Do barred rocks make good mothers?
We have 3 barred rocks in our flock, and we like them. They are friendly and trusting, yet they seem to lay plenty of eggs and they complete the cycle of laying, setting, and then raising the chicks. They make formidable mothers (in terms of protecting their chicks from mongoose). Lauren(stepdaughter) and Karin(wife) are the ones who keep track of who is who in terms of setting and mothering behavior. (Incidentally, Lauren knows them all individually, and can remember who is missing, who has been sick, their ages, and much of each of their histories) You see, we replenish our flock sort of naturally, by letting the hens decide when they want to start sitting and make a batch of their chicks. We do interfere when a bad mother tries to set. Bad mothering takes several forms. The most common is that the hen loses interest and forgets about her clutch of eggs in the middle of ‘gestation’. Occasionally a bad mother will fail to leave the nest when the chicks are hatched, and they all starve
