Chicken Breed Focus - Plymouth Rock

[TheLaboratoryBF]

Awww, so cute!

Thanks!

 

[Katrina113]

I am in my first year with my flock. We decided on 2 each of Barred rocks, New Hampshire red, Rhode Island red, and sex links. Out of all of them, my Rocks are the first and last to greet us (Bucky is the first, Izzy is the last), the first to explore new areas and treats, and both demand to be held. No others are that interested in being held, unless it's way past their bedtimes (we had an incident, and everyone acted like over-tired 2 year olds.) Don't tell the other girls, but they are my favorites.

 

[SnowPeeOstrichU]

My three are You and Ostrich and the roo And

 

[Akrnaf2]

I posted this photo elsewhere, but since this is a BR thread, thought it was appropriate.... I have officially gone to the birds.

Since when BP cockerels wear blue T shirts?!

 

[Bengt747]

Just out of curiosity, as this was labeled a Plymouth Rock thread but seems to have attracted numerous Barred Rock enthusiasts, what is the difference between a Barred Rock and Plymouth Rock? Is the barring on a Plymouth "closer together" or smaller than the barring found in Barred Rocks? Is there a significant weight difference found between the two breeds?

I had what I assume was a Plymouth Rock hen for a handful of years. She was one of my first "city hens."

 

[Kelsie2290]

Plymouth Rock is the breed, Barred is a color within the breed (they come in many colors) ... Barred is probably the most popular color for Plymouth Rocks in backyard flocks so people commonly just call them Barred Rocks for short instead of Barred Plymouth Rocks. Same shorthand is often used with the other colors, Partridge Rock = Partridge Plymouth Rock, Buff Rock = Buff Plymouth Rock etc etc you just don't see/hear about them as often.

 

[Kelsie2290]

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. 

Sounds like you are putting together a nice flock, nice assortment of breeds! Sorry about the loss of the BO chick.

 

[Kelsie2290]

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

Great Picture!

 

[Kelsie2290]

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

Very nice pictures, pretty flock of hens!

 

[Kelsie2290]

I posted this photo elsewhere, but since this is a BR thread, thought it was appropriate.... I have officially gone to the birds.

Funny picture! Looks like they started training you early!