“We received several healthy chicks from MPC about 18 months ago (February 2020). The ordering and shipping process was smooth and the customer service was outstanding (I contacted them with several questions)! Our Barred Rock is friendly (although a bit skittish) and robust. Unfortunately, some of her barring is brown where it should be black (very odd!), but she is still a lovely bird. She began laying at 24 weeks and initially gave us 6 medium sized eggs/week. However, they steadily got larger and are now large (~62 grams). Without heat or lights, she continued laying through our Michigan winter (about 3 eggs/week), but resumed laying 5-6 eggs/week come spring! Now that she has been laying for over a year, she is giving us 3 eggs/wk. She has never gone broody, which we view as a good thing!”
“I wanted only "friendly breeds" for my small backyard flock. I ordered a bunch of friendly breeds (some are very skittish) and then I added this barred rock baby in my order because I had a barred rock (I think) when I was a kid. It was a black and white chicken that I loved so much! Anyway, the BR is the friendliest and most interactive chick from my order. She is the first to come to me and beg for treats. She is not skittish at all and she is very easy to handle and pick up. She is my favorite. If you want a friendly chicken, get a BR. Also, she is so pretty. Love her!”
“I was afraid this one was a rooster at first! She's bigger than the others, and has always done her own thing. She'll inspect what she wants, regardless of where the rest of the flock is, and she loves just hanging out with us in the yard. She'll just stand next to us and watch what we're doing, cocking her head here and there as we move about. Very kind bird, both to the other birds and to us. We call her "Queenie" because she's just so classy. Started laying first and is one of our best layers, almost an egg/day.”
“Merrywether is one our favorite chickens! She is not only beautiful, but any time we are doing anything in the yard she will come over & make a funny little cooing noise & inspect our tools & our work, almost like a little dog ready to 'help'. She lays big, light pinkish-brown eggs that add an unusual color to our egg basket & she's a consistent layer. I don't think you can go wrong with this breed.”
“We got our 4 barred rock chicks in May 2020. One turned out to be a rooster which was not planned. It was pretty obvious he was a rooster cause he was a lighter gray color. They were all very healthy and 8 months later still going strong. The 3 hens starting laying around 23/24 weeks old and are giving us 2/3 eggs a day even in the winter now. Personality wise, the rooster, Mr. Hen is our favorite since day one. He doesn't mind being held and is very sweet with me. He is very protective and kind to his flock too. His crow is quite loud and annoying though.... like a dying old coyote. One of the hens liked to be petted but now they don't want to be touched or held. They are curious and mostly calm. The smallest is a bit of a bully but she's been that way since day one. Overall I would definitely recommend this breed for new chicken owners.”
“I have one named Zebra that I got with 2 other breeds from here in April, and she is very sweet, but still quite skittish as she‚Äôs still kinda a baby! I had the same breed awhile ago but she got killed by a hawk sadly... she was a lovable hen. But zebra is super sweet when she‚Äôs getting her cuddles!”
“Today I was was so exited when we got our 6 new baby chicks! We already have 7 adult chickens, and we are glad we got more! We have 2 Barred Rocks, one a full adult who is the greatest chicken ever, and now one new one who is a cute little guy. I would for sure recommend this breed to you! Thank you MPC!”
“We ordered a total of 9 chicks in the spring and 8 months later we are so glad we decided to take the plunge. We have 2 Barred Rocks, a Dominique, a Silver Cuckoo Marins, and 5 from the Rare Breed assortment. They are all sweet, lap chickens who have survived an incredibly hot, humid, rainy Florida summer. Even still at the end of Oct we had a real feel temp of 95‚Ä¢ yesterday. We installed a fan in their run and they had lots of cold treats this summer. The Barred Rocks- Lucy and Ethyl and definitely up there in the pecking order, very curious, the first to greet us, but not aggressive. They lay a light brown egg almost every day now.”