Plymouth Rock chickens: The backyard chicken all-stars
Plymouth Rock chickens are a favorite of mine. Currently, I have 8 Barred Rocks in my flock, and I adore these girls.
Plymouth Rocks are not only reliable egg layers (and meat producers, if that’s your thing), but they add so much character to your flock. These chickens are quirky. They are highly intelligent, inquisitive, and social. And, out of all my breeds, these are by far my biggest snugglers.
They’ll make you laugh. They’ll make you love. And they’ll make you eggs. What else could you ask for from your backyard hens?
But are they right for you? In this article, you’ll find all your questions about Plymouth Rock chickens answered. You’ll learn:
What Plymouth Rock chickens look like in their many different colors and patterns
Everything you ever wanted to know about Plymouth Rock egg laying
Plymouth Rock meat (how much do they provide and what does it taste like?)
Climate considerations for Plymouth Rock chickens (are they a good fit for your region?)
Plymouth Rock temperament (are they right for you and your family?)
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Have Plymouth Rock chickens?
Plymouth Rock chicken facts
Alternate names: Rocks, Barred Rocks (for the Barred Plymouth Rock variety)
Category: Pet, eggs & meat
Origin: United States
Egg-laying ability: Good
Broodiness: Low-moderate
Meat production: Good
Cold tolerance: Poor-exceptional (depends on comb size)
Heat tolerance: Good
Predator evasion: Good to exceptional
Foraging ability: Good
Toleration for confinement: Good
Temperament: Docile
Aggression toward flock members: Moderate
Noise level: Moderate
Origin of Plymouth Rock Chickens
Plymouth Rock chickens are an American breed, named after the landing site in Massachusetts of the first pilgrims in 1620.
This breed has an unusual history. The first development of the breed was in the late 1840s by the breeder, Dr. John C. Bennett. These birds were of the barred variety. He named the breed “Plymouth Rock” in 1847.
Poultry author, Frances Bassom, noted this about Dr. Bennett and his Plymouth Rocks:
“Glowing reports of the breed appeared in the newspapers of the time (mostly supplied by himself or his close friend, George P. Burnham). However, reading between the lines, it becomes clear the so-called ‘breed’ was not as uniform in type as was initially claimed.”
This table below summarizes the traits of this original breed of Plymouth Rock compared to the modern breed:
| Barred Plymouth Rocks | Number of toes | Color of shanks | Type of shanks |
|---|---|---|---|
| Original breed (1847) | 4 or 5 | Blue, green, white, or yellow | Feathered or clean (i.e., bare) |
| Modern breed | 4 | Yellow | Clean (i.e., bare) |
Poultry breeders and fanciers weren’t impressed with the new breed. One writer at the time, Daniel Jay Browne, wrote in the American Poultry Yard:
“Plymouth Rock—This is the name of a mongrel breed of some notoriety…”
The original Plymouth Rocks died out, but breeders developed a new “Plymouth Rock” years later. The first documented chickens of the new breed were shown at a poultry exhibition as “improved Plymouth Rocks” in 1869.
And that’s when Barred Plymouth Rocks first took off and became wildly popular. This breed almost entirely replaced other popular American breeds at the time, such as Javas and Dominiques.
“Thanks to good functional traits like high egg production and a meaty body, excellent hardiness, a docile disposition, and hens that go broody and make good mothers, the breed was an immediate hit.”
Many breeders of the late 1800s had been breeding their own variety of barred chickens, also true to the new type, and all of these birds were collectively called Barred Plymouth Rocks.
This means that some strains of Plymouth Rock may have had different progenitor breeds than others.
Some of the breeds known to have been used to make Plymouth Rocks are:
Truly an American bird, the Plymouth Rock breed has its roots from birds hailing from across the whole world.
Several more varieties of Plymouth Rock were created after the Barred variety (you can see many of them in the next section).
Plymouth Rock chickens, like all breeds, lost popularity in the 1900s when meat and eggs became industrialized. They just couldn’t compete against the factory farm egg layers and meat broilers. Their numbers became dangerously low, but they’ve been increasing in recent years. The Livestock Conservancy has now given them a status of “Recovering.”
What do Plymouth Rock Chickens look like?
Although the original Plymouth Rock chicken was the Barred Rock, several more varieties have since been developed.
Plymouth rocks also come as bantams (i.e., miniature types.)
Plymouth Rock feather colors and patterns
The recognized varieties of Plymouth Rock chickens are:
Barred
Black
Blue
Buff
Columbian
Partridge
Silver penciled
White
Check out the videos below to see examples of most of these varieties of Plymouth Rock chicken. (To see a Black Plymouth Rock chicken, check out the photo of the hen at the top of this article.)
Barred Plymouth Rocks
For more information on Barred Plymouth Rocks, check out my article, Barred Rock chickens: America’s favorite backyard egg layer.
Blue Plymouth Rocks
Buff Plymouth Rocks
Columbian Plymouth Rocks
Partridge Plymouth Rocks (2 months old)
Silver Penciled Plymouth Rocks
White Plymouth Rocks
What is notable about the Plymouth Rock chicken’s appearance?
Plymouth Rock chickens have thicker feathering than a lot of other breeds. This can make them look larger than they are. They’re just so fluffy.
Plymouth Rock chickens have medium-size upright, single combs. Ideally, the combs have five evenly spaced, serrated points, and the middle point is longer than the ends. However, many chickens don’t meet this standard. And I’m glad for that—the variation in my hens’ combs is one of the few ways I can tell them apart.
Plymouth Rocks also have medium-large wattles, red earlobes, and dark reddish bay eyes. They have yellow shanks and most varieties have yellow beaks.
How big do Plymouth Rock chickens get?
Roosters: 9.5 lbs
Hens: 7.5 lbs
Bantam roosters: 36 oz
Bantam hens: 32 oz
Plymouth Rock Bantams are less popular in the United States than the regular-sized birds, but they’re more popular in some areas in western Europe. Below is a video of a Barred Rock Bantam rooster.
What do Plymouth Rock chicks look like?
The appearance of Plymouth Rock chicks varies, depending on the plumage variety. In the videos below, you can see some examples of these different varieties.
Barred Plymouth Rock chicks
Columbian Plymouth Rock chicks
Partridge Plymouth Rock chicks
White Plymouth Rock chicks
Plymouth Rock Chicken Growth
Plymouth Rock chickens grow their feathers in earlier than many other breeds.
Below, you can see videos showing what Barred Plymouth Rock chickens look like at different stages of growth:
Plymouth Rock chicks at 3-4 weeks
Plymouth Rock chicks at 4-5 weeks
Plymouth Rock chicks at 10 weeks
Plymouth Rock chicks at 19 weeks
Are you getting Plymouth Rock chicks?
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Plymouth Rock chickens and egg laying
Egg color: Brown
Egg size: Large
Age of lay: 4-6 months
Eggs/week: 4
Eggs/year: 200
Plymouth Rock chickens are decent layers, laying ~200 large, brown eggs per year. Many will lay well into the winter.
Check out the video below to see a Barred Plymouth Rock hen laying an egg.
Broodiness: Do Plymouth Rock hens want to hatch their eggs?
‘Broody’ is the term used for a hen who wants to incubate and hatch her eggs. Plymouth Rock chickens vary in their degree of broodiness. Some strains are very broody and other strains aren’t broody at all. Hatchery Plymouth Rocks are, in general, less likely to be broody than strains bought from breeders.
My Barred Plymouth Rock hens all come from my local hatchery, and in all my years of raising them, I’ve never had a broody hen. Not one.
Your best bet is to ask your breeder or hatchery if their strains of Plymouth Rocks tend to go broody or not.
If you do have broody Plymouth Rock hens, they are very likely to be excellent and devoted mothers.
Check out the video below of a Barred Rock mama hen caring for her chicks.
Meat production of Plymouth Rock chickens
Plymouth Rock chicken meat is commonly described by homesteaders as tasty and juicy. In fact, their meat is so good, these chickens are used as one of the breeds in today’s hybrid broilers. This means the chickens you buy at the grocery store have the Plymouth Rock breed as part of their heritage.
However, unlike modern broilers, Plymouth Rocks are a heritage breed that take at least a few months, rather than merely weeks, to reach maturity. The market weight of a fully mature Plymouth Rock chicken is 6-8 lbs.
Below is a video showing the carcass of a 7-week old (i.e., not mature) Barred Rock rooster next to a 7-week old Red Ranger (which is a broiler breed). At only 7 weeks old, Plymouth Rocks provide only a small amount of meat in comparison.
Why would you slaughter a Plymouth Rock chicken at only 7 weeks? The woman in the video says they had to slaughter him because roosters aren’t allowed in their city.
Plymouth Rock chickens: A hardy breed
How do Plymouth Rock chickens do in the heat and the cold?
Plymouth Rock chickens do moderately well in the heat. They don’t tolerate extreme heat well, but they’ll generally tolerate your hot summers as long as they have plenty of shade, cool dust bathing areas, and unlimited cold, fresh water.
Plymouth Rock hens are very cold-hardy. Roosters, however, have very large combs that are prone to frostbite. These birds will need extra protection from the cold in the winter.
I recommend hanging Sweeter Heaters over your Plymouth Rocks’ roosting bars. Even your hens will appreciate this. Chickens that get to roost under a radiant heater during freezing cold winter nights will be much happier than their shivering counterparts (yes, chickens really do shiver in the winter—even your cold-hardy breeds!).
You can find small Sweeter Heaters here on Amazon, medium Sweeter Heaters here, and large Sweeter Heaters here.
Plymouth Rock chickens: Should they be confined or should they have free range?
Plymouth Rock chickens are a versatile breed. They do well in confinement as long as they have something to do. So, if your run is bare of grass to forage, you’ll want to provide some stimulation for them. For example, set up multiple places for them to roost on. And always make sure they have plenty of space and shade for dust bathing.
Although Plymouth Rocks tolerate confinement, they love freedom. These birds are good foragers and they love to explore. So, the more space you can give these chickens, the better their quality of life will be.
Additionally, Plymouth Rock chickens tend to fare well against predators compared to some other breeds. They are alert, intelligent, and vigilant chickens.
The barred plumage of the Barred Plymouth Rock is sometimes referred to as “hawk-colored” or “hawk-coloring.” This means that the pattern may help to camouflage them from aerial predators, like hawks. This coloring camouflages best in places with intermittent shading (such as areas with trees).
Plymouth Rock chicken temperament: Just what kind of birds are they?
These are the best words to describe Plymouth Rocks:
Docile
Calm
Sweet
Intelligent
Inquisitive
Explorative
Quirky
Plymouth Rock chickens love human attention and like to be the center of things. This makes them very easy to tame, and many will absolutely love to be handled. Whenever I go out to my chicken yard to put out feed or do chores, my Plymouth Rock hens try to perch on my back or shoulders.
And whenever I sit outside to visit with my chickens, I immediately have a lap full of Plymouth Rocks. Really, it looks ridiculous. There’s not enough room for all of them, but they sure try to all fit in my lap anyway. Some eventually give up and settle on sitting next to me instead. These chickens are such a delight.
Below is a video of a man describing the Plymouth Rock breed, but you can see just how docile the Barred Rock hen is. She doesn’t mind at all being picked up, pointed at, prodded, and pet.
Plymouth Rocks are also very smart and curious hens. As chicks, they are often the first to try everything. For example, mine were the first to perch on their electric brooder, the first to perch on their waterer, the first to perch on the top of the brooder container (i.e., their cardboard living space).
Anytime I introduced something new to my chicks, like when I added a clump of dirt and grass to their brooder, my Plymouth Rocks were the first to climb all over it, peck at it, and otherwise play with the novel object. Even as adult chickens, my Plymouth Rocks range much further than my other breeds.
How are Plymouth Rock chickens around children?
Plymouth Rock chickens are highly recommended for children, simply because they are calm, sweet, and like being handled.
Below you can see a video of young girls holding a very calm and tolerant Plymouth Rock hen.
Are Plymouth Rock roosters aggressive to people?
Overall, Plymouth Rock roosters are a friendly breed. Some may be just as docile as the hens. I’ve heard many stories of sweet Plymouth Rock roosters being great with kids. Of course, you may end up with an aggressive rooster from any breed of chicken, so there are no guarantees.
How well do Plymouth Rock chickens get along with other chickens?
Plymouth Rock chickens get along very well chickens of the same breed and variety. If you have a flock entirely of Plymouth Rocks, it will likely be a peaceful flock. Some sources even say you may be able to keep multiple Plymouth Rock roosters in a flock without problems (although I wouldn’t count on it).
However, if you have a mixed flock, your Plymouth Rock hens will be a bit more assertive. They’re really not aggressive, but they can be bossy with other breeds. Of course, young hens will be worse and they do calm down some as they get older. This has been my experience with the breed.
I’ve also come across some anecdotes that say the opposite of their Plymouth Rock chickens—that they are so sweet they end up getting picked on. As with all breeds, so much of a chicken’s temperament depends not just on their breed, but also their strain and their individual personality.
Below, you can see a video of Barred Rocks peacefully interacting with their mixed-breed flock:
Plymouth Rock chickens: Are they noisy?
Plymouth Rock chickens are not particularly noisy. Some do like to talk, but not much more than other breeds.
Of course, when it’s egg laying time, any hen can be noisy. Below, you can see a video of a Barred Rock hen singing the “egg song.” This is a vocalization hens may make before, during, or after laying (and sometimes, just because).
And in the video below, you can hear some other vocalizations your hens may make, particularly in the coop. The sound this Barred Rock is making is a sound I hear my hens of all breeds make when they’re thinking about laying an egg and haven’t picked a spot yet. It’s a bit of an urgent or agitated sound.
And, like roosters of all breeds, Plymouth Rock roosters do like to crow. Below, Cletus, the Barred Rock rooster belts out a beautiful crow.
Plymouth Rock chicken health problems and life expectancy
Plymouth Rock chickens tend to be hardy and robust. They are not susceptible to health problems any more than other breeds. The only problem I have with my Barred Rock chickens is that every spring, many of them get poop stuck all over their fluffy back ends.
I believe this is because their forage changes with new spring growth, which temporarily gives them looser droppings as their stomachs adjust to the new feed. And because Plymouth Rocks have fluffier back ends than most breeds, these droppings get stuck. Some of my hens require a rear-end bath at this time.
Plymouth Rock chickens who are well taken care of tend to have an average lifespan of 5-8 years, the same as most other breeds.
Breeds you may want instead of Plymouth Rock chickens
Plymouth Rock crosses: Amazing hybrid breeds made for the backyard
Barred Plymouth Rocks are used in a variety of hybrid chickens called Sex Links. Sex Links are amazing birds for two reasons:
They tend to have ‘hybrid vigor,’ meaning they are healthier, more productive, and more vigorous than either of their parent breeds.
They can be sexed at birth based on the color of their down.
The second reason is really a benefit for urban backyard chicken keepers. Why? Because when you buy all-female chicks, there’s about a 10% chance a chick is actually a male. Some hatcheries claim they’re more accurate, but it’s not at all uncommon to end up with a rooster (or sometimes several).
In my very first flock of chickens, I bought 30 females, and 2 of them ended up being male (both of whom I adore).
But if you live in an urban area or already have too many roosters, you can have peace of mind buying Sex Link chickens. There are several different types of Sex Links you can buy, including:
Red or Gold Sex Links—these are chickens from white hens (typically, White Plymouth Rocks, but sometimes Rhode Island Whites or White Leghorns) and red roosters (typically, Rhode Island Reds or New Hampshires). These are hardy birds and prolific egg layers, some strains laying ~300 eggs a year.
Black Sex Links—these are chickens from Barred Rock hens and red roosters (typically, Rhode Island Reds or New Hampshires). These are docile chickens that lay very well, some strains laying over 250 eggs a year.
Other docile, egg-laying backyard breeds
The Dominique is another breed of chicken that’s very similar to Plymouth Rocks. These dual-purpose chickens are smaller than Plymouth Rocks, have the same barred pattern as a Barred Rock, and have rose combs. Rose combs are less susceptible to frostbite than single combs are, so if you live in a cold climate, Dominiques may be a better choice for you.
A few other friendly, dual-purpose breeds you may want to look into are the American Java and Wyandotte breeds, and the British Sussex and Orpington breeds.
For more information, check out these articles:
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Plymouth Rock Sources
Bassom, Frances. Mini Encyclopedia: Chicken Breeds and Care. Dorking: Interpet Publishing, 2011.
Damerow, Gail. Storey’s Guide to Raising Chickens. North Adams: Storey Publishing, 2017.
Damerow, Gail. The Chicken Health Handbook. North Adams: Storey Publishing, 2015.
Ekarius, Carol. Storey's Illustrated Guide to Poultry Breeds. North Adams: Storey Publishing, 2007.
Verhoef, Esther and Rijs, Aad. The Complete Encyclopedia of Chickens. Lisse: Rebo Publishers, 2005.