I still have from that era. There were many more, but too many years have passed. Those Leghorns made dandy fryers.

Now that I'm retired, I've waited 5 years to get the kind of birds I had back then, stay white Rocks from Halbach. I didn't want just any old White Rock. Most people dodge the White birds because they say they aren't attractive or fancy enough for them. All that tells me is they've never seen or handled a Halbach White, nor seen a flock of them out on green pasture in the early morning as the sun is just coming up.

 

[philyaw539]

It is very hard to judge a bird through photos, as you know, but your birds look very, very nice to me. I'll bet you're very proud of them. The Standard calls for a level or horizontal wing carriage and most bantams, to my eyes, really struggle with this.  Many have that Serama look to the wing carriage.  The barring is very good, although your female is showing a lot of black feathers.  How old are they?

Thank you and I am very proud of them! The rooster is 3-4 years old and the hen is 1 year old.

 

[Fred's Hens]

Thank you and I am very proud of them! The rooster is 3-4 years old and the hen is 1 year old.

We've found that many times, the hens will moult back without those black feathers.

They are very pretty. Obviously, you are breeding them? Do you have more females to put under that male?

 

[Yard full o' rocks]

I hope I remember Bob's story correctly, but as a boy in Washington State, he fell in love with a certain White Rock strain a fellow had and he never forget them. Wind the clock forward some 25 years and Bob went searching for that line. It wasn't an easy strain to find and he wasn't 100% sure they were still being bred or who might even have them. Seems like Jim Volk's name sticks in my dusty mind, but don't hold me to that. I re-tell this story because there are lots of quality White Rocks out there but clearly Bob's search for specific line to use as the foundation of his own line shows that he knew they had the "right feather" genetics. It's got to come from somewhere.

Fred

You are exactly right about Jim Volk. Prior to Bob's passing, he put Jim Volk in touch with me and I sent some Col Rock eggs out to him. I've spoken to him a few times and he is STILL raising that line of WRs out west. According to Walt, he has one of the best lines of WRs he's seen on the west coast. I have Jim's contact info if you ever need it. Phone only as he doesn't do computers, LOL

 

[philyaw539]

We've found that many times, the hens will moult back without those black feathers.  

They are very pretty.  Obviously, you are breeding them?   Do you have more females to put under that male?

Yes I am breeding them, and I am trying to find some more young hens to add.