Plymouth Rock

Ok, so I just have 4 chickens. 2 of them at Barred Plymouth Rocks, and that was really by accident. But I'm glad it turned out this way. What an interesting and varied personality! I guess it's one reason I am attracted to them in particular. My Julia is at the top of the pecking order, always leading the way, and always the first to find the higher ground for a look-out. In contrast, my Carmen is last in the pecking order. She is much more willing to make a pal of a human, while Julia could really care less unless it means getting to a treat first. I call Julia "Julia The Opportunistic Chicken." If she could start a business I think she would. The thing is, she'll let you know it. It's nice to know where the chickens are hanging out in the yard sometimes, but they sure are loud about it. Loud about everything, especially when they are put out for me leaving them in the pen or not bringing a treat along soon enough.

I ordered 25 straight run from Marti Hatchery several yrs ago. This was my first experience with poultry. Lets just say it was great and 25 years later i'm still facinated with chickens.

They are very quiet hens, still fly more than my last 2 chickens did, but not as likely to go over the fence as my Lakenvelder. They did quite a bit of mock fighting early on, with hackles raised and threaetning each other with spurless kicks. They were quite easy to tame, and are friendly with me but aggressive with my son, who is 17 and hasn't spent much time with them. Othe larger one, Ellie Mae, has moulted and it took a long time for the color to come back to her comb. Fannie Mae went through a partial moult, probably in sympathy. They are both laying every other day now.

I have almost always had barred rocks. I have a few right now that are from my old hatchery birds. I bought a trio or these gorgeous BR's from Jeremy Woeppel jwhip BYC and they are the most beautiful BR's that I've ever seen. Will be raising quite a few between 2012 - 13.

I have a dozen Barred Rocks and I love them. They are very sassy, curious, brave, and some of them can be a little bossy. I have two that will run to me when I call and point at the ground because they know it means there's a grasshopper or some other tasty critter for them. They follow me from tree to tree when I catch Japanese beetles and one will even follow me onto the porch and wait while I pick stink bugs off the wall and ceiling. If I'm throwing bread heels to them, she'll jump up and try to grab the bread out of my hand. The little stinkers also think the moles on my legs are bugs and they try to eat them!

They're pretty vocal when they see me. I imagine they're hollering "give us bugs or bird seed" or "let us out of the pen." If they're free-ranging, they run to me as soon as they hear the door open. They are very goofy and so funny to watch.

They are smart and hardy. They watch for predators and don't seem to be bothered by the cold. They lay well and I even get eggs from them in the winter.

I only ever had one that pecked me and it was always when she was on the roost. She had a bad attitude toward the other hens, too and I was very close to putting her in the pot. However, I found that removing her from the roost immediately after the peck and holding her upside-down helped. She also had a few daytime upside-down trips through the pen which lowered her status and now she's fine. It took about three weeks and I haven't been pecked since.

I really enjoy them and their great personalities.

My Stew-a-loo is a good producing little turd. Yeah, I said turd instead of bird. She can be a little food aggressive towards the other hens, picking a bite of tomato out the mouth of another hen or running into another hen and bumping her so the unsuspecting hen drops whatever is in her mouth. If I bring out treats to hand feed them, she will bite my finger (probably hoping I drop the entire handful!). She is smart, but doesn't take any crap. She hates to be held and will fight to get out, despite my firm yet gentle grasp on her. Who was it that told me this Plymouth Rocks are sweet and personable??

She is my most reliable producer, leaving about an egg a day, probably saving her so far from the Stew-pot!

I have 6 Barred Rock and 4 White. They are growing a bit slower then my other breeds but are fast learners, especially the barred ones.

I have 5 Black Barred Rocks. Unlike most of my hens, the Barred Rocks blend in. It's hard for me to tell them apart and they don't have the range of personality that my other birds have. They are the core of my flock though and solid, stable birds. They are not flighty, and are friendly and curious. I bought them at 4 weeks old on October 1, It's now mid-February and only one has started laying — this week. They have continued growing and are filling out and turning into lovely shaped birds.

I've owned Barred Rocks throughout my chicken keeping career. They as a whole, are generally tame, loving and love treats, in fact they are one of the easiest to breeds in my opinion to become fat, in a pet sort of way.

PICTURES!




The ladies I've had or currently own are named: Kiwi, Lieka, Dutchess, Flower, Omelet & Ramsese (forever loving of all of them)...each and every one so loving.

I love my Rocks. They are friendly, intelligent, and they lay so many eggs I almost have trouble keeping up with them all! Very hardy, healthy birds. The hens are also pretty quiet, until they see me coming out to visit (or are laying!). My roo has a beautiful crow, not too loud, just right. Their eggs are medium brown, and the size of each egg is becoming more consistant as they age. They do very well in confinement, but they would rather be roaming. Easy to catch and handle when needed. Great breed for begginers and pros both!

I did lose one hen to the summer heat. Keep an eye on your flock if you live where it gets very hot, as they are a heavy breed. Make sure they have lots of water at all times. It helped me to put a small fan in my coop, I only had it on in the day to circulate the hot, stale air out. But as long as they have water, they should be able to beat the heat, for the most part.

I have a partridge Rock and she is the absolute BEST. She is, by far, our sweetest chicken. She gets along well with the others. She never pesters or bullies anybody. She doesn't mind being touched and held. She is a very good egg layer and never hides her eggs from us, like some of our others do.

I have two Barred Rock hens. They are terrific free-range birds who will scrape and scratch in leaves for hours looking for food. They also keep an eye to the sky for predators and will run/fly to shelter if they feel the least threatened. However, they soon learn what to fear and not, and have stopped scattering for crows and ravens; they only run from hawks. They also get along well with our dogs and will even engage in a game of tag with one of them. As mentioned in the other reviews, they are great layers, even in the dark cold of winter. Their eggs have gotten larger as they've matured pass a year. Definitely recommend for a first-time owner.

My Barred Rock, Lucy, just started laying a month ago, and has laid an egg about 5 out of every 7 days! And this is during a Wisconsin winter! She's always liked flying up and sitting on my shoulder or even my head. Now that she's a layer, she's become a little bit bossy, but not aggressive. Is fond of flying over the fence and leading her three "sisters" astray. A smart, funny, plucky hen! I raised her from chickhood, so that may partially explain her gregarious nature.

I got three Barred Rocks because when I went to chicken class they said that these girls are really good in Phoenix (dry, hot weather). The girls are three weeks old now -- not as big as my two Amerecuanas but still quite perky!

As I had said, hens are sweet, curious, and good layers. In 3 years, I only had 1 hen to go broody,(appr. 40 hens).
Roos, oh the BPR roos... I can only speak of mine , of course. Way too aggressive. They flogged me the second they started"puberty". We couldn't go in our yard without getting beaten!

If I had one breed to select to use for egg laying, the Barred Plymouth Rock would be it.

These are the nicest, friendliest chickens. They are healthy, long lived, productive and climate adaptive. Great egg color.

Brought three home in August as day olds, and started getting eggs the last week of January. BUT, our supplier labelled the eggs as "chocolate brown" and I gotta tell ya, these eggs are as light as Buff Orpington eggs. They are lighter than Rhode Island Red eggs. No fault of the chicken, but I am bummed because I wanted a fourth color of eggs (we have Buffs for light brown, Rhode Islands for medium brown, Americauna for green... Rocks for... oh well...). The hens integrated pretty easily with the established flock of six. They weren't handled as much as chicks as our older hens were, but they are starting to tolerate me pretty well. Petted one yesterday and she took it without going crazy.

After a dog got in my coop and killed one of my dominiques, I decided I wanted a few more chickens. A friend we knew had some young Barred Rock hens he'd give to us for $5 a piece. I decided to get them so that I'd have some more layers.
When I got them, they were way too tiny for their age. Obviously they hadn't been fed right. I think he kept them in a TINY cage. They also had a cough and a gurgling in their throat. Stupid me, I still put them with my dominiques. Whatever they had got transferred to the dominiques and ended up killing all but one of them....but the little barred rocks got over it like it was nothing!
Since they were eating well now, they soon got big and beautiful. Now they way outshine my dominique hen. They haven't started laying yet, but they're just coming of age and we're just getting out of winter. Can't wait to see what these hens can do.
They're a little shy, but it's probably because they weren't properly handled by their former owner.

My rocks rule my hen house. They are really steady layers. They are slightly more aggressive with my kids than my Orpingtons but that's not necessarily a bad thing. They're great chickens!

I cannot think of one bad trait in either of the BR girls I have had, they are the sweetest, most docile, friendly birds I have had. My latest BR girl Violet is on the bottom of the pecking order, and quickly learned to dart around to get away from the others. When I introduced two new 4 week old chicks, my BR took them in, and as the others tried to get at them she would stand in front of them, protecting them. I have never seen her pick or be bossy to any other chicken, she is the peacemaker. She sleeps on one end of the roost by herself, and the two chicks now get on the other side of her so she is in between the other big girls and them. She comes running to me when I go out to the pen, and always gets in the coop when I open the coop door to fill the feeders or clean, she comes over for a quick pet. She is hands down my favorite personality in the flock. She lays every single day, without fail. Ever. I will always keep these in my flock. I have no experience with the roosters, only hens.