Barred Rock Chicks ?

[dutchbunny83]

If you're hatching your own eggs you can get some pretty rare birds that they don't have in hatcheries.
I have Lavender Orpingtons in my incubator right now, super excited to see them come out.
I don't have any roosters, so I don't have to worry about keeping breeds separate.
I hear next to silkies, barred rocks are the "best" roosters for not being mean!
I've heard some stories about some nasty roosters!!!

 

[RedneckG1rl]

Yea my rooster is pretty nice and gentle . Yesterday was the first time he had ever come at me and that was when I was trying to pick up the hen to inspect her where she has a few bald spots but as soon as I put her down he was fine. They will let me pet on them but don't stand still that long ! The hen never gives me any problems when I get her eggs either but then again she doesn't sit on them so it's not like I am having to move her.

 

[speckledhen]

If you get real, heritage Barred Plymouth Rocks, they will brood. I have one right now sitting on eggs out of a 50 year pure heritage line. She's been broody 5 times already and she's only 2 yrs old. The hatcheries breed out that trait in favor of egg production, which is why most people get chickens in the first place. One of my breeder type Blue Rock hens just came off a broody spell, too.

None of my hatchery Rocks has ever been broody, not even their daughters.

 

[aoxa]

Yea , I haven't heard much about a BR hen being broody but I do know it is possible just rare I guess. I will just keep incubating the eggs until I get a hen that decides to hatch some out . I don't want to cross breed . I know I could get a different hen and she would sit on them . I am thinking about putting up another pen and getting some buff's or maybe another breed. I am just in love with my BR breed ! They are so beautiful and docile ! I may just start looking up different breeds. I know I want a big sized bird and I love the ones that have nice coloring or patterns .

My barred rock (production style - ie HATCHERY) was the best mother. She was raised by a broody, so maybe that is why she went broody. It is uncommon for high producing breeds to do so. She was roughly a year old when she decided to set.


She and a silkie shared parenting duties and raised 21 chicks.



also, here is a good comparison to go by in terms of colour for BRs once they are feathered out.

I am with Cyn (Speckledhen), you have a boatload of boys!

The more even the barring at the age your chicks are at, the more chances they are boys. Girls are quite blotchy at 3 weeks (which is the age I guess your chicks to be at).



Here are 5 of my BR chicks at the same age. There are only two girls. Far right corner, and second to the left.

**Note** I am talking production BRs in terms of uneven barring. Which is what most of us tend to have unfortunately. Cyn has the ringlet heritage BRs**

 

[RedneckG1rl]

At what age do y'all start introducing chicks to the adults ? I only have the one rooster and hen but right now I got the 17 chicks and 3 three day old chicks. How many do I stick in at a time and are they going to be aggressive towards them like some other breeds when bringing in new ones ?

 

[aoxa]

At what age do y'all start introducing chicks to the adults ? I only have the one rooster and hen but right now I got the 17 chicks and 3 three day old chicks. How many do I stick in at a time and are they going to be aggressive towards them like some other breeds when bringing in new ones ?

All depends on the chickens themselves... My barred rock rooster watched after the babies from day 1.. others may try and kill them. I'd say once they are 6-8 weeks you can add them.

I free range so there is very little bullying.. except maybe at bed time and around the feeders.

 

[RedneckG1rl]

Well as of right now I have a 10x10x10 dog lot that just has the hen and rooster in it and a tarp that covers half of the lot and also a small wooden housing thing they can go in whenever or get on top of to perch and this is where she lays her eggs. Once the chicks get older and I can determine which are hens and roosters and I will put the hens in there and by that time , have a separate place for the roosters and will be trying to find homes for them. I am looking into getting two more of the 10x10x10 lots and also a coop that is 10 feet in length so that it can be like a siding to the cage and won't take up any room in their space and by that time I would have a nice large space for em. How many would you think could a 10x10 house comfortably with out it being over crammed. I cannot free range my chickens , we have to many predators ! I used to have three dogs but about a year ago someone stole my two full blooded boxers and they did an awesome job at keeping coyotes and everything else away as well as killing animals that came on the property , but they probably would have killed my chickens as well. Now I have a mutt dog from one of the females litters and she is not a very good when it comes to keeping animals away ! There was a stray cat on my porch last night and I have no clue where she was ! She I fear to would kill the chickens and getting another animal is not an option , my hubby would kill me ! I currently have 3 horses and a donkey that no one wanted and I also have like 9 adult rabbits and 4 litters ! We also have 6 adult pigs and 16 piglets ....so ya he would kill me , I have already been warned !

 

[aoxa]

Well as of right now I have a 10x10x10 dog lot that just has the hen and rooster in it and a tarp that covers half of the lot and also a small wooden housing thing they can go in whenever or get on top of to perch and this is where she lays her eggs. Once the chicks get older and I can determine which are hens and roosters and I will put the hens in there and by that time , have a separate place for the roosters and will be trying to find homes for them. I am looking into getting two more of the 10x10x10 lots and also a coop that is 10 feet in length so that it can be like a siding to the cage and won't take up any room in their space and by that time I would have a nice large space for em. How many would you think could a 10x10 house comfortably with out it being over crammed. I cannot free range my chickens , we have to many predators ! I used to have three dogs but about a year ago someone stole my two full blooded boxers and they did an awesome job at keeping coyotes and everything else away as well as killing animals that came on the property , but they probably would have killed my chickens as well. Now I have a mutt dog from one of the females litters and she is not a very good when it comes to keeping animals away ! There was a stray cat on my porch last night and I have no clue where she was ! She I fear to would kill the chickens and getting another animal is not an option , my hubby would kill me ! I currently have 3 horses and a donkey that no one wanted and I also have like 9 adult rabbits and 4 litters ! We also have 6 adult pigs and 16 piglets ....so ya he would kill me , I have already been warned !

10 x 10 gives you 100 square feet for a run. If you have nothing else taking up floor space in there, that's enough space for 10 chickens according to the recommended 10 square feet of run space per bird.

 

[techpeak]

Out of my 9 different breeds here, the only one who ever goes broody is one of my barred rocks. We tried hard to get her to quit it the first year, then got smart. She's very protective and fought off a skunk to protect her brood (none of which were actually hers). As for nice roosters, both the roos we've had here have been extremely nice. They have both had a lot of handling since very young and spend very little time with the hens (we have a "bachelor" pad). One was a Wyandotte. He moved to another farm and we now have his son, a Wyandotte/Plymouth Rock cross. One of the barred rocks is his mother, so he doesn't get to spend time to with them EVER, but he produced a nice crop of "dottie-red-rocks" last year (wyanDOTTE, new hampshire RED, and barrred plymouth ROCK).

 

[graybeard]

I NEED HELP!!!
My daughter got 6 chicks as a bday gift. I'm unsure what I have. There are just over 7 weeks. The far left looks like a barred rock pullet(based on the build and the way it acts), the 2nd from left and very back look like black sex link pullets, the small one in front looks like an australorp (pullet or cockerel?), the 2 barred ones on the right end are much bigger and have distinct combs (barred rock or sex link?) I'm new to raising chickens, so these are just guesses I've come up with searching on here and other sites.