5 
For the farmer or market poultryman they are favorites, being of 
medium size, well proportioned, with a deep, full breast, making a most 
admirable bird for market purposes. They are hardy, mature early, 
and make excellent broilers from eight to twelve weeks old. They are 
good layers the year round, and in winter they lay exceptionally well. 
Their eggs are brown in color and average 8 to a pound. They are 
good sitters and excellent mothers. 
The Barred Plymouth Bock, besides being a practical fowl, is also 
one of the most sought after by fanciers. No class is better filled at 
the average poultry show of the country than is this. The graceful 
Fig. 2.—Feathers of Barred Plymouth Rocks. 
figure, upright carriage, and active nature endear it to all as a fancier’s 
fowl. There is a fascination in breeding it for plumage, the more 
regular and even the barring the better (fig. 2). It requires much skill 
to breed for color, and two matings are generally used. An established 
rule for mating for cockerels is to use a standard-color male with 
medium-dark females, and for pullets use light male and dark females. 
The double mating is resorted to by many, yet the writer has seen rare 
specimens produced from single matings. 
The characteristics of the Barred Plymouth Bock are noticeable in the 
other varieties of Plymouth Bocks, excepting that of color. The size, 
