Plymouth Rock Quarterly - Plymouth Rock Fanciers Club of

Plymouth
Rock
Quarterly
Winter 2008
Volume 1, Number 1
The Official Quarterly Publication of the Plymouth Rock Club of America
Robert Blosl-Editor
Officers and Directors
Of the Plymouth Rock Fanciers
President
Jim Volk
1151 Middle Fork Rd
Onalaska WA
98570
[email protected]
District 4
Rick Bond
5244 Lick Creek Rd
Morgantown, In 46160
[email protected]
First Vice-President
Matt Lhamon
5540 Culm Rd
Lima,Ohio 45806
[email protected]
District 5
Janice Hall
P O BOX 566
Stone Wall, Okla 74871
[email protected]
Secretary-Treasurer
Robert Blosl
14390 South Blvd
Silverhill, AL 36576
[email protected]
District 6
Robert Coulter
3170 SW 81st St
Owatonna MN 55060
[email protected]
Election Commissioner
John Beauchamp
6102 Fichville Road
Federalsburg, Md 21633
[email protected]
District 7
Sharon Johnson
2703 Melodye Lane
Rescue, Calif 95672
[email protected]
District 1
Robert (Bob) Murphy
566 Portland Rd, Route 302
Bridgton, ME 04009
District 8
Heather Hayes
RR1 Calahoo, AB Canada
TOGOJO
[email protected]
District 2
Greg English
26767 Line Rd
Seadford De 19973
[email protected]
District 3
Jim Crain
1520 Fincher Creek
Minden, LA 71055
2
President’s
Message
First let me say thank you for allowing
me to be president of our Great Breed
Club. Our New Vice President will be
Matt Lhamon of Ohio and also taking
care of the points for the club.
in Shelby Harrington. Shelby showed
his stock all over the United States and
was a great promoter of our Club.
Members, Hatch Lots of Chicks. Good
Luck in 2008.
Our new secretary and treasurer will be
Robert Blosl of Alabama. Robert and
his wife Zora will do the club newsletter
every three months and they both have
had lots of experience before working
with the Rhode Island Red Club. John
Beauchamp of Maryland will be our
Election Commissioner.
Jim Volk
1-360-978-6414
A big thank you to all our past officers
Richard Hickman, Pat Hortsman,
Dick Hortsman, and Steve Beaty.
Also thanks to our former District Directors that served the club over the years,
Warren Carlow, of Rhode Island,
Mark Peterson of Minn. and Doug
Bishop of South Carolina.
We have one of the strongest Breed
Clubs in the country and our Rocks are
always on Champion Row. We need District Directors to send in reports on their
Districts and for all members to get involved in the Club. This involves helping
a new Breeder with Stock, Chicks or
Eggs. We welcome all articles from all
club members especially Judges on their
experience in judging Rocks.
As most of you know we lost a great
Breeder, Friend and Member of the club
3
Vice President’s Message
It‟s hard to believe old man winter is setting
in and it‟s breeding season again. I was able
to attend a few fall shows this year; Saulk
Trail in Hillsdale, MI, Southern Ohio in
Lucasville, OH, Central Indiana in Lebanon,
IN, Frankenmuth Fowl Fest in MI, The
Ohio National and finally the Rock and Red
in Nashville, IN.
many show reports come in with
nonmembers.
December was an extremely sad month for
me with the loss of Shelby Harrington. He
was a good friend and I always enjoyed
chatting and talking chickens with him at
the shows. He will be missed and I wish the
best to Linda and his family. I‟ll never forget
Numbers were down most places especially the trip Mike Sayre and I took out to
the rarer colors. I hope the new slate of
Delmarva a few years ago to visit and show.
Officers can inspire some folks to take up
Shelby was a great host and we had a grand
some of the rarer varieties.
time judging Junior Showmanship at his
show. Shelby is the reason I am still raising
The District 4 Meet has been placed for 2008 rocks. Several years ago he gave Mike and I
with the Gateway Poultry Association show a few Partridge bantams and told us to work
in Bloomington, IN on April 12 & 13, 2008. on them as the needed it. We still have them
and got a load of fertile eggs in the incubator
This show is going to be a big one as it is
as I write. I think of him every time I look
also the ABA Semi Annual Meet for 2008.
them over. I know Shelby is at the big show
Rick Bond is in charge and I know he has
in the sky, keeping them all in line till the
been hatching like crazy to get his White
and Barred bantams ready for this show and rest of us get there.
he also has some nice White Large Fowl. I
hope to see a huge turnout of Rocks! The
With this newsletter, we have a new
only other meet I have placed is the IN
Secretary in place in Robert Blosl. I have
State meet with the Central IN Club in Oct. known Robert for quite some time and could
I will leave the rest for the incoming
not think of a better person for the job. He is
Director to place.
a true poultry historian and a worker! We
worked together in the Rhode Island Red
As many of you know, I have decided to not Club back in the late 90‟s and brought it
back to the top of the fancy. I look forward to
run as the District Director and try a stint
having him as the Rock Club Secretary and
as Vice President. As the VP, I promise to
solicit and present several good bids for our I know with the help and computer skills of
National and Regional Meets. I still plan to his wife Zora, we can expect some
exceptional newsletters. Have a good
do the club points and promote Rocks and
hatching season and we hope to see
look forward to the new duties. As the
District 4 Director, I tried to place a meet at everyone at the shows!
every show in the District. As you can see by
the points totals and show reports, our
Matt Lhamon
District was one of the meet leaders. I
Former Dist 4 Director/ Vice
challenge the new group of Directors to go
President
out and place as many meets as you can and
expose the Rock breeders to our clubs. Too
4
Secretary's Message
Welcome to the first issue of the Plymouth
Rock Fancier‟s Club of America Quarterly. I
have been asked by my newly elected National President Jim Volk to start the first
issue for this year and we hope that it gives
you the information that you will need to
keep you abreast with the upcoming events
in the National Club and with your Regional
Directors. I would like to thank the outgoing
Newsletter Editor and Secretary Treasure
Pat Horstman for all she has done for the
club. I know it was very difficult for her to
hold on to these duties as well as be the
American Poultry Association National Secretary. It‟s enough to be a Secretary and
Treasure of a major breed club but to compound those duties with a National Club has
never been done before. In this issue it is
sad to report the loss of our dear friend,
breeder and former National Officer Shelby
Harrington.
ever saw, I plan to put much effort in this
publication as it has been my belief the
Newsletter is the pulse of the National Poultry Clubs and the Sectary is the hub of the
wheel with the officers and District Directors as the Spokes. When all are working in
full harmony, the membership will have a
Poultry Breed Club that they will be proud
of and willfully send in their dues to support
it each year.
Hope you enjoy this our first edition of the
News letter. It has developed in substance
fare more than I ever expected. Thanks to
all who have answered my pleas for articles?
Please spread the word to fellow Plymouth
Rock fanciers that our club is now on the
move and want them to join us. Ask them to
send their dues to me or if you wish collect
their dues and information and mail it for
them
It was such a shock to learn of his death
just a few days before the National Meet in
Shawnee Oklahoma. Shelby was looking forward to showing his birds and meeting all
his friends at this show. It was good to here
that one of his friends brought his birds to
the National meet to compete with all the
other outstanding birds entered in the show.
In this issue we have some comments from
of his Shelby‟s friends who knew him well.
Robert Blosl
Editor/Secretary
We will explore in this issue and future issue a new concept to the lay out of the newsletter. It will be an on going experiment
with this News Letter in the software lay
out and my journalism skills that I learned
from High School in the 1960s. As being a
National Poultry Club officer and working
with one of the finest Club Secretary‟s that I
5
Tribute to Shelby Harrington
At the age of about thirteen I met Shelby at
a little firehouse in Frederica, Delaware, my
first Delmarva Poultry Fanciers meeting. As with many teens I found other interests in my late teens and got away from
Poultry. Later years I met Shelby again at
another poultry meeting and became good
friends.
I'm sure going to miss picking up the phone
to make a call, but I'm sure if there's chickens in heaven, Shelby's prepping the first
string for that next show-
Chickens of course, was the glue that bound
our friendship. Shelby worked many hours
with his birds grooming them prepping for a
show or just keeping them in condition.
Shelby showed at district, state and national
shows and abroad and won many "Best in
show".
John Beauchamp
"Good luck, my friend", till we meet again.”
We spent many Wednesday afternoon over a
cup of coffee
just "talking Chickens". But, by no means
did friendship come between competition.
Very competitive he was. That just proves
always do your very best in all we do.
Many trips to the shows Shelby and I would
go to meet up somewhere on the way to attend Lucasville, Columbus, The Congress
and others .Of course the trip,was full of allot of questions and opinions on chickens
Shelby was very patient in that respect. He
told me to bring by some eggs when I was
ready to put in his incubator until I got mine
and I remember him saying on the first
visit," well son now your in the chicken
business". Shelby's mother had a florist
business many years ago , as do my wife and
I and I remember him telling me about cutting carnations and other related things.
6
2007 National Report
The 2007 Plymouth Rock Fanciers Club of America national show was held in conjunction with
the Oklahoma State Poultry Federations 91st
annual show on Dec.8 & 9. The show hall was
excellent. All birds were single decked, nice wide
aisles and good lighting. The total count was
around 2700. This was a large building with two
large exhibition rooms on each side and a large
show arena for cattle or horses in the middle. A
large pigeon show was held in the other exhibition hall at the same time. I had planned on going over to the pigeon show on Saturday afternoon but never made it. Steve Jones announced
that due to the impending bad weather the show
management had decided to release all birds as
soon as they were judged and the awards were
given out.
have seen for some time. Best Partridge was a
hen by Dick Horstman, reserve was a nonmember. Best Silver Penciled was a ckl by Horstman,
reserve was a pullet by Layne Richert. Best Columbian was a ckl by Horstman, reserve was 2nd
ckl by Richert.
In large fowl Twisted Feather Farm had best
and reserve with their White. Very nice birds.
Best Barred was by a nonmember. Reserve was a
pullet by Horstman.
The Rock Club gave $100 for specials. Janice
Hall, Greg English, Richard Hickman, and Dick
Horstman each added $50 for a total of $300. A
special thanks to these members for their dedication to the Plymouth Rock club.
If you watched the news you know that Oklahoma was hard hit with an ice storm on Sunday
morning Dec. 9. Much of the state was without
power for over a week.
A special thanks to Janice Hall, the host director
for making everything run smoothly.
We had planned on having a meeting at 1:30 on
Sat. However they were still judging the Rocks
so that time was pushed back. Then came the
There were a little over 200 Plymouth Rock ban- early dismissal and a meeting was not held.
tams. Best and Res bantam Rock were Whites by
nonmembers. Best Barred was a hen and reserve
was a pullet. Both of these were by Janice Hall.
She had a tremendous string of Barred bantams.
The Barred class as a whole was the best that I
Dick Hortsman
7
DISTRICT 2 NEWS
Hello from District 2! It‟s hard to believe another year has gone by and the spring shows are
almost upon us again. This is the time of year
when it is cold and snow on the ground and having to break ice out of water pans you ask yourself is it worth it but after 30+ years in the hobby
it is.
I would like to thank all of our out going officers
for the job they have done and welcome the new
ones and hope everyone will support them.
On a sad note I am sure everyone has heard
about the loss of a true Rock Man in Shelby Harrington. I had the pleasure of knowing Shelby
since I was 15 years old as I received my first
birds from him 2 trios of Barred Rocks and they
were good ones. Back then he was known for his
Barred‟s as he didn‟t have the Whites yet. Later
I received some Whites from him when he had to
get out of birds for awhile. I will never forget
what he told me one time at his house he
said”You know I thought when I gave you birds
you would be another kid that wouldn‟t stick
with it and you have became one of my biggest
competitors, I took that as a true honor and compliment. Shelby was a great breeder but I was
always amazed at how good he was at getting a
bird ready for show and the time he put in it. I
have to say that I know most of what I do about
Rocks from Shelby and Charlie Wabeck. At the
Delmarva Show this Spring our show will be in
honor of Shelby. On an ending note I hope everyone supports your local shows and enter a lot of
Rocks. At this time I do not have all meets set up
but will soon if anyone would like to know you
can email me at
[email protected]
I personally was able to get to more Shows this
past year than I have in the past several years
and really enjoyed it. I like the competition, but
more importantly the fellowship and seeing
friends, we had a good year on our Barred Rocks.
At most of the shows I went to numbers have
been up and down overall, but competition has
been strong as there have been a lot of different
winners. The color birds have been doing well at
the shows as the numbers seem to be increasing.
The class that really needs work in this area is
the Partridge as you see very few anymore it is
going to take someone to raise them in vast numbers to get them back where they were.
The thing that I am really glad to see is the
amount of new junior exhibitors that seem to be
showing, especially rocks I have enjoyed helping
and working with them. I am sure everyone is
getting their breeding pens set up by now and
starting to hatch I know one fellow exhibitor that
couldn‟t find the off button on his incubator this
winter and has hatched all year. We hatched
well in Buff, Barred and Blacks last year but not
in the Whites hope to do better this year.
Greg English
Don’t Let Your Membership Lapse
8
District 3 News
May I first say thank you to those responsible for giving to me this responsibility. I did not seek the job, but
am happy to help our Club anyway I can. I appreciate
Doug Bishop for his labor in this position. He is an
asset to our fancy. I have enjoyed recently speaking
with folks in the club like Bob Blosl. There seems to be
a good spirit of promotion in the club, and I believe this
positive spirit will help the club.
working with buffs, like Doug Bishop, are to be commended for their labor.
ONE LITTLE ROCK: I just began hatching with
about 25 eggs in the hatcher, some rocks, some moderns and some d‟Anvers. 24 were thrown away because
of infertility, (winter time you know!) but one little
rock emerged just-a-chirpin. As I often talk to the birds
and myself, I said “hey champ.” After all, he had beat
IN MEMORY of SHELBY: Our hearts were saddened out 24 others. I hope that is what he will be, a “Champ”
to learn of the death of Shelby Harrington. He made
or “Mrs. Champ” will be ok too.
great contributions to the Plymouth Rock Fancy. Our
deepest heartfelt sympathy is expressed to Linda and
THREE NEW SHOWS are being planned or considthe family.
ered in Ark-La-Tex; Fayetteville, Arkansas on the first
Saturday in May, ‟08, Decateur, Texas on November
SHAWNEE: The Shawnee, Oklahoma show was a
8,‟08, and El Dorado, Arkansas on October 11, „08.
great show as usual inspite of the fact that the weather Watch for announcements in the Poultry Press.
turned bad and folks had to hurry out of town on Saturday night. I was able to stop by the show and take a
I do plan to become more informed of the events in
stroll around the show room and visit with good
District 3 as they develop and any way I can be a help
friends. I enjoyed looking over the nice class of rocks, to anyone, call me at 318-927-2795 or Email jacwhite and barred. It was good to see a Ply Rock booth [email protected].
thanks to Pat.
BUFFs: I have recently been corresponding with some
of our folks about some buff rocks. Some have sent me
pictures which I very much appreciate. These guys
Jim Crain
District 4 News
ABA Semi-Annual
The Gateway Poultry Association is proudly
hosting the American Bantam Association 2008
Semi-Annual and the Plymouth Rock District
Meet in Bloomington, IN April 12-13th 2008. The
Gateway Poultry Club has been busy preparing
for this show since last spring.
ond building will be used for the Junior Show,
Pigeon Show and all sales coops and areas.
Bloomington, Indiana is in South Central Indiana, 1 hour south of Indianapolis, 2 hours northwest of Cincinnati and Louisville, and 11/2 hours
east of Terre Haute. You should have great
If you have never been to the Gateway Poultry
scenery on your travels to our show. The second
Show before, all cooping is single decked and the week of April is when our roads are lined with
aisles are wide. We have a very large facility on the redbuds blooming and the dogwood just bethe Monroe County Fairgrounds. This year we
ginning to open. You will enjoy the scenery in
have also rented another building next door to
Southern Indiana.
our usual building. The original building will be
(Continued on page 10)
the setting of the Open Show only, while the sec9
The judges for the 2008 A.B.A. Semi Annual are
from across the whole United States, Jim Sallee
of California, Warren Carlow of Rhode Island,
Ralph Sheriff of South Carolina and Bart Pals of
Iowa. The Entry forms will be available in the
March issue of the Poultry Press (last Thursday
of February paper), our website
www.gatewaypoultry.org, or we can send you a
catalog. Contact Rick Bond if you would need
the entry sent to you through the mail, (812) 988
-8815
Bloomington, IN is home of Indiana University
and there is plenty of activities in Bloomington
on all weekends, the weekend of the show will be
busy in town. Due to all of the activities in
Bloomington hotel rooms can be at a premium. We have booked some rooms at the EconoLodge $40-$45 per night (812) 332-9453. We
also have booked some rooms at the Days Inn
$65-$70 per night (812) 336-0905. The EconoLodge is the Show Headquarters and the
A.B.A. Directors Meeting location. Be sure to
tell them that you are with the Gateway Poultry
Reasonably priced, homemade breakfast and
Show. There are many other hotels in Bloominglunch will be available. A spaghetti dinner ban- ton visit the website
quet and awards ceremony will take place Satur- www.visitBloomington.com. Campsites are also
day evening. A general meeting for all A.B.A.
available at the Fairgrounds, pay upon arrival.
members and interested parties will follow the
banquet and awards ceremony. The Monroe
Most of the information that you need is availCounty 4-H Poultry Club will be providing and
able on our website
preparing the meals. The spaghetti dinner will
www.gatewaypoultry.org. There are many picbe a cost of $5.00 per person.
tures of our show hall and of the trophies that
we are offering. Hotel information, meets, Jr.
We are currently making arrangements for a
Show and all of that information and more is
couple of guest speakers at our show. At preavailable on the website,
sent, we will be hosting Professor Chen-Ming
www.gatewaypoutry.org.
Choung from the University of Southern California. A world renowned feather researcher, Dr.
See you in April.
Choung will give a short presentation on the latest findings in his field and will be available to
answer questions. We will also have Kyle Kohlhagen from Purdue University giving a presentation on their new flock testing program. This
new program involves the testing of eggs, not
birds. Learn more at the show.
Rick Bond
District 5 News
News from District 5 or The Incubator – Unplugged. Temporarily, of course. It is the first
weekend of the new year as I write this, so most
likely it will be plugged in again by the time you
read this. Those of you who know me, know that
due to time and space restraints, I don‟t usually
hatch large numbers each year, maybe 100 to
125 chicks (4 bantam chicken varieties and call
ducks included). Some of the August and September shows we used to attend have been discontinued, so it is usually early October before I
get to show in the fall. Therefore, I try to get my
first chicks out late February to early March and
hatch small settings every 10 to 14 days into
early June. If I start hatching too early, some of
the pullets will be all feathered out with nowhere to show! I did incubate one setting in September this past year, which only produced two
chicks. They were out of my favorite old barred
cock bird that is now eight years old, so I felt the
need to at least try to hatch them. I have noticed
in years past that late-hatched birds (June –
July) seem to stay in condition for a longer period of time and are not necessarily my best lay10
ers. Does anyone else have any thoughts on this storm, or cooping out early Sunday. Hope eveor was this just a coincidence? I have noticed it ryone made it home safely!
with rocks and cochins both. Maybe someone
would like to comment in the next newsletter.
We were all saddened by the news of the sudden
passing of Shelby Harrington. He will be missed
Thanks to all to who attended or donated to the and no doubt took a wealth of breeding knowlNational in Shawnee. We had good representa- edge with him. I heard from many how much he
tions of most of the bantam varieties, but only
was looking forward to showing at Shawnee.
barred and white in the large fowl. Birds are
usually released on Sunday morning after
Thanks to all past officers and directors who
awards presentations, but based on the warnings have served the club and welcome to the new
of an impending ice storm the show staff decided ones.
to complete judging, present awards and release
birds late Saturday. This gave exhibitors the option of leaving Saturday night ahead of the
Janice Hall
District 7 News
Greetings from wet and cold Northern
California. The bad weather has kept us
extra busy with keeping the birds dry
and warm and cleaning the
barns. Many Fanciers have braved the
flooded roadways to make their way to
shows including Greater California Society of Poultry Fanciers in Fresno and
Humboldt Poultry Fanciers in
Eureka. Recently, we had a show at
Stockton, California with a good turn out
of Rock Breeders, but some of us could
not make it do to a bad storm that came
through our region just before that
weekend. So the numbers of Plymouth
Rocks that where entered where down
because of this. The reports that I have
was there where some real nice Plymouth Rock Bantams shown at the show
and one was selected by Judge Heather
Hayes as Best of Breed, Champion
SCCL and then to Champion Bantam of
the show. The Sherman‟s breed and
raised a beautiful White Plymouth Rock
Cockerel that had strong completion but
won out at the end for top bantam of the
show. Also, Tom Durgin from Washington State, had some real nice barred
rock bantams entered at the show. When
it came to large fowl Plymouth Rocks,
there was a nice class of White Plymouth Rocks. Jim Volk had lst place pullet that went on to win Champion
American.
California continues to have many youth
active in showing poultry at both youth
and open shows. We are very fortunate
to have so many individuals who are
willing to share their knowledge with
the youth. I hope this trend continues.
Please encourage these young exhibitors
to join and support the Plymouth Rock
Club.
Next year the National Meet for the Plymouth Rock Fanciers Club will be held
at Stockton in January. We will have a
booth there to promote the club and the
11
(Continued on page 12)
happy hatchings!
(Continued from page 11)
National Meet. More on this meet in the
months to come.
Remember to send in your membership renewals for the new year. If you
have comments, questions, or ideas for
our club, please contact me. I'm always
ready to talk poultry-especially Plymouth Rocks. Spring is almost here-
Sharon Johnson
johnson4h@sbcglobalon .net
Super Grand Champion
Guy Roy
NE Poultry Congress
January 2008
District 8 News
Before getting on to my short report of the Plymouth Rocks at the Stockton, California show, I
would like to comment on the state of both Standard and Bantam Rocks in my district.
For some reason in the last 2-3 years both sizes
of Plymouth Rocks have taken quite a down
turn. Some of this is due to the loss of Charlie
and Al Sjorgen who were big supporters of the
breed. Currently I am the only one seriously
breeding and showing both sizes in my area. I
think some times breeds tend to go in a cycle of
popularity and hopefully in the near future we
will see an increase in numbers. I for one will
continue on with them as they are a favorite of
mine and were in fact my first real show poultry.
One Sunday many years ago Charlie Sjorgen
showed up on my doorstep with a beautiful trio
of bantam white rocks and told me to see what I
could breed from them. It was at that moment
that my love of white rocks began. Perhaps if
each of us does just once what Charlie did for me
a new fancier of our breed will emerge. I had
only had a few geese to that point but Charlie
told me that he saw greater things for me. A
great man he was and on that same line I was
very sadden to hear of Shelby Harrington‟s passing another icon of the breed lost. Shelby was a
true gentleman and when ever our paths crossed
we spent time talking about rocks and of course
my dear friend Charlie. But that said we must
continue working with these fine lines so they
are not lost.
On January12th 2008 I had the pleasure of judging at the Pacific Poultry breeders show held in
Stockton, California. This is a great club and
they really know how to put on a show. They had
an entry of 2250 I believe which meant the crew
of judges had lots of choice with such a large
group of quality birds. I had the pleasure of judging the SSCL class and what a class it was. I had
(Continued on page 13)
12
the job of trying to find the best of some really
high quality poultry in most of the breeds. The
Plymouth Rocks were highly competitive with
large numbers in most of the colors. Besides the
whites there were really good birds to be found
in the Columbians, and penciled varieties as well
as the barred. For the breed judging I found my
best of breed in an excellent white cockerel and I
believe if I remember correctly my reserve breed
was also a white cockerel.
The bird that I chose I think typified just what
the breed should look like. He had a fabulous
head and his profile was to die for, with a proper
length of back. He had great width between his
legs and a wonderful front end. A bird any
breeder would be proud to own. The reserve
breed cockerel was as good but a little bigger if I
recall but well within standard, it really could
have gone either way. The best of breed winner
when on to become reserve of show, his owner I
found out afterwards was Bruce Sherman, congratulations Bruce you will win many more with
that boy.
I should also mention the winner of the American class was a white hen or pullet of really good
quality, but she just didn‟t want to show on Sunday morning so it was not to be her day, but to
her breeder a job well done.
In closing I wish everyone happy hatching and I
hope you grow out many champions.
Heather Hayes
White Plymouth Rock Cock
and Hen
1913
H.W. Halback
Editor’s Note
I can not continue to publish a newsletter of
this quality without the support of the officers, directors, but most of all the members.
Please continue to send me articles, show
photos, and comments for future newsletters.
future issues please email them to me.
If you would like me to send you the newsletter by email I can do that on the next issue.
Thanks for all your help.
I am in need of addresses and phone numbers as well as email address for our members and officers of the club. Please email me
your information to [email protected] so I
can upgrade my records. Also if you have
any pictures of good rocks or members for
13
Robert Blosl
[email protected]
M & M Exhibition Poultry
Matt Lhamon & Mike Sayre
Breeding, Exhibiting and Admiring
Exhibition Poultry since 1972!
Currently working with
Black and Golden Laced Wyandotte Bantams
Partridge Plymouth Rock Bantams
Single Comb White Leghorn Bantams
BB Red Old English Bantams
Barred Cochin Bantams
SC & RC RI Red Bantams
SC Dark Brown Leghorn Large Fowl
and the study never ends!
2006 PRFC Points Leader in Partridge Rock Bantams!
Matt Lhamon-APA/ABA General Licensed Poultry Judge
ABA/APA Master Exhibitors
5540 Clum Road
Lima, OH 45806
[email protected] [email protected]
14
A Simple Breeding Plan
When I was asked to write this article for the
Plymouth Rock Fanciers of America Yearbook, I
thought “What single thing could I share that
would help my fellow fanciers?” I got started in
poultry through my great-great uncle Fred
Lhamon, who was a purebred stock farmer. He
raised Guernsey Dairy Cattle, Polled Hereford
Beef Cattle, Hampshire Hogs and Belgian Draft
Horses along with a production flock of White &
Barred Rocks. His mother gave him a copy of the
1911 Conkey‟s Stock Book for his 18th birthday.
He used this all his life as a reference to breeding and husbandry of his livestock. I have this
rather worn out copy in my collection of old poultry stuff and it is a prized as much as the old
family Bible.
I divide exhibition poultry people into four different groups. First there are the Collectors:
they have way too many different breeds and
varieties and never do any serious improvement
to them. Next, there are the Exhibitors-they
chose to purchase birds to exhibit and not raise
any themselves. Then we have the Propagators
- they multiply birds but seldom make any improvements to them. Finally, we have the
Breeders- they continually strive for consistency in their birds and work every year to improve them better than the previous generation.
I know in my lifetime in the fancy, I have been
all four of these types and pretty much settled
out as a breeder so that‟s what I will concentrate
on in this article. I think one of the most common
misconceptions in the exhibition poultry hobby is
that you need to raise hundreds of chicks from
several different matings to get good exhibition
birds. My idea was to present a simple breeding
plan that the average person can use without all
the mumbo jumbo and charts the genetics guru‟s
use.
My great-great uncle Fred believed that any
breeding program, for any species of livestock
needed to start with the best Sire (male) that
you could buy. His breeding method was rather
simple but he had great success with it in all
kinds of animals and birds. He called it the “Get
of Sire” formula and the goal of the whole
breeding program was to concentrate the qualities of an exceptional Sire into several generations of its offspring. I have had great success
with this in several of my lines of exhibition
poultry and rabbits and you don‟t need to have
lots of breeders and raise hundreds of babies. I
have never shared this method with anyone before and look forward to your feedback and comments.
Basically, you find the best male that you can get
and a related female but not a mother or sister
to the Sire. I also like to get a completely different female from an unrelated line. This enables
me to start two distinct families both tied back to
a common Sire. I have attached a scan of the
“Get of Sire” chart from the Conkey‟s Stock book
so you can follow along or use for a reference.
In the first generation, I cross our Sire to the two
females and make sure to mark or toe-punch the
chicks so I know which female they came from.
This generation will carry 50% of the blood of the
male and 50% of the blood of the females. I am
trying to concentrate the good qualities of the
Sire and gain consistency in our line. I also keep
in the back of my mind that I maybe concentrating any bad qualities in the line. From these
matings I try to raise about 25 chicks each. Cull
them out and keep a couple cockerels from each
cross for spares in case we lose the original Sire.
The cockerels need to as good as or better than
their Sire. Keep as many pullets as you want; I
use two from each mating in the next generation
giving me two trios to breed from. I want the females to look almost identical. Remember all the
extra birds can be used to show or sell to others.
I never show the birds I am using in the breeding plan as they are too valuable to risk their
loss.
(Continued on page 16)
15
(Continued from page 15)
In generation 2, I use the original Sire on two
females from both of our lines. These are his
daughters and have 50% his blood. I either rotate the male to each pen every two or three days
or hatch from one pen till I get about 30-40
chicks and then move him to the other. Mark the
chicks so you know which female line they came
from. I do not mark each individual female‟s
chicks just the chicks from the mating. These
chicks from this mating will contain 75% of the
original Sire‟s blood. Once again we cull all the
inferior birds and we should notice some similarity in the males and even some of the females
will start to look alike. I like to keep a few extra
cockerels for show birds and spares and as many
females as I have room for from both lines. Once
again I select two of the females from each line
for use in generation 3 and keep in mind we
want them as identical as possible.
In generation 3, once again I use the original
Sire on two females from both of our lines. Basically do the same steps we did in generation 2,
raise 30-40 from each set of females, cull hard
and keep two identical females back for generation 4. Keep the other birds back to sell or show.
These chicks in generation 3 will contain 87.5%
of the original Sire‟s blood.
I repeat the same process for generations 4-5-6.
Generation 4 will contain 93.75% of the Sire‟s
blood, generation 5 will contain 96.87% and generation 6 will contain 98.84%.
As you can see this method involves line breeding, in breeding and cross breeding all in one
simple plan. Every year you are basically working with no more than 5 breeder birds. Your
birds will be more consistent in type and color
and hopefully improved along the way.
to do this only once, with my Black Wyandotte
bantams. But I have used the same male several
times for 4 or 5 generations. Another common
question is, “By in breeding this close, will I lose
productivity and get genetic defects?” Productivity and fertility is something I cull for every
year. I want females that lay well and males that
produce fertile eggs. If any of the birds fail in
that respect, don‟t use them and start over. I
have abandoned breeding programs because the
birds did not lay well or fertility was too low.
The beauty of this simple breeding plan is I don‟t
need a lot of breeders or chicks from them. By
using an unrelated female in generation 1, I
have built some hybrid vigor and genetic diversity into the plan. After 5 or 6 generations, I
have enough similar birds to work with, that I
can start several separate but related families
and should be able to go several years without
an out cross as long as I cull diligently for production and fertility. If I need an outcross somewhere down the road for whatever reason, we
find another Sire and start the process over
again. If the chicks from any of the generations
appear to be worse than their parents, we can
back up a generation and try it again. If at any
time you produce a male superior to the original
male, either start over with him or start a separate breeding program. I would like to challenge
all my fellow fanciers to try this method and see
if it works for you. While you are at it, try it on
one of the rarer colors of Plymouth Rock as we
have several that need work in preserving their
beauty for future generations of poultry fanciers..
Matt Lhamon
The first thing you are thinking is “How can I
use the same male for 6 generations?” I was able
16
UPCOMING MEETS
National Meet 2008- TBA
East Regional Meet- Ohio Poultry Breeders "Ohio National" Nov.8-9, 2008 At the Ohio
State Fairgrounds, Columbus, OH contact-Eric Markley [email protected]
Central Regional Meet- Heartland Classic Poultry Association. March 15-16, 2008 ~ Cape
Girardeau, Missouri, Judges: Tim Bowles and James Miller. Contact: Kirk Keene, 240
Body Barn Road, Anna, Illinois 62906. Phone:618-827-4800, email: [email protected]
From the bylaws:
The Country shall be divided into three sections, the East (Eastern Time Zone), The
West (Mountain and Pacific Time Zone) and
Central (Central Time Zone). There shall be
one National Meet each year and it shall be
rotated to a different section each year.
Those areas of the country not being considered for a National Meet will each have one
Regional Meet in any given year. The VicePresident shall solicit bids and place these
Regional Meets.
District 2 meets
-Susquehanna-March 15-Special
-Delmarva Poultry Fanciers-April 29-30-State
-Sussex County Poultry Fanciers April 27-State
-Central Pennsylvania Avian Club-May 4-Special
-Virginia Poultry Fanciers Association-May 3-State
District 3 meets
-Pelican State Classic Haynesville, Louisiana, March 8,2008.
-Southeast Arkansas Club El Dorado, Arkansas, April 5, 2008.
Contact Jim Crain for more info on these shows, 318-927-2795
District 5 meets
-NE OK Poultry Club Pryor OK March 1, 2008
HeartLand Classic Cape Girardeau MO March 15 2008
Heart of America Spring Show Hutchinson KS April 12, 2008
Misssouri State Poultry Association Sedalia MO April 15, 2008
17
Points won for 2007
Large Fowl
Barred:
Guy Roy
Clay and Laura Mills
Dick Horstman
Earl Wilhelmi
Joel Gilman
David Swaim
Charles Lichliter
Neuman Poultry
Steve Standish
Rick Jandrey
Early Bird Farm-Tom Wheeler
Kamps Family
John McDanial
Katelyn Riley
Columbian:
David Swaim
Partridge:
Rick Jandrey
J & A Sliker
Joel Gilman
Dick Horstman
Buff:
Rick Jandrey
Larry & Mark Peterson
Joel Gilman
Charles Lichliter
Sharon Johnson
Silver Penciled:
Robert Murphy
White:
Tom Corey
Twisted Feather Farm
Guy Roy
Doug Akers
Halbach Poultry Farm
Bob and Dee Mejstrik
Sharon Johnson
Dylan Butler
Jim Volk
Ken Mainville
Joel Gilman
Rick Jandrey
Twin Cedar Farm
201
149
129
104
80
22
11
10
5
2
1.5
1
1
67
38
24
20
18
12
11
9
9 Bantams
4.5
4 Barred:
3.5
English Family
319
3
Walt Reichert
197
1.5
Rock Hill Poultry
292.5
Adrian/Mary Ann Rademacher 64
Bill/Joy Krueger
52
3 Dick Horstman
36
Brittany/Cassandra Deweese
31
Max Stacy
30
68.5 Brian/Amy Rismiller
27.5
16.5 Greg /Christy Michael
22
11 Steve Standish
20
1 Al & Paula Walker
25
Gary Cunningham
13
J & A Sliker
10
7.5
36 Kamps Family
1.5
15 Daniel Dysert
1
5.5 Tony Albritton
0.5
0..5 Ken Mainville
0.5
Black:
Beauchamp Bantams
127
112
15 English Family
Steve Wojtkowiak
21
18
Wollams Family
Lane Riechert
Blue:
Lane Riechert
Buff:
English Family
Doug /Teresa Bishop
Bob Murphy
Robert Hawes
Tony Albritton
Dick Horstman
Michaels Poultry
Buff Columbian:
Bob Murphy
Columbian:
Robert Hawes
Mike/Margaret Michael
Michaels Bantam Farm
Katelyn Riley
Dick Horstman
Norman Coulter
Lane Richert
Lacy Allen
Neumann Poultry
Golden Penciled:
Bob Murphy
Partridge
Rick Jandrey
Dick Horstman
David Adkins
J & A Sliker
Max Stacy
Jack Tickle
Daniel Dysert
1.5 Silver Penciled:
1 Guy Roy
Rick Jandrey
Robert Hawes
5 Dick Horstman
Wollams
John Pierce
110 Bill & Joy Krueger
83 Bill Fox
2 Mike Wasylkowski
1.5 English Family
1 Lane Richert
0.5
0.5 Silver Quill:
Bob Murphy
3 White:
Beauchamp Bantam
Steve Wojtkowiak
39 Twin Cedar Farms
24 Greg/Christy Michael
19 Bruce/Lowell Sherman
17.5 Gadberry's Bantams
12 English Family
6 Keene's Feather Farm
5 Ken Mainville
3 Brad Jones
1 Mark Beasley
Tim & Sue Worcester
Halbach Poultry Farm
Jim Crain
7
Rev. Paul Ashbrook
Jerry McCarty
Rick Bond
29.5 Tom Corey
9 Feathers Bantams
2.5 Larry Lawrence
2 McIver's Bantams
1 Angela Johnson
0.5 Bill & Joy Krueger
0.5 Max Stacy
19
257
17
12
16
7
5
5
3
1
0.5
5
5
490.5
272.5
224
201
185
141
67
63
44
35
30
25
22
21
19
19
17
15.5
15
12
12
10
7
4.5
Rick Bond
Tom Corey
Feathers Bantams
Larry Lawrence
McIver's Bantams
Angela Johnson
Bill & Joy Krueger
Max Stacy
Layne Richert
Rock Hill Poultry
Displays: Large
Twisted Feather Farm (White)
Bob Murphy (Silver Pencilled)
Tom Corey(White)
Halbach Poultry Farm (White)
Displays: Bantam
English Family (Barred)
Beauchamp Bantams (White)
Twin Cedar Farms (White)
Beauchamp Bantams (Black)
Brittany/Cassandra Deweese
(Barred)
Rock Hill Poultry (Barred)
JUNIOR Best Of Breed
Phillip Pearson
Ryan Simmemeyer
Dylan Butler
Rachel Mauer
JUNIOR Best Of Breed
Tommy Niggel
Katelyn Riley
Phillip Pearson
Bobby Wollam
Tyler Murray
Connor Kamps
Kolin Michael
Brittany/Cassandra Deweese
Kolin Michael
PLYMOUTH ROCK FANCIER'S CLUB
Final 2007 EXHIBITOR
OF THE YEAR
POINTS 2/01/08
17
15.5
15
12
12
10
7 Large Fowl Exhibitor of the Year
4.5
Tom Corey
201
3 1st
2nd
Guy
Roy
196
76
3rd
3
Twisted Feather
149
Bantam Exhibitor of the Year
1 1st
Beauchamp Bantams
617.5
1 2nd
English Family
608
3rd
Rock Hill Poultry
4
368.5
3 Large Fowl Variety Exhibitors of
2 the Year 2007
1
Barred- Guy Roy
1 Columbian- David Swaim
6 Partridge- Rick Jandrey
Buff- Rick Jandrey
Silver Penciled- Robert Murphy
2 White- Tom Corey
1
2
2 Bantam Variety Exhibitors of the
1 Year 2007
3
2
2
2
1
1
1
1
Barred- English Family
Black-Beauchamp Bantams
Blue-Lane Riechert
Buff-English Family
Buff Columbian-Bob Murphy
Columbian- Robert Hawes
Golden Penciled-Bob Murphy
Partridge- Rick Jandrey
Silver Penciled- Guy Roy
Silver Quill-Bob Murphy
White- Beauchamp Bantams
20
JUDGES SECTION
Tim Bowles APA Specialty Licensed Bantam, Large Fowl and Waterfowl. Available at all times 312
O‟Connor Road, Lucasville, Ohio 45648 1-740-372-3073 or 1-740-357-0122
Terry Britt APA- ABA General Licensed and Bantam Duck Judge. 10130 Ollie Ave. Midwest City, Ok
73130 Phone 1-405-737-7697 email: [email protected]
Warren A. Carlow Jr. 274 Westcott Rd Scituate, Rhode Island 02857 1-401-647-5888 ABA Bantam License
#311 Bantam Duck #124
Jim Crain APA General Licensed 1520 Fincher Creek, Minden, Louisiana 71055 1-318-927-2795
Daniel A Dysart 941 Mill Road Woodstock, Virginia 22664 1-540-459-4736 ABA General Licensed #200
and APA General Licensed #1169
Harold F. Halbach 305 S third Street Waterford, Wi 53185 APA & ABA General Judge, Also Bantam
Ducks. 1-262-534-6111
Jeff Halbach 31601 High Drive Burlington Wi 53105 APA&ABA General Judge also Bantam Ducks 1-262534-6994
Heather Hayes RR 1 Calahoo, Alberta Canada T0G OJO 1-780-967-4347 email [email protected]
APA Licensed Judge #1161 ABA Licensed Judge #330 ABA Licensed Duck #143
Richard Hickman 2724 Cedarville Road, Millville, New Jersey 08332 1-856-825-2484 ABA- General Licensed Judge 1162
Steve Jones APA General Licensed Judge 9677 Butler Lane Poetry, Texas 75160 1-972-636-9093 email:
[email protected]
Kirk Keene APA General License Judge #1151 240 Body Barn Road, Anna ,Illinois 62906 1-618-827-4800
Walt Leonard 4721 Occidental Road, Santa Rosa, California 95401 ABA-APA General License Judge and
License Bantam Duck Judge 1-707-544-5103 [email protected]
Matt Lhamon APA and ABA General Licensed and Bantam Duck Judge 5540 Clum Road, Lima, Ohio
45806 1-419-234-4427 [email protected]
Chris J. Maddalena APA general License Judge #1134 4203 North Webster Avenue Perris, California
92571 1-9511-443-4342
Jerry McCarty APA-ABA General Licensed Judge 513 McKinley, Haughton Louisiana 71037 1-318-9490027
Paul Monteith 5739 Teifer Sd. Road, Ontario, Canada N7T 7H2 1-519-542-4963 APA-ABA General Licensed Judge
Michael Wasylkowski (Waski) APA and ABAGeneral Licensed Judge ABA Bantam Duck Judge 3630
Irish Hill Road, Magnolia, Delaware 19962-1519 1-302-335-5500
21
Defects in Large Fowl White Rocks
The most serious defects in the exhibition White
Rock males today are the shallow breasts and
lack of depth in the body these defects are serious because they affect the practical market
value of the breed. Lack of fullness of breast can
be overcome by selecting birds for breeding with
good strong keels that extend well forward, with
bodies carried nearly horizontal and never with
the shoulder point carried higher than the back.
To avoid an angle at the base of the tail select a
male with a tail carriage of about 35 to 40 degrees: with the saddle feathers running right up
the tail. Width of saddle and tail can be improved by selecting only breeders that have good
width in these sections, with the tail nicely
rounded or arched, avoiding those with an A
shaped tails ridging up like the roof of a house.
Brassiness is a very serious color defect, but has
almost entirely been bred out: a bird showing
any brass should discarded: creaminess can be
overcome by selecting breeders with good white
quills that show pink pin feathers when coming
in. Ticking sometimes crop out on the otherwise
whitest specimen and is not very serious if it
does not show in the wings and tail. I would discard a bird showing much ticking in these sections. By carefully selecting a few of the best females and procuring the best male attainable
strong in the sections the females were weakest,
the best pullets from this mating could be bred to
the father and the best cockerel to the mothers.
By a careful system of line breedi ng for a few
years a stain would be established. I would start
with the best trio I could afford to buy I would
expect more of a uniformity in the chicks, by trap
nesting. Would know the dam and sire of every
chick and would have the father to breed to the
daughter and the son to the mother. By using
one blood line only, would be able to establish a
strain much sooner and get control of the breeding of the flock. Cockerel and hens: the hens being fully matured lay a larger egg that hatches a
larger and stronger chick. The cockerels being
active and vigorous are likely to fertilize better
than a cock bird. Inbreeding can be carried on
almost indefinitely in White Plymouth rock large
fowl, if very close inbreeding is avoided and only
strong vigorous birds used in the breeding pens.
To create and maintain size, vigor and stamina
select for breeding only the strongest most vigorous bird that have never been sick and have
been raised under natural conditions. In mating
we first select the male. He must be white, good
shape in all sections, particularly in breast, saddle and tail and with good head. As they all fall
short of perfections, we note carefully his weakest sections. In selecting the females, they must
be good in all sections and particularly good in
the section the male is weakest in. If the females
are all sisters, so much the better, as would get
more uniformity in the chicks. We usually mate
six to eighth females with a cock and eight to
twelve to a cockerel. We find this about the right
number for best results. Editor‟s note: This is an
article written by Frank H. Davey one of the
greatest white Plymouth Rock large fowl breeders and managers back in the early part of the
last century for Plymouth Rock Monthly of
Waverley, Iowa. Mr. Davey latter became the
Plymouth Rock manager at Owens Farms in
Massac cutes back in the 1920s working for then
Barry Owen the owner and Maurice DeLano the
over all care taker or manager. They breed and
raised up to 3,000 white rocks a year on this
farm and where very hard to beat at the shows
at Madison Square Garden and the Boston Garden. I hope the old statements from Mr. Davey
will help you today as they did back then. Nothing has changed in the ultimate goal of breeding
an outstanding White Plymouth Rock Strain of
large fowl. Try these principles this year and see
if your over all success in the years to come pays
off.
22
Frank Daveys
How to Breed White Plymouth Rock Large Fowl
A great many poultry fanciers ask me every year
how do you make such swift strides and secure
such impressive results with your stain of White
Plymouth Rock Large fowl. Each year we see
improvements from the previous year how do
you do this Robert? I normally reply proper mating of good blood lines is necessary to produce
the finest results in exhibition type of large fowl
Plymouth Rocks. Correct type is Paramount in
your decision each year for your future breeders.
To obtain these desired results from year to year,
you must have breeding stock that has been line
breed and the blood lines behind them must
have the capability to pass on these excellent
qualities to reproduce the good traits that you
wish for. If a breeder starts off with just satisfactory white rock breeding stock you can breed till
you become a very old person, but have nothing
but average looking birds to show for.
Secure Good Blood Lines: It has always
amazed me why beginners do not take their time
to obtain bloodlines that should insure them that
their next years work is a total failure as if you
started with Rhode Island Red bantams with
lacing in the male and female neck feathers. The
following year all the off spring will be loaded
with smut and lacing in the neck feather section
and all the off spring will have to be disposed of
because of this incorrect decision to secure the
correct parents in the first place. Its my view
that starting out with incorrect blood lines has
caused many beginners to give up the variety or
breed he has chosen or in some cases abandon
the hobby in total disgust. If the beginner obtains good line breed strains of Plymouth Rocks
it is my belief that in two seasons you will not
discard them for they will be so many excellent
birds to choose from you will not ever think of
giving them up. I will tell you how our White
Plymouth Rocks are mated and then you can
look over your own flock and mate your birds
accordingly the subsequently breeding season.
Selecting Your Male Breeders: In selecting
your top mating male you want him to have a
nice long body, with full round breasts extending
out in front much like a Rhode Island Red, but
in a way to look like an old fashion gravy bowl
effect in his Brest carriage. Some old timers use
to say I want that old derby hat look in my male
white rocks. You can not have this gravy bowl or
derby hat look unless you have males with extended rounded breasts. He must have a broad
width of back all the way to the tail and avoid
any males with that old fashion Steam Iron look
or narrowing at the back section. You want
you‟re male to have a fully structured furnished
tail with a nice TPEE spread appearance from
the back side. This male must be able to display
the correct degree of lift in his tail section when
he is in a show coop, on the yard walking in no
distress. If a male has to have his tail lifted up
by the judge in order to compare him with the
others in a show, or his top line is like a Rhode
Island Red this is not the correct male for the
mating. You want your male to have a nice alert
head with a nice medium comb that will give
that grace and beauty of a outstanding Plymouth
Rock male bird. You want him to be high in vigor
and gallant willing to fight with another bird
when approached in a near by pen. He needs to
be a extreme crowing bird who will crow many
times per minute during the day and very early
in the mourning. You want a male that has his
legs set plum, dead center to his body and with
good width between his legs when looking
straight towards him. His bone structure should
be such that his leg bones are as nearly as big as
mop handles. There is no place in the breeding
pen for a male with fine bone structure as this
bone structure can not support the frame of a
good large fowl bird weighing 9 ½ pounds as a
cockerel. If you use a cockerel in you mating
make sure his under carriage is just a little
higher than the standard of perfection shows in
the black and white picture. This male that
Schilling has given us to look at is an 18 month
old male bird. If you choose young males that
are not just a little elevated in their legs you will
end up as cock birds that will be short in their
legs and your strain will have that Dorking look
in your older birds. One way to simplify this trait
is to use cock birds in your matings each year
rather than cockerels that have the correct dis-
23
(Continued on page 24)
fertility and the only way to over come this is
trim these feathers with a scissors or pluck them
from the bird. What I did back in early 1990s
over a five year period was breed this bad trait
out naturally through selection or using the Fit
of The Fittest Principle in Breeding. Again in our
matings we have found excellent results in using
two three and up to five year old hens as mates
Selecting the Females: With large fowl feto our males heading our breeding pens each
males, they must have extended keels especially year. The off spring look just like their parents
in the front section or in breast area as the males and great grand parents. If you use females that
do. Pullets as well as two and three year old
are short in body, lacking breast extension, body
hens should have this extended keel bone with
capacity they just will not have the right ingrediplenty of flesh on the breast bone to give us that ents to give you good off spring the following
gravy bowl look in our flock. Their top lines must year. Another factor in choosing your females is
have that 30 degree lift all the way to the tip of
to weigh your birds. It has been my experience
their tails. You want to look at your females from that the female should be about one pound over
the rear and see that nice tail spread or
standard weight to reach this 180 egg per pullet
TEEPEE look just like you want to see in your
year goal and the eggs should be at the weight of
male which seems to come natural if the female about 2 1/2 oz or weigh 24 ounces per dozen.
has good width of body. One of the faults that I
had many years ago where the tails of my feThe Secrets in the Dam: In the past 17 years
males would drop or droop down in the show
of breeding this old line of Large Fowl White Plyroom. The judge would take his judging stick and mouth Rocks I have come to the conclusion that
get them to hold their tails up, but with in a few the most import bird in the mating over the long
seconds they would revert down so much that
haul is the female. Sure you must have at the
they looked like a Cochin female‟s tail. We called head of the mating a striking male bird, but it‟s
this fault BUNNY TAILS and the simple thing far more important that the female has the traits
to do with these female was to mate them to a
to improve the line breeding chain of the chicks.
male with a strong top line or not use them in
She must be a bird that is not lazy, lays lots of
the breeding pen at all. Over five years this poor eggs even when she is a four or five year old hen,
trait was breed out. The fault was poor feather
she must keep her shape as a old hen much like
quality in the over all line of females which had she had as a pullet. She must maintain her
a soft feather or Asiatic type of feather quality.
TYPE even when she is an old bird. She must
The ideal breeding female should have nice neat always be scratching and looking for something
low combs that are symmetrical to the over all
to eat. She needs to be a bird that is off the roost
body with five to no more than six points to their early in the mourning and stays out late before
comb. Their eyes should have that nice bay color going on the roost at night. Her chicks will be
with that alert look in their eyes of vigor. We
full of vigor and will hatch very soon after they
want these females to demonsate the ability to
pip their egg in the incubator. She should be a
lay many eggs in a year. The ideal goal is 180
female that has the ability to be best of breed or
eggs in the first pullet year. It is my be leave if
Champion American at a show or have a good
your female have good true to standard type, and chance to place high in stiff competition.
can lay many eggs per year you will then fix the
lost trait of the fast feathering gene and you
Number of Birds per Mating: I try to use the
will have females that have excellent feather
E. B. Thompson method of putting my matings
quality, free from bunny tails and will have
together each year. Mr. Thompson was a Master
feathers that are not like a Rhode Island Red,
Breeder of the old Ringlet line of Barred Plybut a feather that is with such firm tight texture mouth Rock large fowl in the 1920s. He would
and substance that you will also have excellent
take a male that really caught his eye and study
fertility. Soft fluffy down feathers in the vent
all the good points of this bird as well as his
area of the female and male will give you poor
faults. He would take a piece of note book paper
(Continued from page 23)
tance from the floor to their under carriage. That
has been my practice over the past 18 years as I
can see that if the cock bird has the correct traits
that are in the standard than I have the greater
chance to obtain these same traits and possible
improvements in the off spring.
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and draw a line down the middle of the paper
and put good or positive on one side and bad or
negative on the other side. He then would go out
into his female yards and study the flock of females and pick a female that most compensated
for the birds negative faults yet the male bird
would compensate for her negative faults. He
then put these two birds side by side in his condition room and further study them. Then he
would go out into female yard and look for another mate for this male. If he did not find another female then he would consider this mating
finished and closed. He would sometimes have as
few as three to five females in a mating and as
many as fifty matings of this famous Barred
Rock Large Fowl line. His approach was very
simple. Quality is more important in a mating
than quantity. Therefore single mating or trio
mating may give you the best over all results in
a given year for a strain of Plymouth Rocks. If
you have high egg laying females you can hatch
an easy twenty to thirty chicks per female from
such a mating. In fact this year I plan to have
Single matings or a male with no more than two
females and have a method to know which female laid which eggs so I can put more breeding
pressure on the heritage of each chick to his
mother. In the old days this was called trap nesting and is to date the fastest method of reaching
your goals as a breeder of a uniform flock of Plymouth Rocks.
Jim Volk of Centralia Washington nearly 20
years ago was that of the old line of Oliver Bowen‟s line of Rocks from California and many of
his birds came from the Harold Halbach line
from Wisconsin. This old line was founded by
Bill Halbach in the early part of the last century
and I have tried to breed these birds as I was
shown as a small boy by White Plymouth Rock
Club Hall of Fame member Carl F. Hove of Seattle Washington who obtained his white rocks
from Bill Halbach in the 1930s. Simply put I remember the look of Carl Hove‟s birds and I try to
just envision in my minds eye what Carl had
back in those early days of my youth and breed
to this old Bill Halbach form of Plymouth Rock.
The White Plymouth Rocks are a grand and wonderful, dual purpose birds and should be a Heritage Breed to preserve not only for Exhibition
purposes, but for the hobby farm enthusiast as
well. Why get production White Plymouth Rocks
from a hatchery when you could have a pedigree
White Plymouth Rock with Beauty, Meat Abilities and Egg Production breed to the American
Poultry Association Standard of Perfection. But
most of all, you will be helping a breed of poultry
that is some what endangered or on the search
list of poultry species. I hope you will take up
this endangered majestic large fowl white bird
and enjoy breeding them as I have. Long live the
White Plymouth Rock Large Fowl.
Conclusion: I hope this article on Blosl‟s Rhode
Island Reds/tripod.com web site will help you
with your breeding program. The White Plymouth Rock strain that we have obtained from
Robert Blosl
Blosl’s
White Rocks
251-945-5990
Large fowl-bantams eggs
and chicks
Available
25
Plymouth Rock in Australia
Plymouth Rocks were one of the first pure breeds
of fowl imported into Australia. Importations of
Barred Plymouth Rocks took place during the
late 1800s from the US, Canada and the UK.
The colour and patterns of these birds were all
very similar irrespective of the country of origin.
The 1900 Agricultural Census found that Barred
Rock large fowl were kept on 60% of all Australian farms, a statistic not matched by any other
breed of livestock, and never surpassed to this
day.
Little changed until after the end of the Second
World War, when in 1948 the importation of
poultry into Australia was banned, this ban continuing to this day.
It was then realised that the existing strains
needed to be preserved, competition had developed and the Dark barred (cockerel breeders)
dominated in New South Wales, and the Light
Barred (pullet breeders) dominated in Queensland, Victoria and South Australia. Some were
not happy with the situation and wanted the
Dark and Light Barred strains banned from
Although not as common now as in years gone by poultry shows, allowing only the Dark male and
the Barred Rock remains one of the most recogthe Light female to be exhibited, this was not
nised poultry breeds in Australia, most are not
settled until 1984 when full classes were rekept by exhibitors but, together with Rhode Isstored in major shows. The Western Australians
land Reds, but by farmers and backyarders.
were the last to hold to the British system, reThey were after all the “chooks that Grand dad
lenting when the first Australian Standard was
kept”.
introduced in 1998.
Australia is a large country, and even today it
will take you a week to drive from Brisbane, in
the northeast, to Perth in the west. Stock was
introduced into different areas, from different
sources, and no comparison of strains were made
until after 1900, the result of the extent of distribution and quantity, as shown by the census.
Comparisons of birds started to take place, but
as there was no Australian Standard, heated
debate as to which was the correct type followed
for decades. The reason for this divergence was
due to the breeding method used. Some followed
the US method of double pen mating, and some
the UK method of single pen mating. Due again
to the tyranny of distance, and political differences both systems survived until comparatively
recent times. The States of Tasmania, Victoria
and western Australia stayed with the British
system, a single pen mating of light Barred
males over black hens, to produce exhibition
birds of both sexes.
Queensland, New South Wales and South Australia adopted the US double pen mating system
with separate cockerel and pullet breeding
strains.
The 1998 Standard recognises Dark Barred,
Light Barred, White, Buff, Blue, Black, Columbian, Partridge and Silver Pencilled in both
Standard and bantam fowl.
The Whites in both sizes are rare and little
shown. They originate from early imports from
the US and UK.
Buffs are also very low in numbers, and have all
been made up from other Buff breeds, they contain no imported Plymouth Rock blood.
Columbians are also very rare and hardly ever
seen.
Blues, were in some states bred to the British
Standard until 1998. The current Standard calls
for the US „Andalusian‟ type laced plumage, the
British type was an unlaced self blue (not Lavender), this variety is rarely seen.
Black, in both standard and large fowl, is rarely
seen.
Silver Pencilled, now only exist as bantams, they
were developed in Australia from single comb
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Silver Pencilled Wyandottes with infusions of
Light Barred blood.
been suggested for some time and some headway
is taking place to this end.
Although in the hands of only a few breeders
they are shown in considerable numbers at our
national show.
The need for a Plymouth Rock Club was first
mooted in 1900, but due to all the problems of
distance, State jealousies, etc it was not formed
until 1983.
Partridge. Only seen in the bantam, and only in
the hands of a few enthusiasts. They were devel- It celebrates its 25th Anniversary this year, 2008.
oped from single comb Partridge Wyandottes,
that were pullet breeders as per the British
Standard. The 1998 Standard saw the acceptance of the US Standard, which calls for much
David Hancox
darker birds. The need for double pen matings to
produce both cockerel and pullets strains have
Australian Rocks
White Rock Pullet
White Rock Cockerel
Light Barred Cockerel
Dark Barred Cockerel
Light Barred Pullet
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Dark Barred Pullet
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Plymouth Rock Breeders Club of America
Robert Blosl-Editor
14390 South Blvd
Silverhill AL 36576