Chicken Breed Focus - Plymouth Rock

[Kelsie2290]

We have a few barred rocks. Great disposition and gets along well with other breeds. One of my girls likes to follow me around, always sure I have a treat for her, which I usually do

Sounds like your Rock has you well trained in handing out the treats!

 

[Kelsie2290]

Here is my old lady barred rock, about five years old and still laying several eggs a week! She is a sweet girl.

What a pretty hen, very nice that she is still laying well at age five for you!

 

[NikkiCole5]

Very sweet looking pullet!

I thought they would get wild when I put them outside, but they are still sweet

 

[nickdlny]

Three of our 20 chicks are barred rocks. We had 18 total chicks consisting of gold and silver laced wyandottes, buff orpintons, and Isa browns--and then an unfortunate incident involving gravity, a heat lamp, and a poorly positioned BO left us with 17 chicks. We were fine with 17 chicks and then my first-grader picked up a library on chickens. She saw a picture of the barred rock and had to have one. At that point, I wasn't even sure that the barred rock was cold hardy enough to handle the West Michigan winter.

As it turned out, the barred rock is an excellent bird for our winters and they are readily available in this part of the world. We went to our local FFH to pick one up--chicken math kicked in and somehow we ended up with three.

Our barred rocks are the funniest birds we have in our flock. Their innocent curiosity looks alot like the curiosity that killed the cat, but it's so funny to see. Our barred rocks are a couple weeks younger and noticeably smaller than the rest of our flock, yet they lead the flock wherever it goes in the acre we have fenced in. They were the first to venture up onto the deck. They are the first to come investigate whatever snacks I may have in my hands when I walk out the door. At the same time, they are the ones that seem to enjoy human interaction the most--they are still the only ones that will just come up and let us pick them up without first warming them up with food. They fidget a lot when we pick them up, not that they necessarily want down, just that they want to see what's going on. One actually climbed up to my shoulder while I was sitting on the ground feeding the flock some bread.

I would love to say that the barred rocks are my favorite birds, but it's hard to. The silver wyandottes are my favorite looking birds. Based on what I've read, the Isa's are hands down the best layers. The most docile for my kids to hold are the orpingtons once they get warmed up to the idea of being held enough for us to get them off the ground. The barred rocks definitely have my favorite personality when they are interacting with the flock without human interference.

 

[N F C]

We have 4 BR's in our mixed flock, they are 1 year old now. They seem to handle the Florida heat & humidity well and get along beautifully with the other chickens. I like their classic chicken look and they are mellow birds (at least ours are).


Baby pictures


Posing


Checking out the squash


Resting after a hard day of scratching & pecking



Awesome at dust bathing!

 

[N F C]

I have one more baby photo to share. This one makes me laugh every time I see it...talk about attitude!

 

[Bnemi]

Perfect pictures!

 

[Akrnaf2]

Actually, I think the pumpkin picture shows their curiosity. I happened to have my phone with me when that hen saw the pumpkin for the first time, and she was fascinated by it. This was her full investigation:

You can just see her thinking, "What in the world is THIS?"

I think that she asking " how big is the chicken that laid this egg?!"

 

[N F C]

 

[Akrnaf2]

My favorite breed, very docile,good layer, a very good flock member, hot hardy, excellent breed.