This is my flock of Barred Plymouth Rock Chickens from Cackle Hatchery. I got these birds on June 25th, 2014 so they're just over 3 months old in this video. I have 15 hens and one rooster.
Got some Barred Plymoth Rocks from Cackle Hatchery and they lived to be extremely old (between 9 and 12) and were excellent hens. I like your set up and how well you seem to have connected with your chickens (especially noted in the fact that your rooster is so calm around you). All of this really leads to less stress on the birds and will increase their longevity and egg production (I had hens from this breed lay up until they were 7 or 8). Great job and good luck! :)
Beautiful flock. We just adopted a 5 month old Barred Rock rooster from Cackle Hatchery. He's a beauty, and we're looking forward to breeding him with our hens. You sure take good care of your birds. Happy hens = tasty eggs!
Tater Salad is a wicked name for a rooster! hahaha...My Barred Rock rooster, Roo, will take a running go, flapping his wings to help, straight up a 6ft chain-link fence to perch on top!
Healthy and happy ! Great chickens,,,now you need a incubator and you are on your way to raising your own. I have ordered from the Cackle hatchery for years. I want to get some geese next year if I ever get my secure pen built.
I'm getting ready to place an order with Cackle Hatchery for February/March and I can't wait! Thanks for posting this, I was also happy to see that you recorded this with a Galaxy S4 - I will use my new Note 5 to make some video's :) Beautiful Birds!
I had two barred rock chickens to. I had a rooster and a hen. My hen was a very good layer, my rode island red chickens or whatever don't lay as much, but I got 6 eggs in one day/night. My barred rock chicken layed 3 eggs, just by herself. I loved her, but sadly the rooster and she were wiped out by two black labs. 😕 you have some good egg layers tapq.
Man everything kills chickens. I kept mine in a dog kennel while I was building their big coop. One night 3 raccoons killed 7 of my 12 pullets. After systematically eliminating all raccoons on my property, I made a point to predator proof my coop. I build a foundation frame out of 2x6 boards, ran chicken wire under that, then put 12 inch by 12 inch concrete pavers on top of the wire inside and then some to form a border outside. Then I piled dirt on top of the pavers inside the coop. NOTHING is getting in there short of a bear tearing through the side. Even then, at night I shut them up in their enclosed perching area which is made of solid decking board secured into 4x4 logs. If something goes far enough to get into that, it'll make enough noise to wake me up and have to contend with an angry 6'4'' man with a 12 gauge. Haha.
I have 29 barred rocks. They’re small but they’re funny. I named the roster we have Cooper, and two hens that I can tell apart from the others, Mary, & KiKi.
I have my own plymouth rock chickens..plus few leghorn and australorp hens. And this video is main reason why i get plymouth rocks beside other breeds :) ! Great flock! And such a beautiful chickens. Greetings from Serbia !
I had a coop just like that with a starter of 7 chickens I have 2 now with each a broken wing and my 3 year old has a big gash in its neck I would recommend song stronger wire cause that raccoon broke through the top of that wire
On behalf of the chickens: have them walk on soil instead of straw. In the soil the chickens can take a soil/dust bath. Such a bath is part of their natural behaviour. Kind regards
paultje jansen Thanks for the comment. They still take dust baths. They just scratch in an area to move the wheat straw out of the way and take their dust baths. The wheat straw helps keep the area from getting too muddy and nasty in times when we're having lots of rain. It also helps keep the eggs they lay free of dirt and grime. Have a great day!
I have barred rocks as well and love them. I have raised chickens for 3 years now. How many predator attack attempts have you had? Successful or non successful?
I have 4 chickens 2 are Black Barred Rock there names are Dani (she mostly has white feathers but has black) (all of mine are hens) Raven (mostly black and she's mean) then I have My Road Island Red Chickens named Chica and Miss B
"Tater Salad" was just a cockerel in this film. The females were officially pullets, since they had not laid, yet. A cockerel becomes a cock at 12 months old, although able to breed at 6 months. They are the equivalent of adolescent teens. I love your use of proper terminology. I would really like to see them as adults, now.
Hi, do the barred rock hens ever get loud? I have bantam Old English Game Hens and they get pretty noisy in the early afternoon. I just got 3 female barred rocks and I'm hoping they're not as loud as the bantams.
coeruleo The hens are pretty quiet until they lay an egg. When they lay an egg, they "talk" about it for about 3 minutes. Otherwise, they're nice quiet birds. The Rooster is another story. He's very vocal. He crows all day long pretty much.
I have a hen and a rooster like this. The hen is a sweetheart and the rooster got so hateful we had to get rid of him. How do you keep yours from trying to kill you lol
In my experience, once they're mean, they're mean. Getting rid of him was your best bet. There's no rehabilitating a mean rooster. If you get another rooster, as a chic. be sure not to tease him or pick at him. If you handle your birds give him some affection and extra attention to make sure he never sees you as a threat. If you don't handle your birds just make sure that you talk to him softly when interacting with him, don't make sudden jerky moves, or loud noises, and don't turn your back to him.
MelonHeadSeb I have put some bricks and cinderblocks and pieces of scrap wood around the outside perimeter of the pen in several areas. So far that has worked. I inspect the area daily. If you have any suggestions though, I'd love to hear them. Thanks!
+tapq I grew up on a farm with chickens. Chickens always take me bsck to my childhood. Predators were a constant problem. One that my parents either never dedicated themselves fully to remedy or one that they gave up on and were defeated by. I'll probably never know. I, however have vowed to take every measure possible to never expose my future chickens to the perils that they faced on our farm growing up. Predators that dig will typically dig right at the base of your coop where the wall and the ground meet to form an "L" shape. I would take a section of chicken wire and run it all around the perimeter of the entire coop. Make it so it's "L" shaped so you have half of your roll stapled to the outer wall of your coop. I would lay the other half down on the ground and bury it underground a bit. It might be easier to just lay a bunch of wood chips/mulch over it along the portion laying on the ground. Mulch it well all the way up to the base of your coop. Bury it a few inches deep. Anything that tries to dig around the perimeter will reach the chicken wire under the mulch and won't be able to go any further. Chicken wire does degrade after a while though. Particularly where it is in constant contact with the ground or moisture. As long as you stay on top of maintaining the integrity of your wire, I seriously doubt that any predators will be able to get through. Is it possible? Yeah, but not very likely. It sounds like the open top was the weakest link in your past attempt at chickens. I definitely plan on having a maremma or anatolia sheppard fully dedicated to my livestock. They will even protect your animals against birds of prey (and against humans harassing your birds) if trained properly. Poly coated wire for the underground/perimeter might be a better longer lasting option to consider. Best of luck to you. Snakes eating our eggs were a huge problem too.
i am pretty new to this-- getting ready to obtain 3 "partridge rock hens"- are theses the same that you have-- also-- are these pretty good egg laying chickens-- thanks for your help
Jonathan Hetrick Partridge Plymouth Rocks are a different breed than these. Mine are Barred Plymouth Rocks. The Partridge Plymouth Rocks have a brownish-red coloration and are beautiful birds. Based on what I read they're great for beginners so I'm sure you'll be very happy with them.
fudgedog It's actually about 3 years old. I expect to get another year or so out of it. I have now finished building a large coop to house the newest members of my flock, 51 Cinnamon Queens also from Cackle Hatchery. I'll do a video on it very soon. Thanks for the question!
tapq if you put a coat of paint on the chip board or if you did it would last allot longer.. or you could put on some siding and even better. but its a really nice set up you got there
