The Plymouth Rock Breeders thread

[Fred's Hens]

This female is a 75 bird my grandson showed at the Knoxville National last December. She's perhaps one of the very best personality birds ever. The boy insists I breed her next year and I'm in agreement. She's moulting right now and I'm looking forward to see what she looks like as a hen this winter.

My hope is to take a male from Jilll's cross of our line, a 75 female she put under that Guy Roy cockbird. I'll use the best male from this batch of 17 that I keep for that purpose, breeding him over this hen in spring. Really hope to put a head on her, while keeping her superb type and feather. That's the hope anyhow, looking way forward.

 

[chicken pickin]

Jill, I know you bred a few pure Guy Roy chicks and I suspect the barring will quite tight and crisp on those, no? Didn't you also share a few of the pure Roy chicks with CP?

I hatched 21 chicks total. 19 are from the crossed lines, of those I have 12 females and 7 males. In the same hatch I also ended up with 2 pure Guy Roy cockerels. The Roy cockerels have been banded since hatch so I don't loose track, they appear lighter in color.

 

[uphilljill]

That's a nice looking hen, fred.

I have 3 100% R cockerels + plus the original cock. The nicest of these will go over the crossed pullets next season. I also have a 100% R hen and a pullet. Will put a cross cockerel over them next year. And the Fred-based hens will be paired with the sharpest barred cross cockerel (son). At least that's the plan today... Lol

 

[BroodyMama2]

Hello! I am raising my first flock. Layers only. MIxed flock. Have one barred rock and I love her. She's very sweet, confident and fun and it appears she will be the first to lay. I have a question. I got her from Meyer, and I was surprised to see that she has developed a bit of green iridescence here and there on some of her black bits when in the sun. Is this just a sign of poor breeding or is that a common trait?

 

[Fred's Hens]

Hello! I am raising my first flock. Layers only. MIxed flock. Have one barred rock and I love her. She's very sweet, confident and fun and it appears she will be the first to lay. I have a question. I got her from Meyer, and I was surprised to see that she has developed a bit of green iridescence here and there on some of her black bits when in the sun. Is this just a sign of poor breeding or is that a common trait?

This section is for pure bred, or Standard bred birds. That's also what this thread focuses on. Breeding birds to the APA Standard for the breed and breeding requires keeping cockbirds of course.

That said, hatchery grade birds are not. They're bred to "represent" the breed and that is all. Hatcheries fulfill a need. They breed thousands and thousands of birds producing nearly a half million chicks a year at a Meyers, for example. These chicks get shipped direct and also re-sold through hundreds of feedstore outlets.

The irridescence you see is typical and not merely an indication of hatchery stock. There may be a preponderance of it in such birds but the biggest difference between standard bred birds and hatchery stock isn't merely such a minor flaw, but the over all breeding of the birds in lack of type, lack of open tails, lack of size, proper breast development, lack of proper combs and heads, etc, etc. It goes on and on.

A hatchery stock Barred Rock is a GREAT place to learn husbandry and care for chickens. Once you're ready to move on the real thing? Just let any of us know. We'll point you in the right direction. Meanwhile, join the ABA or ABA and hang out on various Plymouth Rock Fancier pages, discussion groups and other internet social networking sites. There are many, many great breeders of Plymouth Rocks, with some varieties being much more commonly available and with some varieites in much better shape than others. Welcome to the thread.

 

[BroodyMama2]

Ah ok. Sorry to intrude. I figured you folks would be the perfect ones to ask that question of. It's probably a more complicated answer than I imagined. Thanks anyway. I'm sure I'll stumble on all the whys and hows of my nagging question sooner or later along my learning journey. It's been a fun adventure so far. My current girls perfectly serve the purpose I have for them for now. - Learning everything I can about them, learning how to raise them WELL and securing quality food for my family. Not to mention the joy of interacting with these awesome animals. I have a dream though. To raise and preserve outstanding heritage breeds. I did years of research before buying my first birds. i am well aware there are huge differences between those you find at hatcheries and those you get from a dedicated small operation breeder with all the right ethics. That day will come for me.- I will be in my Country house in a couple years and the dream will be in another exciting stage. For now, I'm faithfully doing the groundwork. I have no doubt that I'll be glad I did & so will my birds. We all have to start somewhere.

Congratulations on your beautiful birds! They are awesome. I have no doubt it took lots of work, know-how and dedication to bring them as far as they are currently! You are to be commended, for sure.

Blessings to all in the thread!

 

[uphilljill]

I think your question about iridescence was answered. When you have time you should go back and read through this whole thread. There's a wealth of info about the Plymouth Rocks in these pages. It sounds like your Barred is doing her best to win you over to the breed.

 

[uphilljill]

Here is the Mother of Dragons, my original 50/50 hen from Fred, now 2.5 years old and going strong. (She's still finishing up a molt.)

 

[Fred's Hens]

Here is the Mother of Dragons, my original 50/50 hen from Fred, now 2.5 years old and going strong. (She's still finishing up a molt.)

She's an amazing old gal, isn't she? Look at her back line and heart girth!!!! Thanks for the smile this brought to me tonight. Thanks for sharing Jill.

You can see the 50/50 birds, which were a cross I did between a GS bird and a Maine line bird. The Maine line having just undergone a cross themselves to the White Rock to gain size and type. These 50/50 birds were a project generation. Upon them, we built the 75 bird by taking them back under a GS male.

What Jill has done, with my 100% support and encouragement, was to take them under a Guy Roy male. This was to tighten the feathering, if possible but mostly to clean up the barring which gets blurred whenever you introduce the White Rock in your program. This is a very, very common outcross and it takes roughly 3-4 generations to find your way back home. In my opinion, outcrossing to a White Rock is not really an outcross at all because the White Rock is most often merely a Barred Rock with the barring smothered under White anyhow. The White Rock was originally a sport off the Barred, with the Barreds being the original Rock, of course.

It isn't surprising to see the occasional streak of black, even weak black barring, on the feather of our White Rocks from time to time, here and there. It is extremely rare to find a White Rock without at least two or three stray black streaked feathers or tick peppering.

 

[BroodyMama2]

You're probably right Jill, and I'm just not knowledgeable enough to have discerned it. I saw that he mentioned it being "typical of the breed", but then it was followed by info about differences btwn hatchery stock vs other stock, and he called the green a "minor flaw" so... I am still confused as to whether it's a breeding defect/undesireable trait or something all Barreds will have regardless of breeding, or what. If I knew more about the topic and the lingo etc, I probably would've had an easier time understanding. But that's ok. I'm sure I'll figure it all out at some point when I learn more about breed standards etc.
-- Oh- there are posts here that aren't about breeding? Excellent. I will check it out. I'm sure I'll learn a lot about the breed. Thanks for letting me know.
-- Yes, she definitely made me love barred rocks. She's super cool.

Thanks, and once again, sorry for hijacking the wrong thread. Take care.