The Omega Rocks: The Last & Ultimate Barred Plymouth Rock Flock

[Rusty Hills Farm]

WOW! Have they grown! Lookin' good!


Rusty

 

[speckledhen]

Thanks Rusty! I think they've tripled in size since hatch. I'm now considering what to do if I have only four pullets. I can't allow 7 males in with them when it gets to the hormones stage so I'll have to select the least desirable (may be really difficult with these) earlier than is optimal so they can move on out of here; optimal time is about 16-18 weeks old to pick the keeper males. I think of the seven males, I should be able to let go at least three by maybe 12 weeks old. If I didn't have Bodie, I might be able to put the boys in a bachelor pen until I pick my last two keepers. I'm still hoping against hope that I have a fifth pullet.
I wonder if, once they get closer to the mating age, I could put the four pullets in with little bantam Cochin rooster, Bodie, until I pick the final cockerels to reunite them with their females? The males might hurt him, but I doubt the pullets would. Then, they'll be one group and Bodie can go back to his own smaller pen. I guess we'll see when it's closer to time. Decisions! If I still had that last pen that we've relegated to storage, I would have a place for the boys. Ack!

 

[speckledhen]

Well, folks, the dilemma has been solved. My husband and I were discussing what to do about the Omega cockerels if we wanted to separate them from the pullets for awhile. We discussed where we could move all the stuff in the last pen into other storage and had no good answer. If you've seen my post today on the Dirty Dozen Back to Basics thread, you know that Bodie had to be euthanized today. He took a tremendous downturn, appeared to me to be encephalitis caused by the West Nile infection.
So, sweet Bodie isn't suffering any longer and I have the pen for the cockerels if need be. Things seem to work out in due time, though I would have taken care of Bodie for the rest of his life if he seemed to have any enjoyment of it.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

RIP Bodie. You were a good little rooster.

 

[Ponypoor]

Well, folks, the dilemma has been solved. My husband and I were discussing what to do about the Omega cockerels if we wanted to separate them from the pullets for awhile. We discussed where we could move all the stuff in the last pen into other storage and had no good answer. If you've seen my post today on the Dirty Dozen Back to Basics thread, you know that Bodie had to be euthanized today. He took a tremendous downturn, appeared to me to be encephalitis caused by the West Nile infection.
So, sweet Bodie isn't suffering any longer and I have the pen for the cockerels if need be. Things seem to work out in due time, though I would have taken care of Bodie for the rest of his life if he seemed to have any enjoyment of it.

So sad to hear this, fly high Bodie.

 

[speckledhen]

As of yesterday, it appears that I have four pullets out of the eleven. I kept counting and would get four then five, then back to four. That fifth chick had me on the fence for awhile, still sort of does, but I figure if it's that hard to decide, it's a cockerel. A surprise fifth pullet would be great of course. All four known pullets came from Jamie's #7 pen and, just as an aside since that was a topic recently, not one of the "rounded" eggs contained a pullet since those rounded eggs were all from the #1 pen. Myth busted!
Yesterday, I updated Jamie on the male/female ratio and was having a conversation about how to decide on my keeper males from the seven cockerels. Here is some of what he told me and the end of that conversation made me LOL.
Jamie's first reply:
Pen 7 is the farthest related of the others. What other pens did the males come out of? I'm glad you're enjoying them!

Me: Pen 7 had all six eggs hatch, so four were the only pullets and two cockerels. The two from Pen #3 and three from Pen #1 were all males. They're energetic and ultra friendly.

Jamie: Keep the best males of course, but pen 7 is distantly related to 1&3. Pen 1&3 are closer related. If you want to start seperate families, you can keep a male from 1 &3 and do well. Keep a male from 7 to use next year on the 1 & 3 cross.

Me: Thanks for the advice. I'm not sure how involved I can get with the ultra selective breeding, separating groups, looking a year ahead, etc, mainly because of my life situation (disabled veteran husband so I have to do more and more of the physical work on the homestead and I'm no spring chicken myself, though in good health), but the advice is great, helps me take a direction in picking my keeper males. Pen #3 has just two chicks, both males, and one is the small guy so I'll have to keep an eye on the other guy. Pen #1 has two particularly attractive, calm little guys in it and one of those is likely to be one of my final choices (yes, it's really early, I know). It's going to be hard because I get so attached to my roosters, I admit. I just can't keep them all unless I sacrifice one of my pens as a permanent bachelor pen. I've never done that in the past, but with these, it will be very tempting! Thanks again, will update their progress in a couple of weeks.

Jamie: .....or I can just send you eggs again next year and I take care of all the hard decisions!

Me: LOL, don't tempt me!

I will say that I'm very surprised and pleased with how responsive he is to communication and I see he has quite the sense of humor, too.

I posted that entire conversation because it may be helpful to some folks from a very experienced breeder of these fine Rocks. So, I will look very closely at the three males from Pen #1 and the one male from Pen #3 as keepers. The other male from Pen #3 is the smallest, as I mentioned, the last hatcher and I have my doubts that he will be one of the keepers as he is still smaller than all the others by a bit, not prone to approaching me.
I banded Pen #7 with black zip ties, Pen #1 with purple and the two from Pen #3 with white, hopefully will have enough bands to keep up with those particular colors all the way along. Are you confused yet? Maybe i need charts and graphs to keep it all straight in my own mind, LOL.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

It is nice to be able to have those conversations with a breeder. I'm so glad he's nice and helpful. Means he's breeding for the betterment of the breed, and i agree there's always next year.

 

[speckledhen]

He really has a mentor mentality.

 

[speckledhen]

The kids will be 4 weeks old Thursday. The boys are getting super long legs on them, had to raise the feeder again.
In assessing them, I realized that the two white-banded boys from Pen #3 are never up front. One is the small one and his brother isn't much larger. I did catch them both and as they wiggled and yelled, I saw that neither of their combs are as nice as most of the other males. I know Jamie said it would be good to pick one from that pen #3 and one from Pen #1 to go with the pullets from Pen #7, but even now, I don't think those white band boys will make the cut. I could be wrong and they could catch up, but they don't have the same friendly personality of the other males. All the pullets have black bands. Their two brothers (or half brothers) are large boys. Pen #1 hatched out three males, purple bands, that are very friendly and always right out front asking for attention. I will be tempted to keep one of those from Pen 7, though they are more closely related (same sire) as the four pullets, but there is a lot of time for front runners to fall back and vice versa. Here are some progress pictures for you:

 

[Cebarmlds]

The kids will be 4 weeks old Thursday. The boys are getting super long legs on them, had to raise the feeder again.
In assessing them, I realized that the two white-banded boys from Pen #3 are never up front. One is the small one and his brother isn't much larger. I did catch them both and as they wiggled and yelled, I saw that neither of their combs are as nice as most of the other males. I know Jamie said it would be good to pick one from that pen #3 and one from Pen #1 to go with the pullets from Pen #7, but even now, I don't think those white band boys will make the cut. I could be wrong and they could catch up, but they don't have the same friendly personality of the other males. All the pullets have black bands. Their two brothers (or half brothers) are large boys. Pen #1 hatched out three males, purple bands, that are very friendly and always right out front asking for attention. I will be tempted to keep one of those from Pen 7, though they are more closely related (same sire) as the four pullets, but there is a lot of time for front runners to fall back and vice versa. Here are some progress pictures for you:
View attachment 4104874View attachment 4104875View attachment 4104876View attachment 4104877View attachment 4104878View attachment 4104879View attachment 4104880View attachment 4104881View attachment 4104882View attachment 4104883View attachment 4104884View attachment 4104885View attachment 4104886

What darlings!!!