Plymutrok chickens are well known and loved in our country. The unpretentiousness and endurance of this breed, excellent taste qualities of meat contributed to the popularity and distribution of plymouthrocks in private household plots, as well as their use in industrial poultry farming.
Breed history
Plymutrok chickens got their name thanks to the American city of Plymouth and the words rock - “rock” attached to it. That is, a breed appeared in the United States, near the city of Plymouth, but the word “rock” described a compact and strong physique of a bird. The “author” of the Plymouth rookers was the farmer Worcester, who crossed in the mid-19th century a mongrel rooster with barred coloration with chickens of the Langshan, Javanese and Dominican breeds.
The American Poultry Association already at the beginning of the 20th century fixed the standard for the Plymouth breed. In 1911, birds of this breed appeared in Russia, and a national standard was developed for them.
Appearance
Among common breeds, Plymouthrok chickens are considered the largest. Today it is customary to distinguish two main subspecies of this breed - American and English, with a larger body. The plumage color of the plymouth can vary from white to black, and there are eight main color options:
- white;
- Gray;
- pale yellow;
- yellow;
- striped;
- silver tied (black);
- tied to a hawk;
- partridge.
The partridge color of the plumage, in which Plymutrok chickens can "flaunt" the hens, the photo below demonstrates.
It is worth noting that in our country the most common are white (in industrial breeding) and striped colors.
In white chickens, chickens hatch in a light color, and in motley - dark. Young animals at the age of one day are easily recognized by gender. This is facilitated by a bright spot on the head: bright and clearly defined in hens and pale and vague in males. Fledged chickens are also easy to recognize: roosters have a lighter color than hens.
general characteristics
As mentioned above, plymutrok chickens are large. The birds have a rather large and weighty body, a powerful chest and a broad back, a proportional head with an even leaf-shaped crest and beak, earlobes and oval “earrings” of bright red color. The tail is quite small and slightly elevated, but their plumage is thick, which is especially noticeable in the neck. Many owners of Plymouth rooks note low bird activity and a calm nature. For this breed, unlike some others, a high fence is not required, and an average height fence will be sufficient. Plymutrok chickens (striped, partridge and others) slightly raise the breast while walking, which makes the impression of a rather proud posture in these birds.
Breed features
Plymouth rods are classified as common chicken breeds of meat and egg direction, but most owners breed them because of the tender and healthy meat. Gourmets do not recognize the meat of this bird as elite only because its color is yellowish. As already mentioned, the plymouth rock is a rather inactive bird. The advantage of the breed is the ease of adaptation to almost all climatic conditions, as well as resistance to most diseases. A distinctive feature of plymouth rock is rapid maturation. So, chickens of this breed at the age of six months already begin to rush. With good feeding and care a year, one adult bird can bring up to 170 eggs. The breed traits are stable, and the Plymouthrocks well retain their tribal qualities in the offspring. Hens tend to incubate and are characterized by calm behavior. Chickens grow quite quickly, but they fledge slowly - only at the age of 43-50 days. The weight of an adult rooster of this breed is on average 4 kg, and of hens - from 2.7 to 3.5 kg.