Let me explain the title "Omega Rocks". Over 20 years ago, we got our first Barred Plymouth Rocks from a feed store who stocked from Ideal Poultry. We loved their laying ability, their personalities, their camouflage in the oak leaves. Later, every single hen except for one died of reproductive malfunctions. We have some of their progeny, of course, all very much hatchery quality. Then, in 2011, William Bennett, Pine Grove on BYC, got a breeding rooster shipped from the very revered Marvin Stukel in Arizona. We had been talking about me getting some better stock and since he was an NPIP tester for the state of GA, he put the new male through a battery of tests before putting him with the hens and in June, a new batch of those BRs hatched in my incubator. They were stupendous. The late Robert Blosl said the breeding cockerel was the best he'd seen in a decade but through a series of circumstance, he was no longer with us. On Bob's advice, I began to breed back up using my excellent quality Delaware rooster over the Stukel hens, allowed a broody original Stukel hen to brood and got Atlas (The Evolution of Atlas thread) who passed about a year ago at the age of 9. It was found that Atlas carried a thyrogenous dwarf gene that was hidden in the Delaware line so I could not continue with him. Thyrogenous dwarfs do not live to maturity, sadly. I have an article here about that.
In 2016, a very wonderful friend on BYC who followed the Atlas thread, @1muttsfan, sent me a set of hatching eggs out of the blue, from NY breeder Jill Burk, knowing I had hit a brick wall with my BR breeding program. The end result was a very precocious cockerel full of himself along with a few girls. i was not in a position to do much hatching at that time, though we did get two pullets from Hector and his hen, Jill we named Maddie and Jane. Jane died unexpectedly at the age of two after her first hard molt and Hector passed away of old age in Sept. 2022 so again, a dead end. (Hector's thread is "Hector's World")
Now Atlas's daughters are near the end of their lives, nine years old, no rooster for them and Jill and her daughter, Maddie, are also up in years, don't lay much now anyway.
I had finally decided that my husband's physical disabilities and both of our ages have necessitated a paring down of my ambitions. I asked him of all the breeds we had raised, both great breeder stock and some hatchery birds, which breed would he want to keep if we could only keep one. He didn't hesitate. It was the Barred Plymouth Rock because of personality, laying prowess and beauty. So, I set out last Fall to find another breeder of great Rocks. Couldn't get in touch with William so I went searching. I found Jamie Duckworth, a shining star in the Barred Plymouth Rock breed, super well-known for the quality of his birds. It wasn't cheap, but quality never is, is it? Last fall did not work out so we planned to get in touch in the Spring. In January, I touched base. He was doing fertility tests on his newer breeding groups in February prior to sending me my batch, and so we arrive at today.
Today I picked up a box of those coveted eggs from his stock at the post office. I am going to chronicle the hatch and the grow out of these birds on this thread. Barring unforeseen complications, these will be the start of the last Barred Rocks here on the homestead, a quality Rock that seemed appropriately named "Omega Rocks". I have a new incubator, the MatiCoopX 30 egg capacity and it is working like a charm. The eggs were packed with extreme care and Jamie was always communicating and very responsive. They were candled for cracks, though I couldn't see how there would be any with this packing job, same as I used to do when I was mailing hatching eggs around the country. The eggs are resting in the incubator trays, more like incubator hammocks, until tomorrow morning. So, Day 21 should be March 26. Stay tuned!
NOTE: Jamie even included a booklet he's written on tips for breeding the best Barred Plymouth Rock, very nice!
Wish me luck! ~Cynthia
In 2016, a very wonderful friend on BYC who followed the Atlas thread, @1muttsfan, sent me a set of hatching eggs out of the blue, from NY breeder Jill Burk, knowing I had hit a brick wall with my BR breeding program. The end result was a very precocious cockerel full of himself along with a few girls. i was not in a position to do much hatching at that time, though we did get two pullets from Hector and his hen, Jill we named Maddie and Jane. Jane died unexpectedly at the age of two after her first hard molt and Hector passed away of old age in Sept. 2022 so again, a dead end. (Hector's thread is "Hector's World")
Now Atlas's daughters are near the end of their lives, nine years old, no rooster for them and Jill and her daughter, Maddie, are also up in years, don't lay much now anyway.
I had finally decided that my husband's physical disabilities and both of our ages have necessitated a paring down of my ambitions. I asked him of all the breeds we had raised, both great breeder stock and some hatchery birds, which breed would he want to keep if we could only keep one. He didn't hesitate. It was the Barred Plymouth Rock because of personality, laying prowess and beauty. So, I set out last Fall to find another breeder of great Rocks. Couldn't get in touch with William so I went searching. I found Jamie Duckworth, a shining star in the Barred Plymouth Rock breed, super well-known for the quality of his birds. It wasn't cheap, but quality never is, is it? Last fall did not work out so we planned to get in touch in the Spring. In January, I touched base. He was doing fertility tests on his newer breeding groups in February prior to sending me my batch, and so we arrive at today.
Today I picked up a box of those coveted eggs from his stock at the post office. I am going to chronicle the hatch and the grow out of these birds on this thread. Barring unforeseen complications, these will be the start of the last Barred Rocks here on the homestead, a quality Rock that seemed appropriately named "Omega Rocks". I have a new incubator, the MatiCoopX 30 egg capacity and it is working like a charm. The eggs were packed with extreme care and Jamie was always communicating and very responsive. They were candled for cracks, though I couldn't see how there would be any with this packing job, same as I used to do when I was mailing hatching eggs around the country. The eggs are resting in the incubator trays, more like incubator hammocks, until tomorrow morning. So, Day 21 should be March 26. Stay tuned!
NOTE: Jamie even included a booklet he's written on tips for breeding the best Barred Plymouth Rock, very nice!
Wish me luck! ~Cynthia
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