Black Rock chickens

Wombat · Post: # 1115Post **Wombat** » Wed Feb 23, 2005 7:00 am

Mate!

I gotta admit I had never heard of them and suspect they are not available here in Aus. I did a quick trawl on the net and they sound pretty good but are first cross hybrids and so i assume they would not breed true. I have rhode Island reds (and Austalorps), which are good dual purpose breed and do breed true.

Nev

rhyddid · Post: # 1124Post **rhyddid** » Wed Feb 23, 2005 12:27 pm

leedarkwood · Wed Feb 23, 2005 10:01 pm

Black rocks are held by many small holders to be the best modern bird for outdoor henkeeping. They are very hardy, lay lots of eggs throughout most of the year, gather a lot of their own foods, and live healthy long lives. As they are a cross or hybrid, they do not necessarily carry on these characteristics to the next and further generations. Be warned, a lot of birds are said to be Black rocks and are nothing of the sort, you need to get them from the registered breeders. However, I am told you can get them from commercial free rangers at the end of their first year for about a quid, with several years egg laying left in them. If you only had room for a handful of birds, and you were running them free range, it would be worth paying for point of lay Black rocks, in my opinion.

Lee

CrazyParrot · Sun Apr 29, 2007 5:07 pm

just found your message - two years after it was posted!... black rocks are great - they lay really well no matter what the weather, and keep laying reasonably well throughout their lives rather than stopping or really slowing down after around two or three years. we have them and couldnt reccomend them enough.

Lord Azrael · Thu May 03, 2007 12:13 am

I've just had these recommended to me today too, and will be looking at getting some soon. We have a registered breeder here, so they are genuine Black Rocks.
Just need to sort out their accommodation first...

Lord Azrael · Fri May 18, 2007 11:20 pm

Got my chicks now and they're great!
I started off with 3 the other day, but for some reason 1 died in the morning

Just didn't seem well at all and went. So I went back to where I got them from as he said they'd replace the chick for me so I could keep the 3 together....and ended up with 7!!
They're sitting in their big box by me in the office at present after having a good scoff and cheeping at everything and have dropped off to sleep now.

They're so cute