16 week old barred rocks

junebuggena · Dec 25, 2017

Ryn2011 said:
I have been free feeding my Plymouth Barred Rocks since I purchased them. I use medicated grower feed and will switch to layer feed around 12 weeks. The directions are on the bag essentially and in my experience they seem to regulate themselves. Unlike the Cornish Crosses I just slaughtered, my BR's don't overindulge much. I also open the coop up to let them free range in the yard for a few hours a day if they so choose. I have a fairly large fenced in back yard and my four ladies are quite spoiled in my opinion. Now that they are attempting to roost on the perch inside the coop I will be adding several out in the run and move their heat source above. The below freezing cold snaps we've been having worry me and I'm trying to SLOWLY acclimate them to the wet windy winters we have here in Southern Indiana.View attachment 1218450 View attachment 1218455

Layer feed is for actively laying birds only. 12 weeks is too young to switch to layer feed. The high calcium can be fatal to developing birds, and the lower protein can drastically slow down the growth. Unmedicated starter or flock raiser should be given till she starts laying.

junebuggena · Dec 25, 2017

Ryn2011 said:
I have been free feeding my Plymouth Barred Rocks since I purchased them. I use medicated grower feed and will switch to layer feed around 12 weeks. The directions are on the bag essentially and in my experience they seem to regulate themselves. Unlike the Cornish Crosses I just slaughtered, my BR's don't overindulge much. I also open the coop up to let them free range in the yard for a few hours a day if they so choose. I have a fairly large fenced in back yard and my four ladies are quite spoiled in my opinion. Now that they are attempting to roost on the perch inside the coop I will be adding several out in the run and move their heat source above. The below freezing cold snaps we've been having worry me and I'm trying to SLOWLY acclimate them to the wet windy winters we have here in Southern Indiana.View attachment 1218450 View attachment 1218455

Also, they don't need heat anymore. They are more than able to tolerate temps down into the teens, once fully feathered.

Ryn2011 · Dec 25, 2017

junebuggena said:
Also, they don't need heat anymore. They are more than able to tolerate temps down into the teens, once fully feathered.

Thanks for responding. I was questioning whether or not to use a heat source anymore. My plan was to slowly integrate them but it seems I've been babying them a bit. I have only been turning it on when temps get below freezing at night. It stays off during the day.
I made a mistake and have since corrected it. I meant "around 18 weeks"...not 12. Thank you for pointing that out. I wouldn't want to pass out bad info.

speckledhen · Dec 26, 2017

To illustrate the difference in hatchery BRs and the true heritage lines, here are my birds. This was Lexie, my first BR hen, lighter than most BR hens and quite small. In this photo, she was about 4 years old, I think.

And one of my Stukel line BR hens-huge difference, no pun intended. Barring, comb, size, just everything is so different, they are almost different breeds. This hen is not quite a year old in this photo, just a year old. She is at least twice the size of Lexie. Not a food difference, they ate the same layer feed, though I fed my heritage lines more of the 22% layer than the 16% I used to feed my hatchery hens.