Follow these ultimate tips in raising Barred Rock Hens. The Barred Rock hen is one of the easiest hens to raise. They are friendly, sweet and docile which is partly why they are one of my favorite chickens to raise. They are not known to be mean or have a bad temperament. These hens suit the backyard family life well and are also cold weather friendly.
This post contains affiliate links, which means I make a small commission at no extra cost to you. You will find my full disclosure here.
History
Historically the Barred Rocks were called “Plymouth Rocks” as early as 1849. However, that flock disappeared and later strains from several different breeders combined to be the Barred Rock. Including the Dominique, Brahma, Black Java and Cochin. These birds gained popularity and eventually, the Plymouth Rock became the most popular farm chicken.
The Barred Rock hen was a dual purpose hen raised for meat and for its brown eggs.
Appearance
They have a single comb with five points, wattles and ear lobes are bright red. The legs are yellow and unfeathered. The beak is yellow or horn colored.
Laying Eggs
The Barred Rock hen will lay well for the first couple of years of their lives and then the output will begin to decline. They will lay into their fourth year and eventually will stop.
Broody
These hens are not overly broody, however, you can persuade them to brood if you keep several eggs in a nest to encourage them.
Health
The Barred Rock hen is a strong bird with a great genetic background, so they really have no health problems.
How to Raise
Follow these ultimate tips to help you raise these Barred Rock hens. Once again, these are some of the easiest and hardiest birds to raise. They do well in a large coop as well as free range.
I have six hens of different ages. Mostly, so I will have eggs for several years. Since we are so fond of our girls, once they stop laying eggs, they will become pets.
Maintaining the Coop
Maintaining the coop is one of the hardest parts of raising chickens. Personally, I do not like a dirty coop therefore, we work a little hard at keeping it clean. My daughter in law and I share the coop duties.
I use pine chips in the outside of the coop. I use 2-3 inches layer of the pine flakes on the floor of the coop. This keeps them busy, shoving and pecking at the flakes to get to the ground. I also, use straw in the coop area and in their roosting area.
Planning Ahead
When we designed our Coop, we decided to use old milk crates for their nesting boxes. The reason we used milk crates was so we could take them out of the coop and clean them with a good hosing down of water to keep them clean. I do have some young hens that like to roost on some of them and this has been a challenge to keep them from doing this.
Another trick was using a plastic pan from an old wire dog crate underneath the roosting area. We can remove this pan and clean it often.
Boredom
In order to have healthy hens, you must address their activity. Hens can easily get bored and can peck at each other and at themselves, causing feather loss. Some high-status hens can become bullies when bored.
If possible, allowing your hens to free range is ideal. This helps with boredom and gives them plenty of room or space from one another. However, like most of us, we must keep our chickens contained in a coop for their safety.
Keeping the hens occupied with things such as cabbage balls hanging down to allow the hens to have something to peck at other than the ground or one another. You can easily make a cabbage ball or buy one from here.
Cracked corn is also another option to offer your hens to keep them active and free from boredom.
What to Feed Your Hens
I am very selective in what my hens eat. I feed my hens layered grain from Windy Acres Farm. This is a certified organic, non-GMO grain.
Windy Acres Farm is a local farm that also grows certified organic grains, including corn, soft red winter wheat, barley, clear and dark hilum soybeans, oats, rye, hairy vetch, and open-pollinated white and yellow corn.
I have in the past used grains from a local feed store and I was never happy with the taste of the eggs. In fact, the eggs were somewhat bland tasting. Since, I have begun using the organic, non-GMO layer grains from Windy Acres, my hens are healthier and the eggs are tasty and very creamy with bright yellow-orange egg yolks.
Enjoy the Journey
Enjoying the journey of raising your hens. It is fun and very rewarding to know that what you are eating is healthy and free of hormones and antibiotics. These Barred Rock girls are the best hens, with the greatest disposition and tasty eggs. So, if you decide that you want to raise hens, give these girls a try, they will not disappoint you.
XOXO
Connie
Pin in For Later
Sign up to be a part of my community, to receive weekly updates on the latest in my blog. Also, you will receive VIP access to my FREE Library, receiving tons of freebies, all in one place.
Susan says
I’ll definitely consider this breed if I ever get to start my own flock. Thanks for all the great tips!
admin says
If you need help or advice, I can definitely do that, just ask.
Brittany Fox says
We have 4 barred rocks this year. They are beautiful! It’s our first time with chickens though and I’m not sure what I’m doing. They aren’t old enough to lay eggs yet but have been pooping in the boxes meant for laying eggs. Any idea how to encourage them to go elsewhere?
admin says
Oh my! We had that same problem. The young chickens seem to do this. One of the ways we helped them is to keep a close eye on them and keep the nesting boxes clean. As soon as they poop, clean it up. Since we used milk crates, we reduced it to one milk crate to deter them, since the one milk crate was always being used by a hen laying. However, in your case, they aren’t laying yet.
If your chickens are too young to lay, that may be the reason. They really don’t know what’s going on in their surrounding.
If possible you can take their nesting boxes up for a few days and see what happens.
Another thought, do they have a specific roosting area. That’s very helpful, they need one.