BARRED PLYMOUTH ROCKS 



127 



prize on cockerels. As cited by 

 Heimlich, the single or Stand- 

 ard mating system of breeding 

 Barred Rocks is today in total 

 eclipse. 



Dark and light m a t i n g s. 



Double mating in this variety 

 consists of two matings as fol- 

 lows: 



No. 1. Mating the Standard 

 colored male to females whose 

 dark bar is broader than their 

 light bar, and whose dark bar 

 is so full of black pigment that 

 it carries a greenish, metallic 

 luster. The undercolor of these 

 females is also comparatively 

 dark. This mating produces 

 cockerels several shades lighter 

 than their dams, for the natural 

 tendency is for the male to run 

 lighter in color than the female. 

 This mating is known as the 

 dark or cockerel mating. The 

 pullets from such a mating are dark like their dams, and like their 

 dams are very valuable for breeding exhibition cockerels. Both 

 cockerels and pullets from this mating are what are known as "cock- 

 erelbred." 



No. 2. Mating Standard colored females to light colored males. 

 This produces Standard or exhibition colored females. As is natural 

 to the variety, the cockerels from this mating come lighter in color 

 than their sisters, the pullets. They are valuable, however, for pro- 

 ducing other pullets the color of their dams and sisters. Both cock- 

 erels and pullets from this mating are known as "pulletbred." 



The cockerels from mating No. 1 and the pullets from mating No. 

 2 are the Standard or exhibition colored birds. The males used to 

 head mating No. 1 and the females used in mating No. 2 are Standard 

 or exhibition colored birds. 



It is true, as already stated, that on certain rare occasions cockerel 

 blood has been infused with good success into the pullet line to give 

 more snap and color to the barring of the exhibition females. It is 

 probably equally true that pullet blood has been used to clear up the 

 color of the cockerel line. This intermingling has .been possible 

 because the color formation of the two families is the same, the dif- 

 ference being that cockerelbred birds have wider dark bars and more 

 pigment in their plumage. 



E. B. Thompson's 1st Prize Barred 

 Plymouth Rock Cockerel at the New York 

 Show, 1919. This is the kind of male to 

 use in mating No. 1. 



