4-Hgirl --- Me and my animals

[4-Hgirl]

Do you get the Poultry Press??? Newpaper....You might be able to find some of what you are looking for... maybe if someone is coming to a show near you... often here in the east, we will have someone going to a show and ask them to pick up birds from someone else that was able to carry some to the show...
I do not know anyone way out your way...

I much better understand what you are doing... and why getting the males for breeding... did not realize you had that many other females available for breeding at home......

I hate getting eggs shipped in, but getting chicks is more expensive but much more likely for them to live and grow then taking a chance on shipped eggs and them getting shook up too much.

I don't get the poultry press.

I breed the roos that do the best in the show to my hens that do the best.

I only get my standard hens from Runnings so they are just the hatchery production kind so maybe if I can't find any purebreds I could find eggs somewhere. I don't have an incubator but the 4-H office lady has one that she leaves at the 4-H office and said I could use it so maybe....

 

[4-Hgirl]

here are some pics of my Barred Plymouth Rock cockerel

 

[4-Hgirl]

here is a pic of one of my BPR hens she is a hatchery production kind

you can see on like her chest and back her pattern get muddled and smokey and her beak has quite a bit of black on it. all my hens coloring is like that...then look at this pic my new purebred cockerel

he has clear barring which is not muddled or smokey anywhere and his beak is yellow. he is also much bigger then the hens and he will still get bigger.

 

[fuzzi]

Handsome boy!

I like how you're informed about the standards for the breeds.

 

[4-Hgirl]

Handsome boy!

I like how you're informed about the standards for the breeds.

thanks......I didn't even know that purebreds and production were a thing until last year when I was showing some of my birds at county fair and the judge said that she was just a production bird.

 

[farmerjan]

Good for you to learn and realize that there is a difference between a production bird and a true purebred that is bred to conform to a color pattern and type.... Yes, the production barred rocks are plymouth rocks, and they have the basics, but are not bred for type and color like a good show line... They are very GOOD at what they are bred for... PRODUCTION.... and they have the basic color pattern... But like you have learned from that judge... there are subtleties in the color, the barring and beak and leg color that make a bird a good representative of the breed.
Barred patterns are the hardest for me... hence, I do not have anything with a barred pattern... Bless your heart for wanting to breed what is a very hard color pattern to breed. You are a better person than me for that !!!!!
He looks pretty nice for a young cockerel....

 

[4-Hgirl]

Barred patterns are the hardest for me... hence, I do not have anything with a barred pattern... Bless your heart for wanting to breed what is a very hard color pattern to breed. You are a better person than me for that !!!!!

I don't know about breeding color patterns. i didn't know that barred or laced was hard to breed I just thought you breed them like any solid colored bird and they will have a barred baby I know a lot about what the breed should look like but not much about breeding them.

 

[4-Hgirl]

I have one more pig show!! It is called the Jacks Classic we went last year and took all our pigs but this year we are taking only Sparkles and my older sisters pig, Cookie. We can't take my brothers pig, Princess because she would be over the weight limit and we can't take my little sisters pig, Cuddles because she got dippity at state fair and she doesn't need to be going to another show and getting stressed out and making it a lot worse and we aren't taking Puddles because 1- he will get too stressed out and probably get dippity 2- he squeals so loudly and puts up a fight as soon as he walks into the ring at state fair even the judge said: he obviously isn't happy to be here today.....yeah when even the judge comments on how bad your pig is well....i don't want to take him to another show and I definitely never ever want a spot pig ever again yes they are pretty but they are the worst pigs I have ever worked with in the ring Puddles would squeal super loudly and try to run back to the pens he came out of and as soon as he would step out of the ring he would run back to his fence

 

[Baymule]

What are the best breeds of pigs that you like to show?

 

[4-Hgirl]

I really like Hampshires. This is my first year showing hamps but they are very calm and listen really well
but I also like crossbreds I have had 2 crossbreds my first one was a barrow named Napoleon(named after the pig in animal farm) and my pig last year was a crossbred gilt named Biscuit. they were both really calm and listened really well. Biscuit was really friendly and would just lay down so you could give her belly rubs..

my first year I showed a Hereford gilt named Lollipop I don't really know how nice Herefords are because she was my first pig and I had no idea what I was doing.

my second year I had a Duroc barrow named Nutmeg he walked really good at home but when we had to weigh him in at state fair he wouldn't go so we had to have my dad and brother push the pigs up with a pig board and they were trying to run back to their pen but we got them weighed finally but I don't want another duroc. Durocs are like the second easiest pig to train but I didn't like training Napoleon so I don't want another Duroc.

my third year I had a crossbred barrow named Napoleon he walked super nice for me.

my fourth year I had a crossbred gilt named Biscuit very friendly and very easy to train.
the same year as Biscuit my older sister had a Berkshire gilt named Berkley. I trained Berkley was a devil I trained Berkley for my sister. she would run back to her pen and run where I wanted her to go she would also try to turn around and do whatever she wanted. I had to walk her up and down our driveway 3 times to wear her out and she would walk nice about halfway up the driveway then she would run. My sister went to camp and I trained Berkley and when she came back Berkley was much better she still had her moments but she walked pretty good. Berkshires aren't too hard to train Berkley was hard because she was my sisters pig and she kind of ruins her pigs so I have to retrain them.

this year I have a Hampshire gilt named Sparkles she is easy to train and walks really well she is also very friendly
this year I also have a Spot barrow named Puddles he is a terror. he won't keep his head up he tries to run and turn back to his pen and he is the worst pig I have ever trained I never ever want a spot again they are miserable to train and he will back up straight into you so he gets passed you and runs back to his pen. and he will squeal loudly and won't stop until he gets what he wants. Spots are the most miserable pigs ever I don't think you can get worse then a spot.