Plymouth Rock Quarterly - Plymouth Rock Fanciers Club of
Transcription
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 jacrain@chilitech.com District 4 Rick Bond 5244 Lick Creek Rd Morgantown, In 46160 RBond@iga.in.gov First Vice-President Matt Lhamon 5540 Culm Rd Lima,Ohio 45806 mattlh@embarqmail.com District 5 Janice Hall P O BOX 566 Stone Wall, Okla 74871 janeh@tds.net Secretary-Treasurer Robert Blosl 14390 South Blvd Silverhill, AL 36576 katz@gulftel.com District 6 Robert Coulter 3170 SW 81st St Owatonna MN 55060 gcoulter@myclearwave.net Election Commissioner John Beauchamp 6102 Fichville Road Federalsburg, Md 21633 johnsfourseasons@yahoo.com District 7 Sharon Johnson 2703 Melodye Lane Rescue, Calif 95672 johnson4h@spcglobel.net District 1 Robert (Bob) Murphy 566 Portland Rd, Route 302 Bridgton, ME 04009 District 8 Heather Hayes RR1 Calahoo, AB Canada TOGOJO tripleh@interbaun.com District 2 Greg English 26767 Line Rd Seadford De 19973 DEPlymouthRock@aol.com 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 deplmouthrock@aol.com 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 rain@chilitech.com. 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 katz@gulftel.com so I can upgrade my records. Also if you have any pictures of good rocks or members for 13 Robert Blosl katz@gulftel.com 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 mattlh@embarqmail.com michaelsayre@bex.net 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 markley@ohionational.org 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: whtrock@hotmail.com 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: tgbokc@aol.com 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 tripleh@compusmart.ab.ca 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: ghia4me@sprynet.com 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 walter.leoard@sonoma.edu Matt Lhamon APA and ABA General Licensed and Bantam Duck Judge 5540 Clum Road, Lima, Ohio 45806 1-419-234-4427 mattlh@embarqmail.com 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. 24 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 26 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 27 Dark Barred Pullet 28 Plymouth Rock Breeders Club of America Robert Blosl-Editor 14390 South Blvd Silverhill AL 36576