Buff Plymouth Rocks

Buff Plymouth Rocks

Awhile back I picked up six buff Plymouth Rocks from a new friend. She can't have roosters where she lives right now but likes to breed standard poultry and asked me to be one of her breeding partners. It looks like I've got four girls and two boys.









They have been in the baby coop and are so funny, they have been total scaredy cats. Er, chicken. They have been refusing to come out of their little cozy space. So finally the other day I crawled in and tossed them out (a couple of them more than once!). The usual color of Plymouth Rocks that most people know is the black and white Barred Rock. The buff color has become quite rare. I happen to love buff, in the sun they look like little golden birds.

The barred Rock was the first variety developed in New England and shown in 1849. Several other varieties were developed and today the American Poultry Association recognizes 7 color varieties. Plymouth Rocks were developed as dual purpose farmstead birds, producing good quantities of both meat and eggs. The White Rock variety is still used in developing strains and hybrids of fast growing meat birds. At one time Plymouth Rocks were the most extensively raised breed of chicken in the United States.

My friend and I will be working together next year to decide which birds to use for breeding. We want to make this variety more available to the general public, especially in the western US.