Yes on the chicken tractor.
I did tell dh that we’ll build or buy one for them in the spring.
May I ask why you went from Orpies to Barred Rocks ? Are there a lot of difference in the breeds as far as friendliness and laying capabilities ?
I can only buy Rhode Island Reds and Barred Rocks locally, so I’ve ordered other breeds from both Ideal Poultry and Murray McMurray. Both have shipped excellent chicks.
My favorite breed of all is the White Leghorn. They weigh about 4 lbs. at maturity, start laying large white shelled eggs at 4 1/2 to 5 months, and they continue laying 10 to 12 weeks longer than most good layers. Their resistance to disease are very high, and the feed to egg ratio is excellent.
From the McMurray website: “When our local farmers ask us to recommend the pullet that will lay the most eggs of top grade and size, of uniform shape, good shell, and highest interior quality, and do it on the least feed and in smallest amount of space, we suggest the Pearl.”
http://www.mcmurrayhatchery.com/index.html
There are lots of differences in the various breeds in their performance and their attitudes towards you and towards the rest of the flock. Orpies are one of the more gentle breeds and seem to get along well as a flock. The roosters are average in their behavior I would say, that meaning that they will most likely kill any brooded chicks you may hatch if you don’t protect them and the rooster will start to get kind of feisty on you after a couple of years.
Rocks have much the same sort of behavior, the roosters are typically more gentle, although my current rooster, Fred, puts the lie to that theory. He will try to put the spurs to you if you let him. I keep an old flyswatter by the door to the pen for when Fred gets that rowdy look in his eye. Rocks lay at about the same rate as an Orpie, I get about 6 eggs a day from 10 hens, give or take.
The best laying chicken that I ever had was a Black Australorp (sp) a cross between Orpington’s and something from Australia. They are the world record layers. I believe the record is 500+ eggs from a single hen in a year. I got an egg every day from the one that I had and sometimes two.
Must have chicken book: “Storey’s Guide to Raising Chickens” by Gail Damerow. It’s all in there. Good luck.