Breed Focus:
Plymouth Rocks:
The Heirloom Breed
Plymouth Barred Rocks owned by Paul Hardy, Georgia.
T
Robert Blosl, Sec/Tres
Plymouth Rock Fanciers
Club Of America (Prfcoa)
he Plymouth Rock breed was developed just after the
Civil War with the expectation of developing a dual- purpose fowl that had a good size and a deep body, enabling
them to produce a good number of eggs per year.
The American farmer wanted a breed that represented their
ideals and was superior to the massive Asiatic fowl. They also
wanted to get away from the flighty Mediterranean fowl. They
wanted a winter hardy fowl with a relatively small single comb
and yellow skin.
Making of the Breed
D. A. Upham, a breeder from Worcester, Massachusetts, set
the breed in motion by crossing pullets of Black Javas with a
common dunghill cock bird. The offspring from this cross was
culled very hard, and only those with clean yellow legs and
barred feathers were kept for the next year’s mating. Two men,
Mr. Spaulding and Mr. Drake, were working on separate goals
and a different strain than Mr. Upham. Both Mr. Drake and Mr.
Spaulding had good success on forming the new breed, but Mr.
Upham was later credited with showing his new breed at the
Worcester, Massachusetts, poultry exhibition in 1869. This was
the start of the American Class of dual-purpose poultry.
Standardizing the Breed
The American Poultry Association admitted the Barred
Plymouth Rock to the American Standard of Perfection in
1874. The general color of the Barred Plymouth Rock was garish white, resulting from dark bars crossing each feather. The
barring was to be even in width, straight and carry the entire
length of each feather. Six years later, the breed was changed
to a fuller and longer fowl to increase egg-laying capacity and
to produce a frame with more meat for commercial purposes.
The new standard called for a male to carry his tail at a 45°
angle, while the female’s must be at a 40° angle. Encouraged
breadth across the back became a desirable trait. Since 1910,
there has been little change in the makeup of the breed standard
Plymouths Rocks. Many poultry historians find it fascinating
that the early shape and size of the Plymouth Rock is still
maintained by current breeders. Today, we have a young cockerel that will weigh nine pounds at eight months of age, and
a female, if bred for width of body, can lay 180 large brown
eggs in her pullet year.
Clockwise from top:
Bantam Barred Rock
cock owned by Janice
Hall, Oklahoma, a
fine display of the
barred feathering
on this cock owned
by Madison Ford,
Golden Gate Poultry,
California, Barred
Rock cock owned by
Paul Hardy, Georgia,
Barred Rock hen
owned by Janice Hall.
The most common variety of the Plymouth Rock is the Barred, which presents a striking feather pattern. The Plymouth Rock is available
in seven varieties: Barred, Blue, Buff, Clumbian, Partridge, Silver-penciled and White.
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Backyard Poultry
Spin Offs of the Plymouth Rock
In 1884, in a leading poultry magazine, Mr. Frost of Maine
mentioned that he had White Plymouth Rock sports of the barred
color pattern. Later, others started to have sports from the cuckoo
color pattern or crossed white Orpingtons to get a solid white
bird. Over the years, they were able to breed the rich yellow leg
and beak color producing one of the most popular poultry breeds
ever formed—the White Plymouth Rock large fowl. The White
Plymouth Rock large fowl became one of the most accepted
commercial breeds as well as earning exhibition honors. It was
admitted to the Standard of Perfection in 1888.
In 1890, R. C. Buffington of Fall River, Massachusetts,
exhibited Buff Plymouth Rocks. A friend, Dr. Aldrich, showed
a new breed from the same flock, a darker version of the Buff
Rocks, exhibited as Rhode Island Reds. Buff Cochin blood was
later crossed with the Buffington line to improve color.
The Partridge color pattern, which was a cross of the
Partridge Cochin color with either Whites or Barred Rocks,
was next version of the Plymouth Rock variety. They were on
display at the 1910 Madison Square Garden show. In 1914 they
were admitted to the Standard of Perfection. Next came the
Columbian Plymouth Rock, a cross of Columbian Wyandottes
with Plymouth Rock. Another breeder used dark Brahmas,
Silver Gray Dorking and Mottled Javas to develop his variety
of the Columbian strain. The Columbian Rocks where admitted
The Plymouth Rock, both large fowl and
bantam, offers great homestead benefits
including strong egg laying capacity, a
meaty frame and is winter hardy.
The comb of the Plymouth Rock is single,
medium in size, set firmly on the head,
thick at the base, straight and upright
with five well-defined evenly serrated
points, those in front and rear are
shorter than those in the middle. Eyes
are large, round and prominent, shank
and beak are yellow. Owned by Robert
Blosl. Below: White Plymouth Rock hen
owned by Jim Volk, Washington.
to the American Standard of Perfection in 1920.
The last variety was the Silver Penciled pattern which
was an offshoot of the Dark Brahmas crossed with White
Plymouth Rocks and admitted to the Standard in 1922.
Today, the Production Plymouth Rock, a spin-off of the
Barred Plymouth Rock is very popular and is sold by the
thousands through mail order hatcheries and feed stores all
over America. This variety of fowl was developed in the 1930s
to compete in ROP egg laying contests held in the Northeast.
These contests were supposed to have strict standards, only
allowing 10 purebred pullets that were true to the breed in
competition to be entered by any poultry farm. But it appears
the officials of many of the ROP contests did not enforce all
of the rules. This also occurred with Production Rhode Island
Reds, which were bred strictly for egg production, not over all
appearance. Like the Production Plymouth Rocks, they beat
out the Standard breed Rhode Island Reds in these contests.
By the 1950s, the Production style breeds put the purebred
Plymouth Rocks to near extinction. In the 1920s, the Plymouth Rock Club of America had over 2,000 members and a
magazine called the Plymouth Rock Monthly published in
Waverly, Iowa. The magazine had over 40,000 subscriberrs.
By the mid 1950s the club was lucky to have 200 members
who were mostly died-in-the-wool fanciers trying to breed
their Plymouth Rocks to the Standard and maintain some of
its intrinsic values.
Nicknames of the Plymouth Rock
No article on Plymouth Rocks
would be complete without reviewing
White Plymouth Rock cock owned by
Robert Blosl, Alabama.
Above: Drew Bishop holds a Columbian
hen owned by Doug Bishop. Below:
Columbian cock and hen also owned by
Doug Bishop.
Above: Plymouth Rock Buff cock shows
good type. Owned by David Swaim, Iowa.
Right: Columbian hen and cockerel
owned by Doug Bishop.
October/November, 2008
www.backyardpoultrymag.com
37
the difference between the Dominique
and the Barred Plymouth Rock large
fowl. Often, people see my Barred
Rock large fowl and tell me that their
grandmother or uncle used to have
“Dom-a-nick-ers” like these birds. Or
they will say to others in the showroom
those are “Dom-a-nick-errs” chickens.
However, the Dominiques are more
refined and have a rose comb while all
Plymouth Rocks have single combs.
The tail of the Barred Plymouth Rock is
shorter than that of the Dominque. The
Dominique male has a long and flowing
tail, much like a Leghorn or Hamburg.
Bantams Introduced to
the Breed
The male Dominique sickle feathers
are wider and longer than the Barred
Plymouth Rock’s. The body styles are
very different. The Barred Rock has a
deeper body and a lower tail carriage.
The Dominique is more upright in station than the Plymouth Rock large fowl.
The Barred Plymouth Rocks and the
Dominiques both have a dark cuckoo
pattern on their feathers. However, the
Barred Plymouth Rock has sharply
contrasting black and white bars. These
light bars are the same width and are
in contrast to a laid down feather in
parallel rows. The Dominique feather is
Left: White bantam cockerel
owned by Mike Franklin,
below: Silver Penciled bantam
cockerel owned by Guy Roy,
photos by Neil Grassbaugh.
The Barred Plymouth Rock
bantam was introduced to the
American Poultry Association
Standard in 1940, and the
White Plymouth Rock bantam
was placed in the Standard
in 1944. Over the years, the
Buff, Partridge, Silver Penciled
and the Columbian have been
perfected and placed in the
Standards of the American
Poultry Association or the
American Bantam Association.
In the past 20 years the bantams have been improved to such a degree that many
of the top bantam classes at the shows are won by the Plymouth Rock bantams.
This past year many white Plymouth Rock bantams made it to champion row
and in one show in the
northeast, an excellent
Silver Penciled Rock
bantam, bred and owned by
Guy Roy, won champion
of the show. This is the
first time this color pattern
has reached the best in
show in over 100 years.
The
Plymouth
Rock
bantam is a great dualpurpose bantam for the
homeowner with limited
space who cannot raise
large fowl. Two bantam
eggs are equal to one large
fowl egg and the bantams
have
excellent
flesh
qualities for eating.
38
much different, with silvery-white list
bars and dark bars of a dove gray hue.
The light bars are twice as wide as the
dark bars. This gives the Dominique a
more mottled color pattern. In its own
right, the Dominique fowl is a wonderful fowl and as much endangered as the
Barred Plymouth Rock, deserving to be
in family flocks in America. However,
this grand old breed, which was the
first breed accepted into the American
Standard of Perfection, should not be
confused with the Barred Plymouth
Rock. It deserves full recognition and
respect for its own heritage. (For a full
article on the Dominique breed, see the
December, 2007/January 2008 issue of
Backyard Poultry.—Ed.)
A Major Comeback in
Backyard Poultry
The Plymouth Rock large fowl or
bantam both make an excellent fowl
choice for families who choose to raise
their own free-range poultry. Large
fowl are easy to take care of and can
be kept in an 8' x 8' poultry house with
some outside runs or left out to range
provided they have protection from
their enemies during the day. At night
they need to be enclosed to protect them
from predators.
Bantams, on the other hand, are
becoming very popular because they
are a dual-purpose and make great 4-H
projects. Some children are competing in
showmanship classes, and these docile
Plymouth Rock bantams make it very
easy for them to show their knowledge
and skills to the judges.
A small flock of bantams consisting
of a male and four females can be kept in
a small pen consisting of a 4' x 4' house
and a 4' x 4' run. The bantams also can
go broody in the spring and are excellent sitters and mothers for their chicks,
which also give the family—especially
the children—the joy of watching the
little chicks develop and grow. Some
families even enjoy taking their children
to open class and junior poultry shows
sponsored by the American Bantam
Association or the American Poultry
Association. Families can compete for
prizes and just have fun with others
who are interested in poultry. At present, there are still hundreds of poultry
shows all over the country for families
to attend.
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Plymouth Rock Fanciers Club
There is a poultry organization just
for people who raise Plymouth Rocks
called the Plymouth Rock Fanciers Club
of America. They help promote the education and methods of breeding this excellent
breed, plus sponsor state and district meets
all over the country. They have an outstanding newsletter with excellent articles
from breeders put out four times a year ,as
well as articles from the District Directors
outlining events in their region.
The Plymouth Rock Fanciers Club
has a superb website written and maintained by the club’s Vice President, Matt
Lhamon . The website has pictures of
many varieties of large fowl and bantams.
The website also has a list of members
throughout the country so interested
parties can contact them. To join the
Plymouth Rock Fanciers Club send $15
for adults and $5 for juniors for a one
year membership to: Robert Blosl, Club
Secretary, 14390 South Blvd., Silverhill,
AL 36576. Please visit our website at
http://www.crohio.com/rockclub/
The Plymouth Rock large fowl is over
125 years old and considered endangered;
some color varieties are on the very rare
or watch list. Within some color varieties,
there are less than 100 adult birds in this
country during the winter months. If you
want an excellent fowl for your personal
use, and want to support an heirloom
variety of poultry, I suggest you to look
into the country’s most popular American
breed—the Plymouth Rock.
The Plymouth Rock fowl will not
disappoint you with their excellent egg
laying ability, their delicious meat, and
most of all their beauty. The Plymouth
Rocks are easy to maintain and will earn
their keep in your family’s supply of
livestock on your farm.
Mr. Blosl is a long time breeder of
White and Barred Plymouth Rocks large
fowl, White Plymouth Rock bantams
and the current Secretary-Treasurer of
the Plymouth Rock Fanciers Club of
America. Mr. Blosl’s can be contacted
by going to the club website: http://
www.crohio.com/rockclub/ or e-mail:
[email protected]
Founded in 1988 the PRFCOA is
a non-profit membership organization
working to promote and preserve the genetic diversity of this breed of poultry.
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Backyard Poultry