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![]() A place to share your pics, help/support one another, learn new facts. Just all things chicken. Let's get to chatting. I'm kinda tossing this months featured chicken info together at the last min, so please forgive me if it's not quite compleat. ![]() Barred Plymouth Rock ![]() ![]() ![]() Courtisy of wikipedia The Plymouth Rock, often called simply Rocks or Barred Rocks (after their most popular color), is a chicken breed that originated in the United States. The Plymouth Rock is a dual-purpose, cold-hardy bird and therefore makes a great breed for the small farm or backyard flock owner. The Barred Rock is often called the Plymouth Rock, but this title correctly belongs to the entire breed, not just the Barred variety. Characteristics Plymouth Rocks are large, long-lived chickens. Some varieties are good layers while others are bred principally for meat. They possess a long, broad back; a moderately deep, full breast; and yellow skin and legs. The hens have a deep, full abdomen, which is a sign of a good layer. The face of a Plymouth Rock is red with red ear lobes, a bright yellow beak, bay-colored eyes, and a single comb of moderate size. Their feathers are fairly loosely held but not so long as to easily tangle. The chicken's bottom feathers are soft and downy, like baby chicks feathers. In terms of temperament, both roosters and hens are calm and will get along well with people and other animals such as pets. The hens often will go broody if in the right environment, and are good mothers. Colours There are eight colours of Plymouth Rocks recognized in most of the world, but in Australia, the barred colour is split in to two separate colours, Dark Barred and Light Barred. The difference between these colours is highly noticeable, with the bars of white colour wider and the grey lighter in the Light Barred, than in Dark Barred. The list of colours correct for most of the world (Namely the United Kingdom, America and Canada), is the following:
With the following list correct for Australia, as per the Australian Poultry Standard, 1st Edition:
Eggs WeightPlymouth Rocks lay a large egg that varies in color from light to medium brown with a touch of pink. The birds continue laying throughout the winter but with decreased production. The amount of eggs laid is dependent upon the strains of the birds. ![]() A Barred Rock Egg The standard weights for Plymouth Rocks, as established by the American Poultry Association, are as follows: **** - 9-1/2 pounds; hen - 7-1/2 pounds; cockerel - 8 pounds; and pullet - 5-6 pounds. Approximate weightRooster3.4 - 4.3 kg7.5-9.5 lbsHen3.0 - 3.4 kg6.6 - 7.5 lbsCockerel3.6 kg8.0 lbsPullet2.3 - 2.7 kg5.0 - 6.0 lbs Sexing:
Sexing a juvenile in my experience is quite easy. Cockerals: -fatter legs -more yellow legs without the grey, or less grey on front of legs -more red comb and waddles -comb and waddles are larger and grow faster -there is more white barring on feathers (more 25/75 blk wht) -feathers are muted or greyish Pullet: -skinny legs -greay splashed on fronts of feet and legs -more of a black color _they seem to be more of a 50/50 black/wht -paler waddles and comb -small comb -faster feather growth Chicks: There is feather sexing, like with any breed. The feather seem to be all one length on wing tips-it may be a cockeral. Feathers are 2 length-it's prob a little pullet. Courtisy of Speckledhen on byc: "Males: larger, splotchy headspot, lighter silvery/grayish color rather than black, no or little black down leg fronts Females: headspot is more defined and smaller, down is very black, legs usually have dark wash down the front. These, taken together, will give you the sex about 90% of the time. The other 10% aren't as clear and can fool you."
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Re: Chicken Moma chat thread. Share, Q&A, all things chicken! <3 October <3
AFM- Got the roos cleaned and in the freezer. Took me all day. There was some trouble with my cleaning station setup. I had to keep putting the pot of water on the wood stove to reheat for each chicken. The yellow jackets were tearing me up too. OOOO, I'm late to get Cayden up for school. TTYS!
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#3 |
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Re: Chicken Moma chat thread. Share, Q&A, all things chicken! <3 October <3
I have to say, I love this thread, and read last month's. Did not contribute, because every time I tried something happened here.
![]() Barred Rocks are my fave. Our Barred Rocks are so lovely and docile. We call them the "Lizzies." Our girls are named in groups, except for a few favourites. Finally processed our Roo on the weekend. We were putting it off because the kids had grown attached. But, he attacked me on Sunday afternoon while we were in the garden and that was the last straw for DH. So, we are Roo-less. I actually miss the crowing and his presence, but I am hopeful that losing him will let our girls finds their way again. We have had some social issues, mostly revolving around his two favourites, so losing him will shake them up a bit. Plus, they can all free range again now that gardens are drawing to a close.
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Re: Chicken Moma chat thread. Share, Q&A, all things chicken! <3 October <3
You were busy processing roo too eigh, lol. Booboo chicken rescently had attacked me. I was at the pen and just slowly went to pet him. He was obviously in a bad mood because of the new roo in the pen. Nobody would get along so all but one was processed.
![]() BTW, I'm really glad you commented. ![]() I too am looking forward to letting them free range all day! I have a fall crop out there atm.
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#5 |
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Re: Chicken Moma chat thread. Share, Q&A, all things chicken! <3 October <3
LOL That's why we call them the Lizzies. We have the Lizzies, the Florences and the Violets. Then we have individuals-- Clementine, Beauty, Goldie, Glitter and Fred (named by a 3 yo
![]() Our kids were also surprisingly ok with Roo. We had been speaking to our DD about it for a while because she LOVED him. He let her carry him around like a baby. ![]() Ironically, I had another chicken defrosted in the sink for dinner already. When I pulled it out of the oven, my four year old did a double take, looked at it for a moment, and said, "Who is that??" ![]()
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Re: Chicken Moma chat thread. Share, Q&A, all things chicken! <3 October <3
![]() Sorry y'all are having to butcher your roos, but yay for fresh yummy chicken in the freezer! Stupid Fred might find himself there as well if he doesn't start fulfilling some of my requirements of him. For one, he's not fertilizing all the girls! He's only mating the four oldest, the BSLs and the RIRs. None of which I have any interest in breeding. Both his sisters have been of mating (and one is laying) age for a month and he hasn't even attempted to mate them. The littlest girls aren't so little anymore. They are 18weeks now and should be laying within the month. He should be attempting mating them as well. He's also still on edge with the boys, stalking them along the fence if they are outside. We haven't allowed them in with him but it appears not much has changed. I've been toying with the idea of a new roo. :/ Other than that, still no egg from Greta the 26 week old EE!!! 26!!!!!!!!!!! ![]() So I've mentioned a few times that I have had trouble with the young girls trying to roost on/in the nest boxes at night. I tried for probably a month to discourage them by covering the boxes and then just kicking them off every night but they're either too stupid or too stubborn to knock it off so I took out the bucket nests and the board they were on and put rubbermaid tub boxes under the roosts. This managed two things, it opened up more roosting space so that the two groups of girls could again force the great divide between them like they prefer ( ![]() So Sadie's not liking the new boxes at all. She's laid her egg on the run twice now. I hope she gets better about it because there's not much I can do to remedy the situation. I liked the bucket nests better too, but if I can't keep the little girls from roosting on them they can't stay. Night temps have fallen to the 60's, I've started thinking about winterizing. Like I said, straw in the coop is a consideration. Not sure just yet. I've found my heat light BULB but not the fixture? I swear dh borrowed it but he denies it fully. ![]() http://www.the-chicken-chick.com/sea...water%20heater What are you all doing to get ready? |
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Re: Chicken Moma chat thread. Share, Q&A, all things chicken! <3 October <3
Quote:
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Now it's back in the 50's and low 60's. I do need to winterise the coop asap! I read that that super thick cardboard works great to insulate tempirarily. We also have to put the hinges on the plywood that covers the cutout in the floor of the coop whare I walk up and put it back. The front window/door has to be done too. We are going to only put up 2 lamps. I'm only planning on 60 watts. My research showed that winter gives the girls a needed break from heavy laying. Also, each chicken puts off around 10 watts of heat each. Mine huddle on both sides of the coop on the roosts so we need 2. I hope to only need it nights. We do get some seriously cold days. The other thing is to put very thick layers of the mulch in the coop and below, also to remove the rest of the metal sheeting from the roof of the run to let mor sun in. I also worry the snow would colaps it. I've seen some portched brought down. ![]() ![]() ![]() Oh Liz, how old are the small girls roosting on the buckets? My two littlest just stopped on their own resently. ![]()
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#8 |
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Re: Chicken Moma chat thread. Share, Q&A, all things chicken! <3 October <3
I know, I'm torn and I keep waiting to see if he'll get better because I'd hate to cull him based on immaturity. We'll see.
The nest roosting mob is a collective 18 weeks old now. ![]() I never even thought about what might happen in a washer! The lowest I have ever seen here is one morning that I had to open the store at 430am when I was bookkeeping. It was 15 degrees out... my fingers hurt by the time I'd walked across the parking lot! I don't envy you all your cold winters. 30 degrees is the average low for winter here. I meant to get a picture of the new boxes today and forgot. I need some thoughts on the litter thing too. When you see the coop you'll understand why I'm unsure. Mine is more like a stall than a solid build as snowfall is infrequent and does not stand for long here. other odd things.. had to trim Rudy's beak tonight. She'd slacked off on beak sharpening when she was wearing her peepers. I think the side to side motion must have hit the nose piece. So her beak had forked a little bit. I'm going to regret saying it (knocking on wood NOW) she has not pulled any feathers since it fell off three weeks ago. I feel badly that one of the kids noticed before I did though. ![]() |
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Re: Chicken Moma chat thread. Share, Q&A, all things chicken! <3 October <3
Well Liz, I hope you are able to come up with a solution that best for Fred and the family.
![]() 18 weeks! Troublemakers, haha. My 2 littles are "supposed to be around 20 weeks. Hope FINALLY looks her age, but sweet little Tinker looks around 2 months. You have great weather. That shed was actually well built. It's when we were in the camper. We had our sparkeling new one in there but the lines froze internally and wasn't able to be repaired. Leaked everywhere. Then we got the clunker. The one that took 3 weeks to thaw enough to get the ice out and use again. Oh heck yea, pics! You know I'm a sucker for pics! You know, I've trimmed tons of beaks, but never a chicken. Is it much diff than a parrot or other pet type bird? Interesting. Do you still clip wings? I did the orriginal batch when they were first put in the coop. I havn't done it again though. They all do so well out there. Boy it's lonely sitting on the back portch not hearing all the boys crow like it's a musical in the am. Only Solomon now. ![]()
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Re: Chicken Moma chat thread. Share, Q&A, all things chicken! <3 October <3
Oops, 40's and 50's is what I meant to put.
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