“We received our five chicks (mixed breeds) in August 2021. I have waited all this time to leave a review because I wanted to be able to say with certainty they were healthy hens safely laying. And they are! We paid extra to have the chicks sexed and they are all hens. All five started laying a few months ago and have been laying great ever since.
Our barred rock, Pepper, was the biggest and most friendly chick we received. My 5 year old daughter spent a lot of time cuddling her and giving her belly rubs. She is now a big, beautiful bird with an outgoing personality. She is inquisitive and brave, and is the leader of the flock. She tends to peck the smaller birds sometimes but it doesn't seem like an abnormal amount for keeping the pecking order established. She lays medium sized slightly speckled pale brown eggs almost daily. The eggs appear to be getting bigger. She is a beauty to look at and not very loud at all. Pepper is friendly and confident, a great bird! We are very happy!”
“I got my Harriet, a barred Plymouth Rock in 2012. She‚Äôll be 10 years old next month and is still doing well. She is one of the sweetest birds. She was at the bottom of the pecking order of my original flock of 4 and was always being pecked by my white rock. So I always gave her special attention. She‚Äôs moved up after adding additional birds and the passing of my white rock. She stopped laying at 5 years old due to a reproductive infection, but that‚Äôs fine with me. Her feet are arthritic but she still gets around fine. She happily sits on my lap every day. She‚Äôs a sweet yet tough and hardy bird.”
“Abby and Dolly are the most consistent, hardy egg layers ever! Their eggs are tough and flavorful, and we even turned up a double yolk once! (Wow! Weren't we surprised!) They are literally the Mean Girls of the flock. Like, our POE is Regina George, Abby is Gretchen Wieners, and Dolly is Karen Smith. We are so, so happy!”
“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.”
