Which hatchery has the best laying strain of Barred Rocks?

[jmc]

Quote:
don't know about that one!!

I know Mt. Healthy and Clearview among others have their own farms, as does Townline.

 

[jmc]

Quote:
This is absolutely true, contrary to what some say. MH does 'some' feather sexing, perhaps on the sex links produced by them. But i know for a fact that the large fowl like RIR and BR among the others, are vent sexed, and are older strains.

Of course, not all their birds are show quality, nor do they advertise that!!

 

[KyBlue]

I found a couple pictures I had taken of my 2 yr. old Mt. Healthy BR. They are pretty big bodied birds as far as hatchery BR go.

 

[jmc]

thanks ky. i love your campines.

 

[A.T. Hagan]

With the caveat that I have not actually tried their birds yet Decorah Hatchery claims to have Barred Rocks that will lay 250+ eggs in their pullet year.

My next chick order is going to be with them to check them out.

 

[Cowgirl71]

A.T. Hagan :

With the caveat that I have not actually tried their birds yet Decorah Hatchery claims to have Barred Rocks that will lay 250+ eggs in their pullet year.

http://www.decorahhatchery.com/breeds/index.html

My next chick order is going to be with them to check them out.

Their Barred Rocks do look VERY interesting! I'm wondering why they have their straight run chicks priced higher than their pullets???

ETA: I just emailed them and asked them if they guarantee live delivery, 90%+ pullets, and would they have Barred Rocks available in April (I looked all over their website and couldn't find anything). I'm eagerly awaiting their reply!

 

[jmc]

they are surely smallish production rocks from a 'production strain'. would be interesting to see what would come out of a breeding!

townline also has production rocks as does clearview in pa. both have good reputations. clearview is used extensively in my area, even though they keep a very low profile.

 

[Cowgirl71]

I started this thread a while ago, and since then I've decided that I want some Barred Rocks that lay VERY well (hopefully as well as a Production Red), but also a decent meat bird. By decent, I mean better than a production Leghorn.

Thank you jmc for reopening this thread! I'm very excited about Decorah's strain. They haven't emailed me back yet so I think I'm gonna call them. Their pricing sure is strange though...

And thank you A. T. Hagan for telling me about them! I really like the Barred Rock breed, but my BRs from McMurray are awful layers...

 

[jmc]

i really wouldn't count on getting a decent meat bird out of a production br. in fact, the founder and manager of clearview hatchery told me that a production br is NOT useful as a meat bird. i just asked him this a couple days ago as a matter of fact.

you might get a bit more than a leghorn, but if you are just you and maybe one other, it might be worth your time. Now Mt. Healthy's br s, on the other hand........................

good luck either way, kiddo

 

[Cowgirl71]

I don't really want them as a meat bird per se, but for making chicken soup. For soup, the bird really doesn't need to be all that meaty. I'd prefer to save on feed with my layer flock and have slender roosters, than have chunky hens and roosters that eat more.

I've made many many batches of chicken soup from our home-raised RIR, BR, and EE roos. It's delicious (just had another pot last night in fact)! Once I made soup with a Cornish X and it was very bland. However when I roast a chicken, the dual-purpose birds are very strong-flavored and the meat is tough. Long story short, I believe each type of bird has it's place. A good chicken soup is my family's favorite winter dinner, so I definitely have an outlet for all my extra roos!