Barred Rock

I love my barred rock. We bought her off craigslist from a breeder when she was about four months old. She's great with kids, loves being picked up and has never attacked, and absolutely LOVES people. Her feathers are extremely soft and she has a lot of fluff. She is very trusting and will fall asleep in my lap. The only time she is ever loud is if she sees a predator, she will squawk loudly and hide when she sees anything in the sky- airplanes, crows, literally anything. She doesn't even trust the family dog. She is a great layer but eats so much... it's shocking how much of a foodie she is. Since she is so docile, she is at the bottom of the pecking order and gets pecked on by the others. If you're looking for a family-friendly bird and great layer, I would highly recommend the barred rock.

My Barred Rock is totally awesome!
Does well with my other chick.
Very chill and laid back and loves sitting on my shoulder nicely.
She doesn't bite and is overall an amazing bird.
She will run up to me if I'm near the coop.

The Bad:
- My Barred Rock is very intolerant to hot weather (mostly black feathers is probably why) and will pant and have wings out (I live in the desert, but my Delaware does fine in this weather).
- Eats a lot of food almost non-stop.
They have a huge appetite for food.

We keep free-range chickens that just go in the coop at night so it's important to us to have a fairly protective rooster. Oreo is a fantastic protector of his ladies and treats them all well. He's fought off the neighbor's cat, a fox, and a hawk so far that we've seen. The downside to that is he sometimes thinks he needs to fight us off too! Somedays he's sweet and will eat out of your hand. The next day you round a corner or get out of the car and he's flapping up at you trying to get you with his spurs. The hens are aggressive with the other girls in our mixed flock too. The leghorns can hold their own but nobody else wants to be near them. They do lie a good sized egg consistently and for our purposes, they work. I probably wouldn't recommend this Roo for a more pet-type boy nor the hens for a mixed flock that is cooped as they may beat up the other girls.

They're in my top three favorite breeds. Very friendly even if you don't work with them much. They are very beautiful, and the rooster's plumage is very dazzling.

You can sex this breed as day old chicks by just looking at their down color and feet, which is rather uncommon but very useful.

The are a very good beginner's breed, but even advanced chicken keepers sometimes keep a couple. I always like to have at least one Barred Rock in my flock.

I highly recommend this breed to both beginner and advanced chicken keepers who are looking for good layers or friendly pet chickens.

Good bird, mild mannered, somewhat friendly, one likes to be picked up when called to get into coop and run and one stands off and would love to make me chase her so I play it cool and wait for the daylight to diminish which drives her nuts to get into coop with her sisters but still hasn't learned to get inside when called.

First time chicken owner .

first off I love this bird . They have so much personality it’s crazy . They tend to stick with the flock for the most part but from time to time they will go off on their own.

they are very docile and friendly

they also summit a lot even when we are on the outside of the net . When they get out the come running up to you like “ oh I’m sorry I got our summit” lol

Out of my four hens, my Barred Rock is the most vocal - especially when I have treats! She is very sweet and an absolute beauty.

I have heard great things about Barred Rocks, so we decided to get one. He was a rooster named Brooks. He was so good looking, but wow, he was SO aggressive! He mounted those poor hens 100 times a day and whenever one of my kids went into the chicken free-range area to get the eggs, feed them treats, give them food or water, just play with the hens, etc. Brooks would attack them. He would attack my husband and me as well. Not to mention the fact that he crowed every minute! And I am NOT exaggerating! He crowed so much he lost his voice, but he STILL tried to crow! It's a shame because I have heard such great things about this breed, so I guess we really got horrible luck.

This is our first year with chickens and I did a lot of research trying to decide what breed would work best for us. I was torn between Barred Rocks and Australorps. Since Barred Rocks were much easier to come by, we went with them.

We have three hens, Hennessy, Henocide, and Murder Parade. Despite the names, they are sweeties and couldn't ask for a better bunch o' birbs.

We got them when they were already 16 weeks old and I worried they'd never be as people friendly as they would have been starting with chicks, but they warmed up fast. Now I'm trying not to step on them following me around, wondering what treats I have for them.

Since they're the only breed I have and they grew up together they aren't aggressive towards each other. I can't even figure out who is head hen because they all seem so gentle to one another and humans. They're big though, so I've heard they can be bullies.

The only thing to remember, although they are relatively quiet, there is always a chance you might get a chatter box. Two of my gals are happy little cluckers. Then there is Henocide, who is always squawking whenever there is someone around to hear her. It's not aggressive or louder than a barking dog. It is actually funny as long as she's not right next to my ear. She just happens to have a lot to say.

Love them.

Other than constantly stealing the cats food, the best breed we have. Shes calm, yet fearless. The only hen we have who hasn't been a bully to new arrivals.

Love my sweet BR hen. She is second in command but is much more docile than our top chicken and other hens. She's a great layer too, on average 5-6 eggs a week. She's still in her first year of laying so they're usually medium sized eggs but I'm hoping they get a little bigger once she's older.

My Barred Rocks are part of a mixed flock. They get a few hours a day to free range on acreage. I don’t handle them too much. I want them comfortable around me but alert. When they go into brush/thickets under trees with dappled shade they are hard to spot. I’v witnessed one in the open dodge a hawk attack and run for cover. Savvy birds!

Rosebud my first barred rock was my heart chicken I loved her alot. She was by far the best egg layer we had ever had (2-3 eggs layed EVERY day)!! The kiddos loved her and you could just walk outside and she was there ready to be picked up and thought she was queen bee of the roost. She was but she was very gentle putting the other hens back into their places. If she didn't understand something, she would tilt her head as if to say are you a complete idiot.

They are very intelligent(at least mine was). She loved loved LOVED food especially worms. People who say chickens are stupid are completely wrong. mine learned 2 tricks. Lay down and Jump and than the normal one all of our chickens learned was up( which is where i would pat something and they would jump there)

Only one con, to make up for all those eggs, she ate a ton of feed! Probably 3 cups a day + she was free range. I don't know how she packed that much away.

I highly suggest this breed if you looking for huge brown eggs at least one a day.

As everyone keeps saying - friendly, curious, laid back, reliable egg-layer.
In my previous chicken-keeping days I'd had mostly Rhode Island Reds and got this breed this time around only because the RIRs were all sold out at the monthly chicken swap meet. I bought just one, sold to me as a Cornish Barred Rock, and at 5 years old she's now the last of that round of hens.
We lost two very aggressive hens (a Silver Lace Wyandotte and a mixed something-or-other breed) to a renegade raccoon raid, and life for Roberta has been much more peaceful since then. We love her.

I always called these a good Blue collar breed . They are a durable tough breed well built for the colder regions . Will lay well even in the winter . These have survived well below zero temps at night in my uninsulated layer houses with no issues at all . An all around good reliable breed . Roosters will supply you with plenty of eggs ready for the incubator if you wish to hatch some of your own and are generally non aggressive . Barred Rocks are one of my old reliable all time favorites and I always have some in my poultry houses.

I had a barred rock rooster that I really didn't enjoy that much. Very flighty with fast wing growth, always jumping out of the coop. He protected the hens but was also sometimes mean to them. NEVER put with another rooster, even if they have enough hens. Mine had a humongous comb that easily got frostbite. Aggressive to basically anyone and anything!

We have 4 hens. They are sweet little ladies. They love to forage around our faryarden (Farm, yard, garden). Egg laying machines. We are in the shortest part of winter now and we are still getting about 3 eggs per day, with no artificial lighting.

My favorite chicken! She is vocal and curious, I can’t do anything without her right beside me. She is a calm girl and is great with the toddler.

This is Louise, she is 7.5 months now. I got my first flock of 4 chickens in April. I have a BA, SS,EE and BR. She started "laying" at about 20 weeks but there have been many problems with her eggs. I wold say 50% of the time she lays soft shelled eggs, maybe 2-3 times per week. So.....I don't get many eggs.

Besides the egg laying she is extremely loud, she is always walking around the yard like she's looking for something or someone whinning the whole time. She is also the bully of the bunch and has tried dominating me, which i showed her was not an option!

If I knew then what I know now I would have made other choices for chickens. I will not get another one of this breed. My fault though, I read the reviews that they can be bossy but I love the classic look of these so really wanted one. If she continues to have problems laying I may re-home her

November 11th, 2018: UPDATE..

Had to re-home mine, very aggressive to my other chickens. The straw for me was when I found her cornering bottom chicken in the nest box and pecking at her head pretty savagely....