Going to show off my ignorance!

[MontanaChickenLady]

Best....Best egg layer in my little flock of 4......Black Sex Link. She has a wonderful personality, pretty much leads the pack and lays very large, heavy, brown eggs and has barely missed a day since laying. She (Hattie) is awesome.

 

[galanie]

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But yours are breeder quality! And beautiful I might add. My barred rocks are just hatchery birds, and you know how that goes.

 

[aoxa]

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My polish are high on the pecking order. They even out rank my RIR.

If you want a good breed to go with polish, I would say Barred Rock. My barred rock hens are BFF's with my Polish hens.

Telling you now.. Polish are not good layers. They are either REALLY good or REALLY bad. My polish hen is 8 or 9 months old and has not laid an egg yet. My other polish is too young. I do have a polish mix that is prolific at laying!

I bet you that Barred Rocks are the #1 breed for every aspect of chicken raising. They are pretty, they lay well, they are cold hardy, they are friendly, and they deal well with every breed of chicken. The only negative they have going for them is that the roosters can be aggressive. Though this is not always the case. My rooster is very sweet. He is beginning that hormonal stage, and hasn't made any moves towards the humans.

 

[ChickenWisperer]

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x2 on that.


Aoxa, I seen you are in Canada. I don't know if your birds up there have different temperaments or yours are sq/bq, but the common barred rocks down here are over bred and as others have said, bossy or downright aggressive unless you have quality stock from a good breeder. I had one in my flock and while she wasn't the most aggressive (that goes to the BSL, RIR's, Delaware, and Orloff), DeeDee wouldn't pass up a chance to pull the feathers out of every less bossy hen in the coop!

I do agree sometimes on the polish. Out of my two sisters, one was much lower on the pecking order and the other was higher. Not the highest or the lowest, but due to their limited visibility you should always prepare for them to be low on the totem pole.

 

[Stephanie739]

I have 8 different breeds, including leghorns (my first group of chicks), pretty bantam cochin babies, and an assortment of other brown egg layers. The big chicks just recently accepted the new chicks into the flock with very little pecking. I wouldn't have it any other way! (If given the choice) I love them being able to free range together and head to the one big coop at night, very convenient.

 

[aoxa]

Quote:
x2 on that.


Aoxa, I seen you are in Canada. I don't know if your birds up there have different temperaments or yours are sq/bq, but the common barred rocks down here are over bred and as others have said, bossy or downright aggressive unless you have quality stock from a good breeder. I had one in my flock and while she wasn't the most aggressive (that goes to the BSL, RIR's, Delaware, and Orloff), DeeDee wouldn't pass up a chance to pull the feathers out of every less bossy hen in the coop!

I do agree sometimes on the polish. Out of my two sisters, one was much lower on the pecking order and the other was higher. Not the highest or the lowest, but due to their limited visibility you should always prepare for them to be low on the totem pole.

We most likely have totally different lines!

No, they are not overbred here. A breeder I got two from said he can't hatch them fast enough. They are very sought after. They were the firsts to sell at the fall show.

Not that mine are SQ by any means. They are not hatchery though. We do not have hatcheries that ship BR around Canada. We have VERY limited selection. It is a long process to import birds. I think they would have the common sense to only import lines they want to improve

You want to know how rare Buff Orpingtons are around my area? Not one single breeder in my province. Only one in a neighbouring province. Don't even get me started on Easter Egger Mutts! No chance of finding them anywhere around here!

ETA: Most common in my area are definitely silkies. It's kind of nice that we have a lot of different breeders that have never ordered from hatcheries. Not sure where they got their initial stock. I usually stick with one breeder that focuses on a lot of different breeds. He has been using the same stock for decades. He also shows. He does not sell culls. He prides himself on only the best. I am lucky to have found him!

 

[joanie_maine]

I raise Bantam Cochins and Belgian Booted d'Uccles.

I like the bantams because they take up less room and the roosters tend to bounce off kids ankles!

If I were going to get large fowl birds, I'd go for Barred Rocks. They are good layers, hardy in the cold, dual purpose so you can eat them and have a good sized bird.

Wyandottes and Orpingtons are good choices too if you want something that is a bit more colorful.

 

[Ducks and Banny hens]

Boy, you sure showed off your ignorance

Just teasing.
First of all, probably biggest, Hen color has less than nothing to do with egg color, and Earlobe color has nothing to do with egg color. If they match, that's coincidental. Secondly, all chickens are compatible.

 

[Thistlepony]

my barred rock is a delightful little hen that keeps my crippled Lavender orpington rooster company. I'm not getting eggs right now, though because it is cold & I'm not using lights. Kathyinmo, where could I get rocks that look like yours in western Canada. I love my little hen, but yours are Beautiful

 

[mamachick27]

Amen to the aggressive BR roo!!! I have one that goes for me on a daily basis!! Proud to say I haven't lost a fight yet!!!