The Plymouth Rock Breeders thread

[Silver Rock]

Thank you Tom for the reply.
I greatly appreciate the breeding advice Scott, Fred & you have shared with me tonight.

 

[racertomtom]

Thank you Tom for the reply.

I greatly appreciate the breeding advice Scott, Fred & you have shared with me tonight.

You're welcome!
Don't be afraid to ask specific questions, you'll likely get specific answers to your questions. That's how I learned.

 

[Silver Rock]

You're welcome!
Don't be afraid to ask specific questions, you'll likely get specific answers to your questions. That's how I learned.

I do want to learn more about the breeding of the Plymouth Rocks. So from this point on I will definitely be more about asking questions and much less about just posting pictures of my birds.

 

[Silver Rock]

One of the things I would like to improve in my pullets is their tails. Compared to some of the Columbian, White & Barred my Silver Penciled pullets have a more narrow tail and not the wide tent shape that I would like to see. I am thinking the body width of the bird plays a big part in achieving a good tent shape tail but I would appreciate any advice on things I can look and breed for to improve the tails in my birds.

 

[aoxa]

Clayton,

I only had two hens I used for breeding, and hatched a whopping 7 chicks before giving up on breeding them this spring. They were young. I am wondering if that may have affected their fertility to start with.. but after getting clears and switching roosters, I did get 7 and they stopped laying. Little boogers... I needed the pen for others since they refused to give me any eggs. I'll try again in the fall once they are a year old. They are the biggest hens I own though.

 

[Silver Rock]

Clayton, 

I only had two hens I used for breeding, and hatched a whopping 7 chicks before giving up on breeding them this spring. They were young. I am wondering if that may have affected their fertility to start with.. but after getting clears and switching roosters, I did get 7 and they stopped laying. Little boogers... I needed the pen for others since they refused to give me any eggs. I'll try again in the fall once they are a year old. They are the biggest hens I own though.

Hi Aoxa, if I recall you posted pictures of them awhile back and they did look very nice. I look forward to see pictures of their offspring.

 

[aoxa]

Hi Aoxa, if I recall you posted pictures of them awhile back and they did look very nice. I look forward to see pictures of their offspring.

We sold all but two. I hope they turn out to be female and of good quality. I will be trying again when they are a full year old. Also, they would not lay their eggs in my nest boxes. Only in the litter, so a lot got soiled. Silly things.

 

[Yard full o' rocks]

Fred, do you have the plate that shows an overhead shot of rock females with varying tails?? I think you posted it before. It will help Clayton with his question

That picture should be engrained on every "rock heads" mind. Two areas I'm really funny about....I won't keep pullets who are narrow hipped ( thus I get decent width all the way back) and I will not keep a bird with a narrow skull/small head

 

[Fred's Hens]

I superimposed those lines, of course. They aren't in the original. I added them for teaching purposes. These same kind of plates are still used in the current book.

But it is likely Clayton's question is more toward finding solutions. I can only share what I did this year. I sifted through 40 cockerels, I think, in search of one with a huge, exaggerated huge rear end. Big Butt Bruce I called him. I've no idea whether my compensatory matings are going to "work", but one must do something. Try. See what's happens.

In the same way, I ran a test on some lower tail carriage Red male to put over some Red hens who carried their tales too high. Again, it's my way, my thought process at work that I'm sharing. I'm a believer in compensatory mating. Doesn't mean my ways ought to be your ways.

 

[racertomtom]

Width of back is the highest points total and one of the things that make a Plymouth Rock a Rock. Very obvious when viewed from the top. The teepee shaped tail when viewed from the rear is fairly high in points and comes from a combination of wide tail feathers and a wide back. I’d work on the back widths first and if the widest birds you have also have wide tail feathers then that’s a no brainer. I doubt you have any birds that are too wide in the back, like picture 4, but if so use them.