Flock Insider: Barred Plymouth Rock Chickens

Rachelle Shepherd
May 15, 2023
9 min read

Updated: Jul 23, 2023

An American heritage breed that once was kept by most Americans and even encouraged by the government

Barred Plymouth Rock hen — Rose - One of our first chickens and our first Barred Plymouth Rock!

While there are many color varieties of Plymouth Rocks, "Barred Rocks" are the best known and most widely kept. They were developed in Massachusetts around the mid-1800s and were kept by most settlers, farmers and average working class folks. Their popularity grew into the early 20th when they became the most popular and widely kept chicken breed in America. Some of this was due in part to the American government promoting its citizens to keep chickens and grow food to supply to both soldiers and the rest of the population, which was taking quite a dive in both standards of living and its ability to feed itself due to the war.

Uncle Sam Expects You to Raise Chickens — An old ad that was found in newspapers nationwide

Considering the fact that the government used to actually encourage all of its citizens with yards to keep chickens, it's quite interesting that there are such regulations relating to poultry today.

The Original Best Layer of Brown Eggs

While the Rhode Island Red is a contender, Barred Rocks are the best and most reliable layer of medium to large brown eggs of the original American heritage breeds. This is the primary reason that they became so popular in the 19th and 20th centuries. Since then, many hybrids have been created specifically to outperform the heritage breeds by mixing many types of layers together, such as our ISA and Novogen Browns. There are a few other heritage breeds that are good layers too, like the Delaware and Dominique, but both the RIR and BRs outperform these guys. Today, on average, Barred Rocks lay 250 brown eggs a year.

Barred Plymouth Rocks were actually created by crossing Dominiques with other breeds, though the exact combination is unknown. Dominiques and Barred Rocks were both admitted into the American Poultry Association (APA) in 1874, but Barred Rocks were first exhibited in Boston Massachusetts in 1849 but they did not catch on at the time. They appeared again in Massachusetts but this time Worchester in 1869 but by this time, the appearance of the birds were better perfected and thus, the second appearance of them are considered the breed originals.

Since then, the breed has had its ups and downs in popularity but have remained fairly steadily in demand by those seeking good egg layers. Because of this, the larger hatcheries have developed their own "production" versions that grow quicker, stay a bit smaller and produce eggs at a bit higher of rate. Small breeders and those devoted to reproducing birds that match the Standard of Perfection (SOP) breed a "heritage" version of the breed that grow out a bit larger and conform more to the original version of Barred Rocks.

Cuckoo vs. Barred patterns

Back to the subjects of Dominiques, it is quite difficult to tell them apart from the Barred Rocks unless you know what you are looking for. The way that I tend to rely on more often, is that Barred Rocks barring color looks more "clear," like someone has increased the sharpness of the colors. Dominiques are actually not barred, but rather they are cuckoo pattern, thus their coloring looks blurrier in comparison. Many people call this looking more jagged. Dominiques patterns are often more "V" shaped where the Barred Rock pattern actually alternates white and black.

Another way quick way to tell is that Dominique chickens have a rose comb and the Barred Rocks have single combs. That means that while you are looking directly at your chicken, the "comb" or fleshy piece that sits on top of their head actually looks rose shaped in Dominiques and other breeds with rose combs. Barred Rocks are straighter and in single form, thus the term "single comb."

Cuckoo Maran and Barred Plymouth Rock — Cuckoo Maran pullet (left) and Barred Plymouth Rock pullet (right) for comparison

Pictured to the right is a Black Cuckoo Maran pullet (left) and a Barred Plymouth Rock pullet (right) which I found are even more difficult to tell apart as chicks! We were sold the Cuckoo Maran chick as a Barred Rock, though I could obviously see it was a Maran and not a Rock from the patterns on her face. Again, she had the "penguin" look to her face where the Barred Rock had a black face. Both have white spots on the top of the head, though the Barred Rocks' lasted much longer. Both also have yellow feet and legs and are clean legged, though the Marans can have feathered legs as well (which I prefer). The Cuckoos coloring was almost more vibrant and apparent younger on, whereas the Barred Rock's pattern developed longer in time. As they grew older, the Rocks' pattern became more uniform where the Maran's pattern was more sporadic.

Both Marans and Dominiques are similar in that they are both "Cuckoo" pattern, which is more randomized than Rocks' patterns. Dominiques are known as being the older breed between Barred Rocks and them and is considered the first American chicken breed. It is said that it was developed around the mid-1700s, though its true origins are unknown. It's thought that all there were both single and rose comb of the black and white checkered chickens throughout the US, but when the breeds were both being accepted by APA, Dominiques were the name given to those with the rose combs and Barred Plymouth Rocks for the single combs.

Dominiques are a bit more upright and lighter weight than the Barred Rocks. As the two breeds developed separately, Barred Rocks became known as being the better producer of eggs. Coupled with its meatier carcass, Barred Rocks became popular while Dominiques faded from the spotlight.

Barred Plymouth Rocks Appearance

As I mentioned above, Barred Plymouth Rocks are only one color variety of the breed Plymouth Rock. There are many other color varieties including, but not limited to: White, Buff, Columbian, Partridge, Silver Penciled and Blue. There are hybrids and other variations including our own Sapphire Gems which were created by crossing Blue and Barred Plymouth Rocks, which is why you sometimes see the barring leaking through. A fun fact on the Barred Plymouth Rock is that it was the color variety first created for the breed, which is not true in other breeds of chickens. It is also probably why they are the most popular!

Also mentioned before, Barred Rocks have single combs rather than rose or double. Roosters coloring is actually slightly lighter than hens because they tend to have more white on them. Roosters also generally outweigh hens by 1-2 pounds. Heritage hens weigh in at 7-8 pounds when grown out and the production version hens weigh 6-7 pounds, making heritage roos about 9-10 pounds and production roos 7-8 generally.

Barred Plymouth Rocks vs. Dominiques — *Image Taken from Buzzle.com showing Barred Rocks vs. Dominiques

The "barring" of their feathers is what gives this version of the Barred Plymouth Rocks its name. If you look at a feather from a Barred Plymouth Rock, most of them should be a black and white, checkered appearance. When looked at as a whole, the Plymouth Barred Rocks have a more uniform barring, whereas Dominiques and other cuckoo varieties have almost sloppier, sporadic "V" patterns.

The feet and beak of the Barred Rock should be yellow and they have the normal four toes. Their eyes should turn out to be yellow/orange when adult. Their comb in both roosters and hens should be bright red and hens do tend to have larger combs than other breeds, making many new owners wondering if they have a rooster or a hen.

The tail feathers of the hen stand higher and more erect than many other breeds also, but you'll quickly be able to tell a rooster from a hen once they get a bit older. The roosters tail becomes an elaborate, full bouquet of feathery strands going in every direction, but continuing the black and white barred pattern other than a few rogue black feathers here and there. His neck feathers also become streams of barred, sharp feathers and his cromb grows very large and erect.

Barred Rocks are a meatier, heavier bird for a layer, so they are truly a dual purpose bird. Some people choose to raise them for meat and report they have a good, juicy meat also. Roosters can become quite large, especially!

Chicks are born black and fluffy with just a little yellow or white patch beneath their chin. Cockerels have a large, white, round spot in the center of the top of their head at birth. Pullets have a small, narrow, white spot in the top of their heads. Therefore, they are considered a "sex link" breed because you can identify gender from birth. As they grow older, their barred feathers begin to appear and the spot disappears. Cockerels are a bit lighter in coloring when young and Pullets are a bit darker. Once they begin sexually maturing, cockerels comb and wattles will redden and develop faster than pullets making the differences more obvious.

Barred Plymouth Rock pullet — Frick is our Barred Plymouth Rock chick

Pet or Livestock?

One thing you will undoubtedly learn about your Barred Rock quickly is that they tend to actually like attention. Even ones that we have rescued have actually enjoyed the kids picking them up, including the little girls! One of our first chickens was named Rose because she was the fourth of our original "golden girls" and was always being picked on. Rose was very elderly when we got her and was well past her egg laying days or her prime, but we did our best to make her last six months comfortable. She got her own, special barn with the rabbits where she could hang out in the hay and not get picked on by the other chickens or dogs. The little girls would go and find her every day and carry her around for a while and Rose was happy to oblige them. At the end, they would set her back in the barn and give her treats and fresh water and she would happily cluck and tap at the food. She was a pretty cool old girl!

After Rose finally passed, it was really hard on the kids so we went and found a couple of Barred Rock chicks. These girls ended up being just as fun and friendly as Rose, but they could walk around and interact with us a bit more (sorry, Rose!). Even as little babies, they loved being picked up and carried around or just pet. They were funny little characters!

After getting more into chickens and experiencing many breeds, I knew that Plymouth Rocks were special. I did a little research and sure enough! A lot of people develop special relationships with them. Every time I rehome or purchase chickens, people tend to bring up two main breeds that they have owned and love - Rhode Island Reds and Plymouth Barred Rocks.

Barred Plymouth Rock and Silver Sussex chicks — A few of our Barred Rock and Silver Sussex chicks

On the flip side, both of these breeds are supposed to be a little higher on the totem pole with #rhodeislandreds being much more dominant. Plymouth Barred Rocks can be kept with other breeds without any serious pecking order issues that I have experienced or heard about, but young, healthy ones also will not allow themselves to be picked on like poor Rose did. While they are usually higher in the pecking order, they also aren't usually bullies.

In addition, Barred Rocks are good scavengers and free rangers. They tend to do okay with hiding from predators and staying aware of them. I actually have not lost a Barred Rock to a predator or a dog yet (knock on wood!). They can forage and look for bugs and food of their own for some of their dietary needs meaning they need less feed and grain than many other breeds. This is probably because they date back to an age when chickens free ranged for most of their food, before feed stores and factories existed. They also were popular during the war, to produce food, not to feed, so they had to be generally self-sufficient to remain a favorite of farmers and working class people. Therefore, many of these skills have probably remained engrained in them.

Plymouth Rocks also do well in confined coops or free roaming. They are often kept by in backyards by urban families and make great pets. Hens are not overly loud and do not seem to bother the neighbors with their low noise level. They also are heavier making them usually unable to jump a fence or fly and again less likely to be taken by birds of prey.

Key Takeaways of Barred Plymouth Rocks

Barred Plymouth Rocks have stood the test of time due in part to their egg production, part to their heavy table weight and finally because they possess winning personalities! They love attention and show plenty of patience with kids and adults. While they resemble a Dominique, Barred Rocks have enjoyed far more popularity and remain one of the most versatile and popular American breeds today. They were created well before the 1900s and therefore are one of Americas first true breeds. When you own a Barred Rock, you can expect the following: