at what age do barred plymouth rocks have to be before they can have chickens or lay eggs......

about 20 weeks

around six months

I have a barred plymouth rock rooster and he is the meanest thing that I have ever seen. He attacks when I feed him and the other 7 hens in the pen and when I collect the eggs. I let them out of the pen about two to three times a week. I live on ten acres so they have plently of room. Can someone please tell me what I can do to calm this rooster down because I don't want to have to put him down but he is very mean.

how old is he because I have the same problem with mine except I have no hens and I have shown him once he is only a year old if you get any help E-mail me at MS1208@aol.com thanks

Barred Rock roosters only get meaner as they age. If he isnt too old, put him in the stew pot!

Are all Barred Rock roosters like that?

I have a Barred Rock rooster that was given to me a month ago. He is very calm and not at all mean. When I first got him, he attacked my hens I have 24. I put him into his own cage for awhile durning the nights and let him run free durning the day. He now is in with the rest of the girls and is doing fine. I think he is about 4 months old. He is not yet crowing but is pretty good size. My other chickens will eat from my hand but he still isnt to sure of me...I have picked him up several times and held and talked to him. Try holding him a few times and see what happens. I bet he will soon behave.

The more you are with your chickens the tamer and kinder they become. I spend alot of time with mine and the let me pick them up and go near them any time I want!

Yes! and I have 25 roosters, so you can imagine the fun. I am raising a straight run of barred rocks for meat and eggs. Its been lots of fun, but I had no idea the roosters would be so noisy and so aggressive!
I give them some cracked for fun and I swear that the extra protein is the cause behind their boldness!! Oh, but the are so beautiful....
What should I do to finish them off before slaughter?

Forget the cracked corn--you just will find it later, in extra layers of fat--not protein! Use a broiler or "'finisher" feed exclusively. CJR

Had a realy nice Plymouth rock,his name was Napolean.
Napolean was 1 1/2 years old before he made the stew pot,he would leap 6 feet and attack any one, we gave him the benifit of the dought but no go. Tryed to crate him, seperate him, give him his own pen....nothing worked....he was the most beautiful chicken I had ever seen.We were always nice to him unless he attacted. A chicken is a chicken.... We take care of them and then they take care of us. Better to have a hen for a friend then a rooster.

Usualy roosters wont start to atack untill they are around 6 to 7 months old.

Barred Rock Roosters are known for being the meanest thing. If you ever get a tame one that is over two years old it would be worth hundreds of dollers. All of the ones that I have had are nasty things. Forget barred rocks and go for white, black, blue, columbian, silver laced, or my favorite: Buff.

We have two Barred Rock Roosters with 12 Barred Hens in our coup. My Three year old son can walk over to Henry and Jim (the Roosters) and pick them up, carry them around and hold them for as long as his little arms can handle. They are both three years old and I have only ever seen them attack the family cat when it has ventured into their yard. I must say that I would reconmend Barred Rocks to anybody as our pair are really genuine pets. I am sorry to hear about your crazed birds but, EAT THEM. Im sure you can enjoy them then.

I wonder if it's in the blood lines, I read one place that barred rock roosters were not agressive, I had one that was very aggressive. Starting at about six months old, he'd run across the yard to attack me. I have talked to people that tell me their roosters are not agressive. I think I want some chicks from them!
Janet

Jnavin...
If you live downunder you are more than welcome to contact me and get a rooster. That goes for anyone, I believe that we should be hatching on 22 of this month.
Useally our breeding pairs throw females but every so often we may gaet a cock or two.

Nigel,
Thanks for the offer, I live in Pennsylvania, a little far a way I guess!
Why do you think you get so many females? When my daughter did her incubation experiment, we got more females from the eggs incubated at slightly warmer temperatures, and mostly males from the cooler batch, but we only used 8 eggs total, so that wasn't very scientific. Our goal was to measure hatching time. The warmer eggs hatched a day earlier.
Janet

I read on this site that Rocks make gentle roosters. I hope they all are not mean as I have a white rock on the way. Picked it because on the site and in the "Guide to raising chickens" both say rocks are very docile and friendly.

Check out what this link on this site says:

http://www.the-coop.org/library/rock.html

I had a barred rock rooster once and he was so gentle that the dominant bird in the flock was an australorp hen!

I just have to comment on all of this rooster-talk!
I have never had a mean Barred Rock rooster in all of the years I have had chickens. But like anything else, there are exceptions to the rule. Personally, I prefer some of my roosters to have a certain amount of aggression in them. This is a good thing if the chickens are in a free-range environment, as the rooster needs to remain alert for the intrusion of predators, other roosters, strangers, etc. If you have a rooster that attacks the people who tend the hens on a regular basis, you can do one of two things: 1. regularly pick up the offending rooster and carry him around while doing your "chicken chores" as this shows the little king that you are dominant, but caring, and that YOU are in control. This is the kindest way to accustom your rooster to real life in YOUR yard. 2. If you just can't tolerate your little feathered "veloceraptor" jumping at your legs and back when you aren't looking, or if you have small children who may be timid or in danger of being clawed and pecked, by all means roast that bird! There are lots of good roosters out there, some are good for alarm clocks, for mating and protection purposes, or for just plain good eating....