My five barred rocks are great layers- pretty brown eggs almost every day during the summer and so far about 3-4 a week in the heavy winter months; Cold hardy- I have seen them outside scratching around in the yard without a care in the world when the temp here was below 0 and the windchill was -24. Nights here have been in the negative 20's and they still are laying and getting out in the yard during the day-----And I don't even heat their coop! One hen got a little tiny bit of frost bite on her comb, but the rest of them are perfect! During the summer, the temps here get in the high 90's and low 100's and while they confined themselves to the cool dirt under the lilac bushes, they did fine with plenty of water every day.
