Barred Rock the meanest breed?

[Mtn Cur]

Mean = KILLED three of my red sexlinks. Traded the br's off and got more sexlinks and threw them in the coop after bringing them home, and have had zero problems since.

 

[chickerdoodle]

My BR, Beatrice is not only very friendly to the other pullets and humans but to dogs too! I swear she even has a sense of humor!

It started as a young chick and at near 16 weeks of age I think she she has started to laugh out loud--but if you look in her direction she acts like everything is normal. She is mocking me.

Here she was at 10 weeks old--already started showing that funny bone:

 

[speckledhen]

Quote:
I promise you that is highly unusual with Barred Rocks. You got a bum deal with a bad strain of them, looks like. Sorry but I promise you that behavior is not typical of Barred Rocks at all. My bunch would completely change your mind about them.

I had a bad experience with super-aggressive Delawares, hatchery stock. They were just terrible, hatched from hatchery parents, mean as snakes. Sold them all, but now you see my avatar. These breeder Dels are completely different and the way they are supposed to be. Probably the same happened with your BRs, just a bad bunch, but not representative of the breed.

 

[Knock Kneed Hen]

I bought two BR pullets and now have one pullet and one cockerl. The hen is always one of the first to come and check things out. I handled her a lot when she was a chick because she was always right there. I have an EE that loves to be held and will seek me out. Whenever I have her, or any other bird, and put them down the BR hen runs up to them and pecka them. Now I grab her before she has a chance! I hold her, love on her and let her know that she's not going to get away with it. She still tries every time though. I'm hoping she'll mellow out when she starts laying.

 

[Jeeper1540]

my BR is always letting my pullets know he (its a hen) is in charge. noting too violent or bloody, just a peck on the head if they are in the way

 

[AllCoop'dUp]

I'm still waiting to hear what happened to the babysitter??

Also, although I think it's good to have an aggressive rooster that can protect the flock against predators, continually attacking the "hand that feeds" isn't any fun to deal with. I particularly would love to borrow a couple of very aggressive roosters to teach my dog a lesson or two!

 

[speckledhen]

You can have a calm rooster who is aggressive when he is supposed to be. I know because I've had quite a few of them. A stupid rooster attacks the hand that feeds him. An intelligent one realizes who is really a threat to his girls and who isn't.

 

[mississippifarmboy]

I agree with SpeckledHen, Barred Rocks are very calm overall, but any breed can have an aggressive rooster, some strains are worse than others. I've raised many different breeds over the years and haven't seen any more aggression in BRs than any other breed. I have noticed that in a mixed flock, the barred rocks will usually be a bit higher up on the pecking order than some other breeds, but I seldom have any problems with them.

On another note; I've always recomended Black Giants & Standard Cochins to first time breeders because I've never had a mean rooster of those breeds, and I've had hundreds of both breeds from several bloodlines over the years. We are just getting back into the giants and bought several day old chicks from a breeder in Tennessee with some nice stock. I've culled them down to two roosters, just couldn't make up my mind between them... until this morning. I went to feed and one of the black giant roosters jumped me from behind and flogged the heck outta me before I knew what was happening. Just goes to show ANY breed can have the rare mean rooster. Don't write a breed off until you try several strains.

btw, the rooster in question is now in the cull pen, so that made my choice easier.

 

[chickenriot]

Did someone say something bad about ME???? I'm a sweetheart ! Just ask me....

 

[Wheels]

I have 26 Barred Rocks and 5 white Rocks and I would not trade them for any other breed. Although these are the 1st set of chickens I have ever own. I only have 1 Rooster. He is well behaved. All of them came from a hacthery. When I got them I played with them a lot and anyone who came over was allowed too also.Iwas hoping this would make them people friendly. Seem like it worked.