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

[speckledhen]

It's more difficult because birds don't really mature until they're 6 or 8 months old, and you don't have the ability to pick good laying hens until they are even older than that. But you just got to do the best you can.

All that is true, but I don't have that kind of time or energy to keep those extra males for that long. My life situation made me even question if I should have done it at all.
I think 16-18 weeks is a decent time to pick out the best and have a good indication of temperament on those boys. It's one reason I would prefer to hang onto three of them, in case one is a latent psycho, LOL. Since i have only four pullets, none of those are leaving, no matter what.
Just think about the fact that Brahma males don't fully mature until they are two years old.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

My best cockerels have always been at the bottom of the pecking order. I always start by removing the troublemakers and work my way down. Sometimes naughty ones improve with time, but I no longer have the patience to wait and see unless they are good looking, than I might. I will confess to letting even naughty bantam Cochin cockerel stick around, but sometimes they get penned for a while.

 

[speckledhen]

My best cockerels have always been at the bottom of the pecking order. I always start by removing the troublemakers and work my way down. Sometimes naughty ones improve with time, but I no longer have the patience to wait and see unless they are good looking, than I might. I will confess to letting even naughty bantam Cochin cockerel stick around, but sometimes they get penned for a while.

I can see that happening, the lower ranking being really good. Gunnar is that way, sweet as he can be but he's at the bottom even below Forrest now. He's exemplary in every way.
I'm still debating on whether the largest black banded male, who looks awesome, should be my #3. I still have one more purple banded one that looks really good and those are only very distantly related to the pullets so I may end up with two purples and one white banded guy. At least I'm sure of two who will be going even now. Combs do not improve with time and I still don't care for that one who started out the smallest, but there are great choices in this group. I'll have to check for humped backs or knock knees, breast depth, etc. when they are closer to the time.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

You've had some gorgeous looking barred rock roosters, so you know those good boys when you see them. They have some big shoes to fill.

 

[speckledhen]

They have some big shoes to fill.

They really, really do. Hector and Atlas were exemplary roosters. So far I have not changed my mind about the front runners in this group. They'll be 11 weeks old on Thursday and they're becoming monster size. When they hit the 12 week mark, we'll do some trial free range time, supervised, of course.

 

[Ponypoor]

What a day today. Husband was removing the older hay from last year from my shed to make room for the new stuff we are hopefully about to make. He called me to come out there. My first thought is he found one of my missing kitties, but thankfully not. Instead he shows me a Polish hen sitting on what he thinks is eggs. He touches her and she did what polish chickens do, flew off hysterically, and there under her were chicks popping like popcorn. Some trying to follow her others just panicking. The sneaky little thing had a big nest that she laid and hatched without us noticing in an area that shouldn't of been accessible.

I grabbed a bucket to put chicks in. He tried to grab the hen in a net but she flew off across the yard and disappeared. He finished removing the hay and was able to catch the rest. 15 total chicks, and 4 unhatched eggs. 3 looked viable so I stuck them under another broody hen to finish hatching. I got the chicks set up. They were not happy without their mom.

We tried to catch mom. She was on the lam for more than an hour before I finally herded her near them in the pen I put them in. I reunited the family, and they spent a good 5-10 minutes trying to get back under her, which they all eventually did. How can a scrawny polish hen cover 20 eggs, and now 15 chicks. No idea. Might be a bit of polish magic. She seems to be a good mom. Hopefully they can stay warm enough. I'm now glad I didn't order chicks.

The rest are already under her here. I was about to leave, and heard peeping from the back room where the hay was. Here's one more chick, sitting on a half shell behind a 4x4 on the floor. It was cold so I stuck it under the bantam hen, and I see one of the other eggs already hatched. So far 17 chicks. Gonna be a lot of half polish, half mottled bantam cochins running around here.

Holy cow! That’s crazy! And a lot of eggs she was able to cover successfully. Your photos aren’t showing up for me though.

Congratulations!

 

[speckledhen]

I checked in with Jamie to tell him about the progress with this group. Posting here for educational purposes. Here is his reply:
Cynthia, you are welcome to call me if you would like to chat about this. You are using good protocol in selecting your keepers. Rate of growth, constitution/ personality, and standard qualities. Remember in showing, a bad comb is a very minimal deduction. Definitely cull for side sprigs, thumb marks, floppy combs etc. A split point is a minor fault everything else being equal. Just remember I can alway send you some more eggs if you don't get the perfect guy!
919 xxx-xxxx
Jamie
P.S. Remember there will be about 10% bad birds, 80% good birds & 10% excellent specimens. Look for those excellent birds!
(phone # blacked out for his privacy)
I really appreciate him being so available and helpful. I had not spoken to him by email for two or three weeks while waiting for these cockerels to develop and reveal their differences. The comb talk is because I mentioned several males with perfect combs and the ones whose are okay but less than a perfect 5 pointer; I told him I am a sucker for a perfect comb. That is the first visible thing that differenciates one male from the other. I'll likely call him in three or four weeks to discuss what I'm seeing and send him individual photos of each male. They will turn 12 weeks old on Thursday, move 90 mph and run around like ants so I'll likely have to separate one or two at a time into the spare pen so I can photograph or video each one when the time is right to make judgement calls. They are all doing very well and I'm really very pleased. Sorry for no photos, was a rainy day here.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

It is rare today to find someone so helpful. Shows his passion for his birds and the breed. I like how he wants you to get more eggs. Poultry keepers always seem to encourage more.

Looking forward to seeing pictures. Hopefully they stop moving for a moment. Love all that young enthusiasm. Wish I had some of that.

 

[speckledhen]

I agree! I'm sure there are at least two stellar cockerels in this group and if I want more, I'll just breed from them. Jamie is indeed rare, I agree, no pretentiousness, just helpful and encouraging. I think I'm going to have to separate me out two at a time, like I said, and when they're in a pen they are not familiar with, maybe they'll slow down for photographs!

 

[speckledhen]

I attempted to get some photos of the Omegas today. They were not very cooperative and a few pics that I really wanted didn't turn out well. Here is what I have. Remember, all four pullets are from Pen #7 and there are two males from that same pen, including the largest of the group (though others have almost caught up to him).
The two standoffish boys are from Pen #3 but I only managed to get a pic of the smallest one who has a weird tiny point between two other points.
I had a great shot of Maggie-Ethel "Ethel", named after my Aunt Ethel, but it came out blurry. I can't reliably tell the other three pullets apart yet. I'll have to see who's who and who's staying before I can attach names to the males, though I have two names picked out, as well as an increasing idea of the two keeper males plus an alternate. If I keep a 3rd male, I'll have to figure that one out. I have always named my chickens because it's just easier to manage them if there is one word I can use to distinguish them without a description every time. They always stand weird or just run away, guess posing is not in their repertoire. When they're more filled out, I can then assess the males' body shapes-straight back w/o hump, deep chest, no knock knees, wide apart bones for their daughters to inherit laying ability, etc.

I don't remember if I linked this video from the Livestock Conservancy, but it shows how to asses a cockerel using their young Delaware flock that I found very useful. I could not embed this as media, but here is the link: https://livestockconservancy.org/heritage-chicken-definition/