Barred Plymouth Rock vs White Plymouth Rock

Fleetwood77

Songster
6 Years
Dec 10, 2015
61
4
101
Boise, Idaho
I have been debating what kind of chickens to get in spring and been trying to get as much information as possible. I am looking for chickens that are both good egg layers and tame/ friendly. I had decided on one of them being a Barred Plymouth Rock. Now I saw that Dunlap hatchery, who I'm going to buy from also has White Plymouth Rocks. Other than looks, are there any notable differences, especially as far as egg laying and demeanor are concerned?
 
Shape, demeanor and production are supposed to be the same across any breed. The only difference between varieties should be color and occasionally size.

Breed is shape (and other breed specific characteristics), variety is color.

I'm sure there are others but a couple Mediterranean breeds come to mind as examples.
Minorcas come in black, white and buff. The blacks are largest followed by the other two.
Penedesencas come in black, crele, partridge and wheaten. The black is the only DP variety so is a bit bigger.
However their shape and characteristics should all be the same.


ETA

For more information on breed characteristics, I recommend the following two breed charts.

http://www.sagehenfarmlodi.com/chooks/chooks.html

http://www.albc-usa.org/documents/chickenbreedcomparison.pdf

Plymouth Rocks come in Barred, White, Buff, Silver Penciled, Partridge, Columbian, Blue and perhaps others now.
I've had barred, white and partridge. No discernible difference other than color that I can recall.
 
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White rocks tend to be larger than barred. However do not get rock cornish crosses for laying; they are intended only for rapid meat production. You can prolong their life with effort, but they will never be layers.

In the case of either white or barred rocks, birds from breeders will be larger and of better temperament than ones from hatcheries.
 
Every chicken has its own personality. My female barred rock is very curious, but not as affectionate as my 3 month old cockerel--and I have had them both since they were days old. In fact the boy is the most people oriented of my flock of 6--but I have to rehome him or face the wrath of the zoning people and my neighbors! I think it does help to get them young , if you want them to be pets like we did.
 

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