Post Pics Of Orps/ Orpingtons HERE - Page 582

Quote:

Originally Posted by fowlman01 

 

 

I showed at Columbus that year....and the name Vicky Head sounds familiar. If you love wide skulls you might not want to add the British Orps to your line. They have tiny heads and that is what the British Standard calls for.

 

Walt

         I remember the name and think of buff Silkies. Now you're having fun with buff Orps. Cool.  Walt, know what you are saying but all the UK type are not all the UK type if you know what I mean. Either way Vickie has a big pot that's being stirred. Will be interesting to see what settles out in the end. Vickie, I always think having a mind's eye ideal is a good part of the battle plan. Good Luck with your own.

Quote:

Originally Posted by DaveK 

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by fowlman01 

 

 

I showed at Columbus that year....and the name Vicky Head sounds familiar. If you love wide skulls you might not want to add the British Orps to your line. They have tiny heads and that is what the British Standard calls for.

 

Walt

 

         I remember the name and think of buff Silkies. Now you're having fun with buff Orps. Cool.  Walt, know what you are saying but all the UK type are not all the UK type if you know what I mean. Either way Vickie has a big pot that's being stirred. Will be interesting to see what settles out in the end. Vickie, I always think having a mind's eye ideal is a good part of the battle plan. Good Luck with your own.

She now has 5 of my chicks hatched that will be "stirred" into that pot.Will be interesting what some Orpingtons look like in 10 years. 

i really enjoyed vicki and walts banter..i always learn a lot following the thread.vicki has a clear vision of what she is looking for..i also cant wait to see what she develops..both have form is to function ideas, and i really liked vickies point to pick the bird up and feel that keel..the english breeders know that in the end its about making great meat and egg laying birds.

Hi

You probably remember the buff pullet as she started an interesting discussion when she went RB. Buff Silkies were not recognozed by APA at that time. Dave Sherrill was a well recognized APA-ABA judge, and he put them up as he saw them. I was just floored to have all my birds have done so well. Bob Cook was happy too as he had given me "Lester", a white, because he showed some brass in the hackle.Lester  was used for 5 generations as the cock bird to make those Buffs ie; the only male used. This got rid of all the blue underfluff, and cemented the type. The recessive whites that resulted from those buffs were winners too.They were pure, glistening white with no trace of yellowing.                     

Having bred Mastiffs and Greyhounds also for many years, I'm not so sure that registered/ pedigreed birds are a good idea. The Greyhound track people seem to never look at the actual hounds. They breed track record to track record.Some of the track hounds look like over grown labradors with none of the deep chests and tuck up of loin that the old hounds had. Nope, they no longer resemble the dog on the Greyhound bus! The change is rather akin to the difference in hatchery vs breeder birds. Since races are now much shorter in order to allow more betting, and at night, the track breeders have produced dogs that fit that need. Due to night racing, all the track hounds now have dark eyes and rims, while years ago most were light eyed.On the other hand, the show crowd is now producing many dilutes with light  eyes, and locked spines that cannot flex. They are pretty though, and do look like the dog on the bus, but half of them can't run, or whelp pups due to no muscle mass.

Lets never forget that we are breeding a DUAL purpose bird that is supposed to lay well, and then provide meat for the table. Pre incubators, I'm sure many Orps were culled also as they either didn't lay well , or were not good mothers. Very few oldtimers would have tolerated a bird who layed a handful of eggs a year, had no carcase worth eating, and was bred just for yard ornamentation. At the price of feed nowadays ; neither will I. So I'm gonna stir the pot, because I would rather feed pretty ones that work for a living!

Vickie
 

As I have told Vicky...I am an Orp snob. I have owned the real deal and produced hundreds if not thousands of the Ralph Brazelton line of Orps. They were massive without having excess fluff on the thighs. He trap nested all this birds and if they did not lay well they were culled. They were huge birds with excellent width of skull and all the points you would want in an Orp. The Orp pullet in my profile pic is only 8 months old and you can probably tell that she was already huge. I can see why no one would really know they are British birds or not after all the crossing that has gone on here in the last few years. I watched what crossing the British Pekins did to the current Pekins here in the US.....now we have hybrids all over the place that don't look like Pekins at all.

Since Vicky mentioned dogs.......look at what the German Shepard's look like now. I believe that was a British thing too. This has been discussed many times on many boards and it tends to cause huge arguments, so I don't need to go on. I will say though that it is highly unlikely that the APA SOP for Orps will change any time soon and currently it says that you have to see the profile of the hocks and that the lower body feathers are not to be too profuse. It also describes a deep and broad head.

I will be sitting here eating my popcorn waiting to see the pictures of the results of Vicky's crosses. BTW: I have no problems with the British......now the French....that is a different story.  lol

Walt

Great show at Greenville Ohio.  The Grand Champ was a Brown Leghorn. 

Doug's birds took Champ English and Res English.

Here is the Champ English.

A wonderful big Buff hen.  Great tail.

His Reserve English cock.  Came out of a breeding pen and was still in good condition.

Doug's 3rd entry wasn't too bad either.

Quote:

Originally Posted by naturespace 

The dragon lady, makes a point that I've been wrestling with. Now im new to Orps and new to pure bred chickens in general. Someone awhile back posted a link to a site that had photos of show winners for several different breeds from the early 1900's. The English Orpingtons look a lot different from the SOP of today, as I understand it. I can't find the link, but when I do I'll post it.
The first thing that attracted me to Orpingtons was their ability to set eggs and be great mothers. I wanted a LF, not a banty. Second was duel-purpose, those mothers are hatching a lot of Roos too. Third their temperament. I want birds that I can handle in case I need to do some first aid or such. Forth, when not broody they lay a lot of big eggs and even during winter. I feel these things make a nice homesteading bird. Oh and can I add fifth, they are decent foragers.
They are not my only birds and I plan on having them hatch and raise my other breeds. So I guess my point is, I might not worry so much about the SOP and just have birds that work well in my environment and fit my needs. I think the original Orps were meant to meet most of the qualities I'm looking for in a homestead bird.

I would love to see that link.

Edit: I keep forgetting to post this.  Why do the buff Orps I see now let their wings droop? It is pretty common in at least two strains out here in the west. I believe these birds came from OK.

Walt

i would like to know about the dropped wing thing also,  just saw a real nice australorp with wing pointed straight south.why would he be rewarded with wins?.rest of him was nice and it was in all photos of him.also a lot of white earlobes of blk orps , went  to go see some like that..i did not buy..knew that much, otherwise nice birds.