The Plymouth Rock Breeders thread

[SilverRockFarm]

The mahogany stripe is likely the result of the failed outcrossing to partridge

Scott... The chestnut strip down the center of the back of the Silver Penciled varieties is from the eb "brown" gene that all the Silver Penciled varieties carry in them.

 

[SilverRockFarm]

Scott, I do believe Silver Penciled chicks that show no gray in body color down but have body color down that is only brown to have a recent outcross to the Partridge variety.

 

[chicken pickin]

Wait til this coming week.

For those in the North to North East, check your 10 Day forecast. It is to weep.

There will be no setting here until early March for a late March hatch day. Ain't gonna happen.

SOOOOO much snow.... We have gotten what looks like about 3ft already and areas that have drifts seem like more. We are expected to get another 12-16 inches tomorrow and through Monday. I have to get up on the coops to shovel tomorrow morn before the next snow hits.

I have no plans to set anything until mid march at the earliest.

 

[uphilljill]

I think I saw -22 in the forecast, but I'm still in denial. Lol

I am getting eggs (some even before they freeze) and probably *could* set a few, but am limited in places to brood chicks this time of year and don't really like keeping them in the basement longer than 4 weeks. Nope. We'll wait and give the gals a chance to ramp up production and egg size and aim for March/April chicks as well. Winter can't last forever, right?

 

[Fred's Hens]

Jill, I've brooded in the worst of winter before. Never again. The cost per chick is through the roof. My more southern partners can do this sort of thing, so, more power to them.

I've also decided that −20 to −30, which we shall have a couple of times this coming week, is simply too brutal for man and beast. The cockbirds have no interest (who can blame them), I'm fighting frozen water even with heating devices, the eggs turn into eggsicles in no time, and what laying there'll be won't provide decent quality nor fertility. I need chicks, but not that bad.

I can hatch and will hatch 80+ chicks in March and April. I've doubled my incubation and hatching capability. That's just fine. I do not need January or February chicks, not under these conditions. No sir, No ma'am. Others can do whatever floats their little boat.

It's mostly a free country.


.

 

[Yard full o' rocks]

They call this "global warming ", right??!!

 

[SilverRockFarm]

With the help from a broody pullet I have 2 more Silver Penciled Plymouth Rock chicks to add to my hatch count.
These 2 chicks are a nice example of being able to tell the sex of the chicks at hatch "lighter down colored male chick on left / darker down colored female chick on right".

 

[rancher hicks]

I don't have time to follow so many threads but have a question concerning my C. Rocks.

I've got them in a coop with three EE's and the EE's are laying fine. The C. Rocks however are not. At all. I did get these girls as chicks in the summer as chicks. What could be the problem?

 

[Yard full o' rocks]

Here are a few pix of a male, just turned to a C this week. Tail finally looking decent. He is the main breeding cock this yr

 

[Happy Chooks]

He looks lovely Scott. He appears very tall too, but that could just be the picture.