Plymouth Rock

I have 11 Plymouth rock hens and they all have their own personalities and some are more intelligent than others. They are excellent layers who provided my family with enough eggs that we could sell a dozen or two a week to another family. At first, one was aggressive when she was in the nest box, but I discovered she could be bribed with kale stems. I haven't had any bitten fingers since. When outside the nestbox the only times me or my brothers have been bit is when hand-feeding them and they miss the food. Overall, they are docile yet very motivated by food. Some of them have even learned to jump up 3 feet onto my arm to be hand fed.

I have three plymouth rocks: a Partridge hen, a Barred hen, & a Barred rooster. Out of all my roosters, he is is the sweetest, most gentle bird. My barred rock hen is a little shy but a VERY good layer. My partridge rock hen is very gentle and nice as well. She was injured in a free range coon accident, and lost an eye. Since then she has been my "sweetheart" chicken. Also: apparently, the chicks are semi sexable as chicks- males are light gray with big white spots on their heads and females are darker colored (almost black and white) with small spots on heads.

These birds have been the easiest I've ever raised! They lay large brown eggs almost every day and are friendly and docile. When we had encounters with predators, strangely enough we never lost a Plymouth Barred Rock, even though they had an equal ratio with another breed that was taken out all except for one. I would recommend this breed especially to first-time poultry owners, but is a great bird all around if your not looking for anything too exotic.

Not sure if this is the place to post, but I am curious. My Plymouth Rock is about 4 months old and only peeps ... no cackling or clucking. Is this normal for this breed? Do thy ever cackle or cluck like other chickens?

We have 2 BR's. They are amoung the more dominant birds, but they dont participate in pecking the others much. They are dominant as I have observed that they are amoung the first to eat, and they always take the highest roost.

Our Roks havent started laying yet, so it will be interesting to see how they do.

Either of them will peck at me a little if I stand still or sit in the run. I usually thump them back. If I put scratch down, they will always be in the middle of the chicken melee that results. But our BR's didnt participate in the pecking of one of our Ameraucana's that nearly killed it. Either of them will allow me to pet them a little, much like the BO's, but are not quite as friendly.

My barred rock is a good layer,in the summer she lays about one a day and at least 5-6 a week, sometimes even seven! She is mostly nice but will peck at the others for food.
And she bites me whenever I collect the eggs so I advise you wear gloves (just kidding! But sometimes it hurts)

My 3 barred rock hens rule my RIRs w/ a heavy hand, but they are extremely nice w/ people. They are greedy birds. They are not as smart as my RIRs, but lay very well(6-7/week).

beautifull bird. funny caracter! big nice eggs too. BUT

Just too greedy. need big space for exercise. eazy to get too fat.
bossy and noizy too.
may be good country but not urban area.
I never get them again.

mine is pretty docil and lays good eggs

I have 1 plymouth rock, and shes great! If I had to pick one of my girls to be the best family hen it would be Sydney. She is calm, nice, easy going, and very tame!! I would defineatly get more of these if I had the room. very satisfied.

seems to be scared of other birds, probably some pecking order thing being new and all. nice bird,

Got my flock in march from a hatchery....HAD to get one rooster because the pics i've seen they are gorgeous! started with 8 hens and the boy but one of my girls went to the neighbor's house and didnt make it back before dark and i wouldnt find her. She was taken by a fox. My first egg came when they were 19 weeks old and after waiting another 2 weeks we started getting more and now we are getting 7 eggs a day.

My girls are sooooo sweet and most dont mind being picked up....they love the kids and the dogs...

at about 19 weeks old, my roo "campbell" started attacking me, just me......and then about 4 weeks ago started attacking my 13yo. Not sure what to do about him.....hopefully we can wait out his cranky phase because he's just gorgeous and so good at keeping the girls safe!

currently, we are having problems with them hopping the fence about 30 min after letting them out to range....we have 1.25 acre ...thinking of clipping wings to keep them safe....

Our birds came from a hatchery and seem a bit smaller than the standard for the breed. One turned out to be a male. He was very vocal and surprisingly protective at 23 weeks of age. Our hens are not vocal and very docile.

These chickens are the best! they almost Never ever go broody its awesome! I LOVE them!

We purchased our first flock as 7 of different breeds and the BR was by far the favorite of the group. She is always the first to come check out what treats we may have to offer and doesn't mind being held (most of the time). We would definitely recommend a Barred Rock to anyone wanting backyard chickens!

I was given "Morning Tea" 1.5 years ago...
She was by FAR my favorite girl.
Super social. and very tame...
She produced many eggs...

Some how the eggs inside her got Broken and she became Very Sick, then the heat wave hit this summer and she went to ground... Last week, I put her down with my axe. A very sad day...

I simply MUST get another one!

My hen is very very quiet, calm and nice.

They are the cutest chickens in my flock they have no problem coming on to me and hoping up on my lap for some roosting time i love em

See my review of barred rocks for a review!

Great for people wanting laying hens! They are very freindly and make an excellent choice for any chicken lover!