FFFAviaries
In the Brooder
- Jun 30, 2016
- 53
- 7
- 21
The white bird is an Easter Egger, and a pullet. The other "Ameraucana" is actually also just an Easter Egger (which is fine for egg laying!). Both of those are clearly pullets.
The bird that was sold to you as an Orpington is not an Orpington--or at least not a purebred. The lavender Oprington should have solid slate blue legs, and your bird looks like it has a green tint from the photos. That aside, the color is what you would call "imperfect" in the exhibition world. Your bird is too light to be a true blue. But it is also too dark (especially on the head area) to be a lavender or self blue. Blue is a dilute of black, and lavender is a diluted blue -- so there are lots of "in betweens" that happen in terms of color depending on how you breed. This bird also has hints of barring in the wing--if you look at some of those darker feathers by the back and back of the wing, you can almost see blue bars (which may hint that at some point there was a Plymouth Barred Rock used in the breeding genetics of this bird).
That being said, I still think the Orpington bird looks like a pullet. I would give this one a week or two, and see if there are any changes. But for now, based on these photos, I would still keep it around.
The barred bird is also problematic. A Dominique needs a rosecomb, and this bird has a single comb, which makes it more of a Plymouth Barred Rock. But--again, this is definitely not an exhibition style bird. Which is fine if they're around for pets, but just something to point out. The solid black wing feathers are a big disqualification in a show ring. That bird, however, is definitely a cockerel. It is a little too early to see his saddle feathers, but the sickle feathers in his tail (the big curved feathers) are a giveaway that this is indeed a cockerel.
The bird that was sold to you as an Orpington is not an Orpington--or at least not a purebred. The lavender Oprington should have solid slate blue legs, and your bird looks like it has a green tint from the photos. That aside, the color is what you would call "imperfect" in the exhibition world. Your bird is too light to be a true blue. But it is also too dark (especially on the head area) to be a lavender or self blue. Blue is a dilute of black, and lavender is a diluted blue -- so there are lots of "in betweens" that happen in terms of color depending on how you breed. This bird also has hints of barring in the wing--if you look at some of those darker feathers by the back and back of the wing, you can almost see blue bars (which may hint that at some point there was a Plymouth Barred Rock used in the breeding genetics of this bird).
That being said, I still think the Orpington bird looks like a pullet. I would give this one a week or two, and see if there are any changes. But for now, based on these photos, I would still keep it around.
The barred bird is also problematic. A Dominique needs a rosecomb, and this bird has a single comb, which makes it more of a Plymouth Barred Rock. But--again, this is definitely not an exhibition style bird. Which is fine if they're around for pets, but just something to point out. The solid black wing feathers are a big disqualification in a show ring. That bird, however, is definitely a cockerel. It is a little too early to see his saddle feathers, but the sickle feathers in his tail (the big curved feathers) are a giveaway that this is indeed a cockerel.
