Amrock Chicken Breed
- Country of origin: The USA
- Primary uses: egg and meat production
- Lifespan: about 6 – 8 years
- Eggs:
- Production: roughly 220 eggs per year
- Size: large to extra large
- Egg color: light beige to brown
- Weight:
- Cock: 3 – 4 kg
- Hen: 2.5 – 3 kg
- Bantam:
- Cock: 0.9 kg
- Hen: 1 kg
- Colours: barred plumage
- Useful to know: pretty calm chicken breed. They can get along with other backyard poultry and have strong self defence.
- Photo:
Introduction
Dual-purpose chickens are usually the priority of chicken keepers because they are beneficial for both egg and meat production. Therein, Amrock chicken is one of the best dual-purpose chicken breeds that they can take into consideration.
Amrock chickens can lay a quite large quantity of eggs per year as well as have good meat quality. Besides, they are easy to raise and can be a perfect choice for people who just started raising chickens.
This article can give you some basic and necessary information about Amrock chickens to help you make the right decision.
Background and history of the Amrock Chicken Breed
Amrock chickens originate from the USA, specifically in a city called Plymouth. They are crossbred from Black Java, Black Cochin, and Dominique chickens.
Since 1874, Amrock chickens have been recognized as a chicken breed with the name “Barred Rock Chickens” at that point below.
After the Second World War, a large quantity of birds in German were consumed and Amrock chickens were provided for German residents to supplement their meat and egg demands.
As a result, Amrock chickens are widespread and common in Europe for the time meeting.
Appearance
Amrock chickens are auto-sexing breeds, which means that male and female Amrock chickens have different appearances and we can distinguish them depending on that feature.
Amrock cocks’ heads have more white highlights and will have broader white barring when getting older. Meanwhile, Amrock hens’ black barring will be wider once having aged.
Amrock roosters are quite high and large with wide chests, big beaks, and combs. Their beaks are yellow and bend a little at the beak tips. Also, Amrock roosters have from 5 to 7 teeth which have a bright red color.
Their heads are big but fit with the body sizes. Amrock roosters’ eyes are big, dark brown, and have oval shapes which are one of the distinguishing features of them.
Amrock chickens have fluffy plumage with medium and upright tails. Their wings are not too big and tight to their bodies. Their legs are quite long and strong with dark yellow color.
Behavior
Amrock chickens are considered as rather calm chicken breeds. Though they are not too friendly and mild to be raised as pets, they do not cause any serious problems for chicken keepers.
Besides, they can live in harmony with a variety of species and have strong self-defense. Amrock chickens are not scared of predators such as cats, dogs, or other livestock.
Broodiness
Amrock hens can be good mothers but they are more suitable for egg and meat purposes.
Amrock Chicken productivity
Is the Amrock Chicken Good for Eggs?
Of course, Amrock chickens are great layers. They start laying since they are five months old and are able to produce more than 200 eggs in the first year. Their egg production will decrease from 10 to 15% for the next few years.
Though Amrock chickens do not lay a numerous quantity of eggs, their egg quality is the compensation. To be more precise, their eggs have large to extra sizes with high quality.
To achieve the highest profit of harvesting eggs, some poultry experts derived another chicken breed called dwarf Amrock chickens that are able to generate the maximum quantity of eggs with the minimum feed expense.
These dwarf Amrock chickens are smaller and weigh approximately 1.5 kg. Their dietary feed is 2 to 3 times less than normal Amrock chickens, but their egg production is just 20% less than ordinary Amrocks. Therefore, dwarf Amrock chickens are the priorities of farmers whose main purpose is egg sale.
Is the Amrock Chicken Good for Meat?
Yes. Amrock chickens are heavy chicken breeds with a weight of roughly 3 – 4 kg. In addition, the baby chicks achieve sexual maturity in a short time and they grow quickly without too complicated requirements.
Furthermore, their meat quality is rated as good so they bring a big profit for owners in the meat production field apart from egg production.
Further reading: 21 Best Chicken Keeping eBooks
Common Issues of the Amrock Chicken
Luckily, Amrock chickens are not extremely susceptible to diseases and have rather strong immune systems. However, it is still necessary to have some preventive methods since some parasites such as ticks, fleas can cause problems for them.
To be more specific, those parasites can destroy Amrock chickens’ feathers and other infectious diseases. Here are some tips that you can refer to prevent your chickens from being health problems:
- Firstly, building ash baths. It sounds quite weird to some people who are just beginning to raise chickens, but it has great results. You should mix wood ash with sand in the ratio 0.5: 0.5 to impede parasite appearance.
If your chickens are attacked by ticks, you need to add colloidal sulfur into the baths and clean after 2 or 3 days.
- Secondly, vaccinating your chickens. It needs chemical medicine help to prevent chickens from infectious diseases. Vaccination not only can prevent infectious diseases but also create stronger resistance for your chickens.
Most importantly, you should ask the poultry vet for advice thoroughly as well as check the expiration date before vaccinating chickens to ensure their safety and health.
Benefits and Drawbacks of Raising Amrock Chickens
Benefits of Raising the Amrock Chicken
- Firstly, Amrock chickens are dual-purpose chickens, meaning they can serve for both meat and egg purposes. Therefore, they bring a lot of profits for chicken keepers.
- Secondly, Amrock chickens do not require special caring. They can survive and develop well without complicated demands. So, Amrock chickens are one of the best choices for beginners.
Additionally, this can relieve chicken raisers expense burden and effort.
- Thirdly, Amrock chickens have a strong immune system so they suffer less dangerous health problems if managed well.
Diseases are the most concern for people who raise poultry since it takes a lot of costs and effort to deal with them. Once poultry is infected, it is difficult to control and can lead to heavy losses.
Luckily, Amrock chickens are rather unsusceptible to diseases if they have sufficient vaccination and essential caring.
- Last but not least, Amrock chickens have long lifespans and high viability.
Challenges or Drawbacks of Raising the Amrock Chicken
Though it sounds quite easy when raising Amrock chickens, there are still a disadvantage you may encounter such as:
Amrock chickens can attack their companies to compete for food. However, it just happens at mealtime and you can easily improve this problem by providing them with sufficient feed.
How to raise the Amrock Chicken?
Environment requirements
Heating
Though Amrock Chicken can survive well in any climate, it is still very crucial to prevent them from sudden temperature changes. That is why you need to preheat their coop temperature in winter before they get into and adjust the heat to fit their body temperature.
If the temperature is too cold, they can be frosted. On the contrary, they can be overheated if the temperature is too hot.
You may also like: Beginner’s Guide to Keeping Chickens
Dietary feed
Amrock chickens’ diets are quite similar to other chicken breeds. Their diets are a sufficient combination of carbohydrate, protein, fiber, and essential vitamins as well as minerals.
Carbohydrates of Amrock chickens can come from a variety of grains, oats, wheat bran, etc. They also need to consume fiber from various boiled and chopped vegetables like potatoes, carrots, etc.
Amrock chickens also love walking around to look for insects, worms, etc and they are the great protein sources of them. Apart from their natural protein sources, it is necessary to provide them with other protein supplements by their own formulated food.
If you keep a mixed flock including both roosters and hens, it would be better to use boilers’ all-purpose feed. It will give enough protein content and the right amount of calcium for all the flock.
Since Amrock hens will demand higher protein and calcium contents during their laying egg to enhance their productivity and make the eggshells sturdier, you can give them a separate diet.
This is mainly because roosters will suffer some dangerous health problems such as liver or kidney damage. You should feed them an adequate amount of feed to save feed costs. If they leave leftover food after you feed them, you need to give them less food next time.
Baby chicks caring
Though mature Amrock chickens do not demand complicated caring, it is essential to pay more attention with Amrock baby chicks.
After being born, you should not pick them up and allow them to dry by their mothers. Then they need to be placed in separate boxes that are soft and have no gaps. They also need to be specially taken care of with appropriate heat and other factors.
Amrock baby chicks are weak so they require warm places. Therefore, their coop temperature must be roughly 30 degree Celcius to maintain the ideal heating and ensure baby chicks’ health.
Water source
Clean and fresh water sources are always the most basic and significant demand that any animal needs to access. Water and food intake are closely correlated. If the chickens do not consume enough water, their feed intake will decrease.
In addition, Amrock chickens tend to drink more water when the temperature is higher. It is because they need to cool their body temperature down to adapt well to the climate.
One more thing you need to notice is not to provide your chickens with saltwater since it can have a negative impact on eggshell quality.
Furthermore, water bowls should be placed in the right positions to help your chickens drink easier and more comfortably. You also choose suitable water bowls for baby chicks and mature chickens. It is not unusual to behold some baby chicks that have fallen into water bowls and drowned.
Final thoughts
So, with all of the essential and vital features of Amrock chickens pointed out above, it is obvious that they are one of the chicken breeds worth trying to raise.
Since they are dual-purpose chickens that can be used for both meat and egg production. Ordinary Amrock chickens can provide high meat and egg quality but do not require any special and complicated caring methods.
So it not only brings a lot of profits for chicken keepers, but also takes less raising costs and effort. This is also the reason why Amrock chickens are the best option for people who are just beginning to raise chickens.
Some people worry about their egg quantity since Amrock chickens do not produce a numerous number of eggs, but it was not a big deal when poultry experts created the dwarf Amrock chickens. These chickens are still able to maintain the number of eggs with lower feed expenses.
One more important thing is that though Amrock chickens are not known for any particular disease and they have a strong immune system, it is still crucial to have some preventative methods such as vaccination or preparing ash baths. Make sure to follow the useful tips mentioned above to keep your chickens safe and healthy.
Apart from the benefits while raising Amrock chickens, you also need to pay attention to their necessary living conditions, their dietary feed, and water sources. Most importantly, you have to take good care of baby chicks after they are born.
So, is Amrock chicken right for you? If you do not have an exact answer for that question, this article can be a reliable reference that you can depend on.
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