Are heritage Barred Rocks worth waiting/paying extra for?

[Leilukka]

This is our Monty, a Heritage barred rock from show stock. We didn't even put him up for sale and a lady reached out to us asking if he's for sale. He's very beautiful. We are toying with the idea. We wanted to breed him more but the city we live in puts a limit on chickens. Just curious, what is the going rate for selling a Heritage show stock barred rock rooster?

 

[Fecter]

do these look like hens or roos

 

[Leilukka]

do these look like hens or roos

I see one rooster and three hens. The rooster look like a white bird with black stripes, while the hens look like a black bird with white stripes. The white stripes are thinner on a hen.

 

[jhatfield1982]

Hey all. We are getting ready to start our 2nd year of backyard chicken farming and I have a question about heritage barred rocks. To make a long story short, we purchased 6 chickens last year that were supposed to be all barred rocks. There was a mixup at the hatchery and we got 2 BR and 4 black sex links. Of the barred rock, one is female and one is male. The female is a little runt of a thing, or so I assume, since I have nothing else to compare it to. It isn't the big dual purpose bird that I was expecting. Is this due to it being a "production" bird and not a heritage? We would like to start raising chicks for dual production, but I'm not sure it will be worthwhile if this is the size of a normal BR.

Is there an actual difference between the heritage BR and what I would get at a hatchery? If so, are there any suggestions on where I could get some heritage BR online?

There is an enormous difference between true heritage breeds and your typical production/hatchery stock. I’ve personally raised both and it’s night and day in the barred rocks. The heritage versions are stunning and quite large. I have stock from Frank Reese of Good Shepherd Conservancy and if you want true heritage, dual purpose barred rocks, his are as real as they come. His line of barred rocks dates back to the 1950s when he got his stock from Ralph Sturgeon, who got his line directly from EB Thompson who created the breed!

https://goodshepherdconservancy.org/about/?v=2b8741a3dcda

 

[Folly's place]

Welcome @jhatfield1982 !
The heritage birds are beautiful too.
Mary