CHAPTER IX 



SILVER PENCILED PLYMOUTH ROCKS 



This variety had its birth in tlic Boston Toultry Show, 1900 — Different 

 breeders at worl^ producing it — The crosses that were made — Wonder- 

 ful quality is shown at the New York Show — Popularity begins to 

 decline and quality suffers — How to start and breed good Silver 

 Penciled Plymouth Rocks. 



Silver i'enciled i'lymouth Rocks were recognized as a Standard 

 \ariety in 1907. Silver Penciled Wyandottes were already an 

 accepted variety, and their existence not only suggested the possi- 

 bility of transferring the beautiful color type of the grand old Dark 

 Brahma to the Plymouth Rock, but single comb sports from flocks 

 of Silver I'enciled Wyandottes were material available for use in the 

 production of a Silver Penciled Plymouth Rock. 



The first strain. One of the earliest breeders of this new variety 

 of Rock was W. C. Crocker of Foxboro, Mass. Along in the 1870 s 

 when Breeding Partridge Cochins, he conceived a fowl that would 

 be his ideal of beauty and utility. In writing of this conception in 

 later j-ears. he said: 



It was one with the beautiful penciled plumage of the Partridge Cochin, but 

 w ithout feathers on the shanks to be dragged in the mud and liltli ; and, secontl. 

 my ideal fowl must be an acti\'e, up-to-date, wide-awake American fowd, and not so 

 iazy or stupid it had to be put to bed or on the roost every night. I see breeders 

 of Cochins do not attempt to have them roost at all. 



Dr. Crocker, however, dropped the poultry subject for some years, 

 but in 1899 again took up the matter determined to make what he 

 wanted. He visited the Boston Poultry Show in 1900 and was sur- 

 prised to hnd that his plan had been anticipated and that Ezra Cornell 

 of Ithaca, New York, and George H. Brackenburj' of Auburn, 

 New York, were exhibiting Golden Penciled, now known as Part- 

 ridge, Wyandottes. Crocker was greatly enthused. Cornell and 

 Brackenbur^' were also breeding Silver Penciled Wyandottes, on 

 which they had been at work since 1894. Brackenbury suggested the 

 breeding of a Silver Penciled Plj'mouth Rock, or as Crocker later 

 called his birds. Silver Plymouth Rocks. 



Crocker laid the foundation by securing single comb sports from 

 the Cornell-Brackenbury Silver Penciled Wyandottes. These were 

 bred in 1900 to a single comb sport of the fine old line of Dark 

 Brahmas as bred by Newton Adams. Utica, New York. The cross 

 was then assisted by Partridge Plymouth Rock blood, in the same 

 way that the Dark Brahma was bred with Partridge Cochins thirty 

 years earlier and that the Silver Penciled Wyandotte was helped at 

 its origin with Partridge \\"yandotte blood. 



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