Plymouth Rock thread!

[SChunn]

I was wondering if anyone can tell me if BR are slow growers. I have 6 that I purchased two weeks ago along with 6 GLW. All should have been about 4 weeks at the time. They were a smidge smaller than the dottes at that time, but the dottes seem to have doubled in size while the BR are just "kinda" gaining. The dottes are twice the size of the BR's. All are eating well, active and seem healthy. They are 6-8 weeks old now and are almost completely featherd except for the fuzzy butts. Dotts are at the same stage of feathering.

 

[aggies2011]

My Rooster

One of my Hens she the oldest the others are younger.

 

[Chido]

This is such a cool thread

. I have a question, though, since my brother-in-law bought a barred plymouth rock hen at the feed store today. He dropped me off there on the way to pick up the kids from school, and while i was waiting, two people came into the store to "donate" some chickens they couldn't keep anymore because of neighbors complaining about noise (or so they said). one of the owners, a lady, told me when I asked her about her chickens that they got them as Easter chicks last year, and that makes the birds about 16 months old more or less.

When my BiL saw the barred hen, he liked her and bought it on the spot. I examined her and while her feathers look a bit damaged, her feet look great, there's no discharge from eyes or nose, no bad breath, and no mites as far as I could tell. We don't have a scale that is good to weigh the new hen, so we used the bathroom scale and me holding her to get an idea of how heavy she is, and she is over 5 pounds. Is that an ok weight for a hen? I read they average more than 7 pounds, so could it be possible that she is underweight? Does this breed keep gaining body mass after one year of age?

Thank you for any info you guys can give me

!

 

[Inkheart]

Quote:
I have bantams but they are VERY slow growers . and they go thru a little naked dinosaur awkward stage. They worth the wait tho!

 

[speckledhen]

Quote:
She is a bit underweight, but if she has a small frame, as some hatchery birds do, it may be her prime weight. I have a BR who is quite small and probably only weighs about that, but I also have one who probably weighs almost 8 lbs.



Oh, Rex attempted mating for the first time today! Crowed first time yesterday, mating today. Maybe eggs will come soon! Would be awesome!

 

[itom37]

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From my mixed flock, my barred plymouth rock was the slowest to grow by far, despite the best appetite and an entirely healthy demeanor. She has since caught up (they're almost 3 months).

 

[WhySayWhat]

I figure it's high time I shared a photo of my hen! Now that I know for sure she is really a she.

There was quite a debate on her this spring while she was growing! She has a massive, tall comb that is so heavy it folded over and has a permanent 90 degree bend in it now! She started laying right at 18 weeks too. Her coop-mates are a pair of SLWs, one of them started laying at 20 weeks and at 23 weeks old (today) we are still waiting on our other SLW to start laying. (Sneakiest darned Roo ever if that's the case though!)

Anywho, here she is! She is the bossiest chicken in the group, demands to eat first, won't let the other two anywhere near a meal worm (she eats every last one, even if I mix them into other treats), picks her roosting spot (it changes nightly), and is downright mean to the other two! My other hen refuses to sleep anywhere near her on the roost, she opted to sleep outside the other day just to avoid her! (I went outside and rearranged the chickens, in the dark, to make room for her on the roost.) The head directly behind her is my "yet to lay" pullet/sneaky roo and the rump behind that is my other hen.

 

[speckledhen]

Here's Rex and several of his girls:

 

[kathyinmo]

Quote:
YAY for Rex and the girls! Hope they bring you many many fertile eggs!

 

[jeremy]

Rex and Gloria Jean will make Blue Barred Rocks, right Cyn?