Barred Rock vs New Hampshire

[BonnieBlue]

Still narrowing down which breed(s) to add now, and the Barred Rock has entered the mix. I thought I had settled on New Hampshire, but then I read somewhere they are not great with heat. It seems the more I read with reasearch, sometimes I get conflicting information, so I'm coming straight to the chicken owner sources!

Do those of you with New Hampshires that live in warm climates and have them do well? I am in far SE Louisiana. Are NH's good layers?

What can Barred Rock owners tell me? All I am reading says good heat tolerance, but one hatchery site says they are "active" another says "docile". Are they good layers? Longevity?

Have any of you owned both breeds? If so, how would you compare them?

Thanks for any info you can give.

 

[ShrekDawg]

I used to have a wonderful Barred Rock hen for about 4 years and she was an amazing layer laying very large brown eggs almost every day. She was also fairly docile. She did like foraging when I free ranged them but that wasn’t every day and she tolerated confinement well as well. I could also pick her up. She wasn’t a super lap bird like my Australorps were but she also wasn’t overly flighty either. She was just amazing, honestly. Oh and she tolerated the heat fine as well as the cold. But we don’t get near as hot as you guys do down there (I’m in Massachusetts). But still. It does get quite hot occasionally plus very humid at times and she tolerated it just fine. I think as long as they have water and shade they’re good.

Then I also had another Barred Rock briefly, a cockerel, and he was amazing as well. I hatched him out (not from her eggs LOL) and raised him to about 8 or 9 weeks old before a predator unfortunately got to him but I would have kept him if that hadn’t happened. He was so docile and I could hold him and handle him and everything yet he was respectful still. Of course he was a little young yet to know how he would turn out but still. He seemed great at the time. I ended up keeping one of his hatch mates, a Lavender Orpington, instead. But yeah.

Anyways, I would HIGHLY HIGHLY recommend Barred Rocks. Fantastic birds.

That said, I will say though, that I ordered a Partridge Rock several years later after my wonderful experience with my first Barred Rock and she was NOT the same LOL I just found her… lacking in personality I guess???? And she was somewhat mean to the other birds. And personally, I didn’t think she laid nearly as well. But I also had more birds by then so I can’t be sure but yeah.

So I would recommend BARRED Rocks.

As for the New Hampshires, I can’t say as I’ve never had those but I HAVE had Buff Orpingtons, Black Australorps, a Delaware, Easter Eggers, and several other heavy, “fluffy”, breeds and all did perfectly fine even on the 90+ degrees, high humidity days in the middle of summer. So I imagine it would be the same for the New Hampshires but again… can’t say for sure since I’ve never had them.

Hopefully someone who HAS will come along and comment and maybe correct me if I’m wrong which I will gladly be corrected on this as I wouldn’t want any birds hurt or killed.

But to me, WATER and SHADE are the keys. They may pant a bit or open their wings, dig a dust bath in the cool dirt, whatever, but mine have always recovered once it cools down. And they usually don’t move much in the heat of the day either.

Hopefully all that helps and sorry for the novel.

 

[nuthatched]

Birds are individuals, it can vary wildly

 

[5Australorpasaures]

Me, BR. If I were to go red, RIR. My bias, my two favorites.

 

[LaFleche]

For warm to hot climate I would consider mediterranean breeds with larger combs like Leghorns, Egyptian Fayoumi, Minorka, Ancona, Andalusian and similar.

 

[BonnieBlue]

I used to have a wonderful Barred Rock hen for about 4 years and she was an amazing layer laying very large brown eggs almost every day. She was also fairly docile. She did like foraging when I free ranged them but that wasn’t every day and she tolerated confinement well as well. I could also pick her up. She wasn’t a super lap bird like my Australorps were but she also wasn’t overly flighty either. She was just amazing, honestly. Oh and she tolerated the heat fine as well as the cold. But we don’t get near as hot as you guys do down there (I’m in Massachusetts). But still. It does get quite hot occasionally plus very humid at times and she tolerated it just fine. I think as long as they have water and shade they’re good.

Then I also had another Barred Rock briefly, a cockerel, and he was amazing as well. I hatched him out (not from her eggs LOL) and raised him to about 8 or 9 weeks old before a predator unfortunately got to him but I would have kept him if that hadn’t happened. He was so docile and I could hold him and handle him and everything yet he was respectful still. Of course he was a little young yet to know how he would turn out but still. He seemed great at the time. I ended up keeping one of his hatch mates, a Lavender Orpington, instead. But yeah.

Anyways, I would HIGHLY HIGHLY recommend Barred Rocks. Fantastic birds.

That said, I will say though, that I ordered a Partridge Rock several years later after my wonderful experience with my first Barred Rock and she was NOT the same LOL I just found her… lacking in personality I guess???? And she was somewhat mean to the other birds. And personally, I didn’t think she laid nearly as well. But I also had more birds by then so I can’t be sure but yeah.

So I would recommend BARRED Rocks.

As for the New Hampshires, I can’t say as I’ve never had those but I HAVE had Buff Orpingtons, Black Australorps, a Delaware, Easter Eggers, and several other heavy, “fluffy”, breeds and all did perfectly fine even on the 90+ degrees, high humidity days in the middle of summer. So I imagine it would be the same for the New Hampshires but again… can’t say for sure since I’ve never had them.

Hopefully someone who HAS will come along and comment and maybe correct me if I’m wrong which I will gladly be corrected on this as I wouldn’t want any birds hurt or killed.

But to me, WATER and SHADE are the keys. They may pant a bit or open their wings, dig a dust bath in the cool dirt, whatever, but mine have always recovered once it cools down. And they usually don’t move much in the heat of the day either.

Hopefully all that helps and sorry for the novel.

Thank you for the info. Your experience lines up with a lot that I have read.

 

[ShrekDawg]

For warm to hot climate I would consider mediterranean breeds with larger combs like Leghorns, Egyptian Fayoumi, Minorka, Ancona, Andalusian and similar.

Good idea. I didn’t even think to mention those. While my fluffier breeds DID do pretty well and survive the heat, we also only really get a few 95+ days a year LOL not sure how they would do where the heat and humidity was constant. Although I still think they would be okay. Maybe not as well as Mediterranean breeds but okay. My BR actually had a MASSIVE comb and wattles for her breed LOL maybe that contributed????????? Not sure if one with a smaller comb would have done as well????????

But anyway, my White Leghorn was awesome too! Laid a huge white egg every single day (she only took off maybe a couple days her whole life) and she wasn’t flighty like they say the breed is. She was bold, curious, and very personable. Handleable as well. And a FANTASTIC forager!!!!!!!!! Some of the other chickens learned how to stand there and have US dig for the worms or lift the rocks. not her!!!!!!!!!!!! She found everything herself!!!!!!!!! That said, she did tolerate confinement too. So they may be another breed to consider. But be warned that not every bird will be as friendly as mine probably. I think I just got lucky and/or maybe because she grew up with such calm chickens, she learned from them. IDK. But there ARE a lot of flighty ones in the breed so if you want to avoid that, maybe don’t go for this breed. Although I do believe they can be tamed down with enough of handling. Although mine was just naturally calm from the beginning but yeah.

They can sometimes be loud though. Mine could be demanding when she wanted to be but he Delaware “sister” was a bad influence on loudness.

 

[ShrekDawg]

Thank you for the info. Your experience lines up with a lot that I have read.

No problem!!!!!! Happy to help!!!!!!

 

[LaFleche]

Good idea. I didn’t even think to mention those. While my fluffier breeds DID do pretty well and survive the heat, we also only really get a few 95+ days a year LOL not sure how they would do where the heat and humidity was constant. Although I still think they would be okay. Maybe not as well as Mediterranean breeds but okay. My BR actually had a MASSIVE comb and wattles for her breed LOL maybe that contributed????????? Not sure if one with a smaller comb would have done as well????????

But anyway, my White Leghorn was awesome too! Laid a huge white egg every single day (she only took off maybe a couple days her whole life) and she wasn’t flighty like they say the breed is. She was bold, curious, and very personable. Handleable as well. And a FANTASTIC forager!!!!!!!!! Some of the other chickens learned how to stand there and have US dig for the worms or lift the rocks. not her!!!!!!!!!!!! She found everything herself!!!!!!!!! That said, she did tolerate confinement too. So they may be another breed to consider. But be warned that not every bird will be as friendly as mine probably. I think I just got lucky and/or maybe because she grew up with such calm chickens, she learned from them. IDK. But there ARE a lot of flighty ones in the breed so if you want to avoid that, maybe don’t go for this breed. Although I do believe they can be tamed down with enough of handling. Although mine was just naturally calm from the beginning but yeah.

They can sometimes be loud though. Mine could be demanding when she wanted to be but he Delaware “sister” was a bad influence on loudness.

The big combs wdure help a lot but risk frost bite in winter.

I did have New Hampshires once from heritage breeding stock and I still have and breed heritage Amrocks since many years.
Depending on their respective blood lines the plumage, heat tolerance, egg size and numbers and overall performance can differ widely as can their attitude.
And the way they are raised and kept also comes into play.

 

[ShrekDawg]

The big combs wdure help a lot but risk frost bite in winter.

I did have New Hampshire's from heritage breeding stock and I still have and breed heritage Amrocks since many years.
Depending on their respective blood lines the plumage, egg size and numbers and overall performance can differ widely as can their attitude.
And the way they are raised and kept also comes into play.

Ahhhh okay that makes sense. I did have a bird get a little frost bite once but I don’t think it was my Barred Rock or even my Leghorn. I think it was one of my roosters.