We went to the hatchery Saturday, where I bought my New Hampshire Reds, 2 months ago. We went there to get a large bag of feed. They had some Barred Rocks, who seemed very friendly. They were the same age as my girls. Is this to late to tame them, or introduce them to each other? My girls are very spoiled. and very attached to each other. Stop me before I get more chickens again. All advice will be appreciated.
Introducing new chickens
You can put them togethter if they are the same age or close to the same age. They will go through the pecking order thing but eventually get along.
It is hard to stop. We started with 8 then 12 and now we have more than 70.
We've successfully added chickens at a variety of ages.
Takes them a while to integrate, but unless there's not
enough space I wouldn't worry. (or a really dominant, weird
personality...)Barred rocks, specifically.
Yes, one thing about Barred Rocks is that they are an aggressive breed and they need plenty of space otherwise they tend to pick on the others. We have one that I think takes top billing above the rooster even.
???My BR have never been that way...didn't mean to infer...we have integrated BRs no prob...
Your lucky, maybe yours are just happy. Usually Barred Rocks are more aggressive. My neighbor had some in too small a pen and they just about killed one another. We have one that loves attention from people but also rules the pen. The other chickens better let her have the nest she wants the food she wants and so on. Our others are not as bad but a little more aggressive than the RIR's.
Interesting. We've had roos that seem to take a little longer to grow into gentlemen, but that's about it...
I don't really know much about barred rocks, but I bought three about six weeks ago that had just started laying, I wondered how they would fit in with my marans and banties? They are very sweet and I could not believe how the others let them in as though they'd always been here. I never even saw the normal pecking order thing take place. They are by far the friendliest with the exception of the red stars. Those girls are always under your feet. I just placed a bunch of six week olds with ten four month olds and they are getting along just great. Sometimes you just cannot predict what these birds are going to do.
I have fifteen six week old white rocks, again I don't know much about these white rocks. I was told that they were a quite aggressive bird, and worried about how they would fit in? So far they are very friendly and will fly up on me while I feed them. I hope they stay this way? Guess We'll just have to wait and see. Just go for it Elle. Hay
Our Barred Rocks are very friendly to me - greet me, follow me around, etc. - but they pick on the Buff Orpingtons quite badly. The Jersey Giants they leave alone.
Even a dumb bird doesn't want to pick a fight with a giant. I have never had giants so I was wondering how much do you think the bigger ones weigh? I heard they were pretty friendly, do you like them? Hay
They are calm, friendly birds. I don't know what mine weigh but it's about half again as much as the Buff Orpingtons, probably double the weight of my Barred Rocks. They lay large light brown eggs, about four a week or so. I like them a lot. I don't think they eat as much as the Orpingtons! They also keep to themselves and are smart enough to avoid the Barred Rocks with whom they are cooped at night. They'd rather co-habit with the Orpingtons.