Pros: Friendly, Docile, attractive, easy to handle
Cons: Picked on a lot and not overly bright
What a great looking bird, so calm, and easy to handle. But of our 8 birds, this one is by far no rocket scientist, but what she lacks in brain power she makes for in her good looks and charming personality.
Pros: Beautiful, curious, easy to handle, and smart
Cons: Aggressive towards other chickens, sharp beaks
Our 2 Barred Rocks are by the most aggressive and mean towards other chickens in our flock of 8. They have been since the day we brought them home. 1 drew blood on 2 other chicks the first week we had her. Now they continue to peck and be aggressive towards the majority of our flock.
They peck and peck hard, they have sharp beaks, and the Squawk of protest from the chickens are always loudest when its one of our Barreds doing the pecking. Really quite frustrating.
On the plus side, they are very easily handled by us, they let us pick them up in just about any way and settle quickly when held. They are funny birds, quite smart and fast. They are usually the first to get a bug, or worm.
Pros: Great with people, fantastic personality, curious
Cons: Somewhat testy around food, sometiems noisy
Our 2 Rhode Islands are not the most aggressive in our flock, as some have mentioned theirs are. The largest of the two however is certainly the boss Hen of the flock, but she does it without aggression, though sometimes at the food dish she will chase a few away.
I have been very pleased with our 2 birds, they are great with people, and our boss hen looks out for the whole flock, she will stand by the coop door in the evenings till every last girl has entered the coop, if one is missing she will stand and call them to come.
They are a bit noisy, especially our smaller one, she honks like a goose when she is unhappy, or startled which she startles a lot. But we still love her! I will have Rhode Islands again for sure, of our flock they are my favorite birds.
