Plymouth Rock

Love my barred rock hen. She is the leader of my flock. A little stubborn if I don't let her free range for long enough. She was friendly at first because the previous owner worked with her. Unfortunately, that vanished about 6 months of living with me as I did not handle her regularly.
Great egg layer 4 to 5 eggs a week.

I am a plymouth rock chicken, I am the best.

We have heritage barred rocks and love them. 50% go broody and we keep chicks every year. Wonderful in cold climates, clean, not fussy chickens. Consistently very good egg layers. Have a hiatus period in December at molt. We live in the NE where the breed was developed and they do very well in the Winter with proper shelter.

Sadly, I believe our BR was negatively affected by her upbringing. This tells me that if you ignore or abuse your chickens, they will suffer. She spent her life before me (18 months) in a large cage inside a very large industrial building - almost like a small airplane hanger. She only socialized with her rooster and her 1 pullet that we also bought as a young hen. She had NEVER been outside, was afraid of the rain, did not know how to walk up the ramp to the coop, had to be taught how to lay in the nesting box, and if allowed to free range until dark, she had to be picked up or led back to the coop. She was very mean to her own daughter, often chasing and pecking at her, and not letting her near the food until mom was full. You could never hold her, and she was loud.

I've been researching on this breed, and it is possibly the friendliest. They are so sweet and great for kids. I love the beauty of their feathers. Their feathers are heavy but extremely soft. They also lay great brown eggs. BPRs can lay up to 280 eggs per year. They are fine with humans and other chickens- they won't bully them or boss them around, nor BE bullied or bossed around. Since they are quite big, you probably won't lose them at their largest. They weigh about 6.5 lbs(average), so they're not that bad for meat, either. These chickens start laying at about 18 weeks.

When mine were teenagers, they would all sleep on my lap every night, but they soon died off from predators. Even though they were amazing, I wouldn't get them again because I want to experience more breeds.

I have several partridge rock hens and the only ones I lost were my fault. They lay nice eggs, but not a ton of them. The cockerels I butchered were pretty decent for a heritage breed. I recommend these nice birds for a headache free experience.

This is only my second group of chicken, my first being Sex-link (brown & black). I find the Plymouth Rocks to be big talkers: talk, talk, talk, all the time. Can be a bit noise. They lay well, I have four hens and average three eggs daily, so far. I just got them in December last year. I'll have to see how they do in the winter. But considering how hot it gets here in North Texas, 3-4 eggs daily during the heat, was unexpected. I do find them to be somewhat picky eaters. My last chickens was eat up, whatever you gave them without a complaint. These girls, will walk way from anything, they don't like, sometimes without even trying it and don't even think about changing they're food :-(. They seem to prefer to look around for something better, usually my potted plants :-0. Anyway, as long as your closest neighbor doesn't have a problem with the noise or you. Then they are fine. Although, I do plan on going back to the sex-linked once I add to my flock. Probably have to separate them, because these girls are very bossy to each other. Can't imagine them taking in new members very well.

I'm in Central Florida, btw.....

I have 3 PR hens, and until this week, all have been incredibly awesome. They are friendly- we've handled them since chicks- they'll come running and will jump into my lap when they see a treat bag. They are definitely characters! Very talkative, very observant, responsive. Two of them love to be petted, and will settle right down in your lap and take a nap. The third wants nothing to do with being caught, and will squawk and flap like the world is ending.

They are trainable ;mine will come when I call, and will walk-single file!- nicely back into their coop when yard-time is done. Mine even know their names. One will jump up high to get a single mealworm from my fingers. Another has figured out that yellow bag has the rest of the mealworms, and will try to get into it. (Why jump for ONE, when she can eat the rest! Smarty!!!) The third just walks around the bag, wondering what the rest are doing. LOL!

However, they do follow a definite pecking order, and if someone gets out of line, the dominant will let them know...painfully so.

They lay nice big light brown eggs reliably, until they molt. Then they stop for a while. They seem quite cold-hardy as well, not even blinking an eye when it dipped below freezing for several nights in a row. They don't care much for the hot summers, but I keep nice shady areas for them, fresh water always, and nice cool sand for them to dig down into.

Their feathers are incredibly soft and fluffy, a joy to stroke and pet. And we love to laugh at the fluffy butts.

I would recommend them highly for a flock. Get them young and handle them frequently. I've heard they can live for a long time as a pet. (My vet has a few, and they are her favorite!) Nothing as pretty as a flock of speckled Plymouth Rocks, in my opinion.

Roosters are mean I Have 2 of them one of them is the biggest sweetheart you will ever meet. The other rooster is a different story if you know what I mean. Hens are very friendly but sometimes bossy, pick on others, and lay eggs everyday for me.

By far, this is one of the friendliest breeds I have had the pleasure of raising. My newest PR hen is a big baby, and my husband and I have grown attached quickly. She adjusted very quickly to our existing flock, and lays beautiful, medium-sized brown eggs pretty much daily for us. My husband laughs and tells me he never thought he would ever "pet" a chicken, but sure enough our hen likes to jump in your lap and be loved on. Very good free-ranger, and very intelligent.

Would love some Pullets

We got our silver penciled plymouth rock hen, Mickey, from our schools kindergarten class who hatches eggs every year, and we take them home to our coop for free. She is very pretty and her feathers are silky soft. She lays 1 egg every day even through the winter, but she's not our friendliest bird. She runs away from me when I try to catch her. When I do catch her though, she is very friendly.

Not sure if I should be so biased, as I've only kept 1 Barred Plymouth Rock hen before, named "Lola" (I dunno why, it sounded cute). She's very jumpy and doesn't like human interaction, but isn't aggressive at all--too meek in fact--and is picked on by all 3 of my other chickens. From what I've seen, she lays eggs regularly, although they're smaller than the eggs of my other chickens. Meh...she's pretty sweet when you can catch her and hug her, she just stands on my lap and "talks" to me, repeating the same couple of clucks over and over. I have no idea what it means but it's pretty adorable, heh. I'm not so sure about this but she doesn't seem real smart either. When all her buddies are out foraging in the yard, she's running back and forth along the side of their coop and trying to find the exit.

Plymouth Rocks are an excellent and very popular dual purpose breed. Hatchery-bred hens are typically friendly, curious, and excellent layers. While they are considered to be a brown egg laying breed, mine have all laid eggs on the lighter side.

We owned a barred rooster, many years ago, who was highly aggressive--drew blood and knocked over kids. He had to be eliminated.

The colour patterns of Partridge, Blue/Black, Silver Pencilled, and Buff are uncommon and very beautiful. White and Barred are popular. They are valued for their egg laying abilities as well as versatility in the stewpot.

The hens are easily acquired and are a good choice for making homemade sexlinks using a solid coloured rooster.

I currently own one although I plan to get more, as my girl is not only one of my best layer she also always runs to greet me when I walk out the door. She's layed a large egg everyday since she was 5 months old. I'd definitely recommend Plymouth rocks to anyone with a backyard flock!

My barred rock is the nicest girl of my flock. She comes to the gate of her coop to greet me each time I go out there. Always the first to venture into the unknown parts of the backyard when they're let out. When she was a chick, if I was paying too much attention to someone else, she would let me know by pulling on my sleeve or gently tapping my hand until I turned to her. Great layers and friends, very curious and docile. I will get this breed again.

I can probably sum up our Barred Rocks by saying this: One of ours (Sunny) has her own Facebook page - and even friends of ours who are "too cool for the room" follow her, and consider her the mascot of backyard chickens.

We have two Bared Rocks, Sunny and Louise. They couldn't be more different. Louise is a big, gosspiy bird who produces an egg nearly every day. Meanwhile, Sunny is a little runt who thinks she's a person.

We love them both. They are so entertaining and loving! We literally can't sit down in the back yard without Sunny flapping up to sit on our laps, or in the chair next to us (or, in my husband's case, on his head). They always come running whenever they hear the door open, and follow us around like puppies. They have more personality than some cats I've known!

They are incredibly gentle with our young kids, they eat right our of our hands, and love to be petted. If you are looking to get chickens as pets, I recommend at least two of these. I hope you get a Louise and Sunny out of the deal!

I currently have a 6-month old barred rock hen, she is is very docile. She isn't too reluctant when I pick her up, and she looks very good. Doesn't bully other chickens, only pecks others lightly when she's eating.