Blue Orpington

[ClareScifi]

I would like to meet owners on here of Blue Orpington chickens. I would love to see pictures of your Blue Orpingtons.

Also, I'd love to see pictures of Blue Orpingtons crossed with Buff Orpingtons.

Does anyone have offspring of a Buff Orpington crossed with a white leghorn who shows silvery blue in some of his feathers, such as hackles, tail, and wing tips?

Thanks for your help,

Clare

 

[dracoe19]

Here's a few pictures of my blue hens. My roosters going through a really bad molt so I didn't have any pictures of him. Don't have any buffs or leghorns so can't supply pictures of those crosses.

 

[Mavrk]

I have a couple Buff Orps. But looking at those Blues makes me really want one. Those are stunning (I love my Buffs too though).

 

[wildboutchicken]

I took pictures of the chicks. They hatched March 1st and 2nd. I have a total of 8. I also have some other BBS orpington chicks that I got from a lady in Newport. She needed to find a home for them. They will be 4 months old April 25th. They are gorgeous. My daughters can't wait to show them.





These 1st two pics are of Sweety. She is wonderful. She loves to be held and played with. She was the first to hatch.






This pic is of the blue roo and blue hen. She moved so it is blurry.




This pic is of almost the whole group. That roo to the right has white on his breast feathers and some white wing feathers. He may end up being a really dark splash. There is another 2 hens that have similar feathering to him. Sweety and Lucky are the 2 black hens.




This is Lucky. She is my favorite hen.


Lucky is posing for the camera.



Lucky started to hatch on March 1st. I just left her because I figured chicks know how to hatch. The problem with her is that she was hatching from skinny side, not fat side. I left her in her shell for almost 36 hours. I didn't know any better until I went to BYC and looked up chick hatching with difficulty. Most said not to help, that it was nature's way. I was not about to let her go though. I pulled her out of the incubator, took her into the bathroom and used my fingers and warm water to hatch her and slowly, softly pull the membranes off of her. The membranes had dried to her downy. I got her cleaned up and put her back in the incubator for about 14 more hours. She had dried and fluffed a little. I then put her in the brooder with her siblings. She is slightly smaller than the rest of the hens, but is doing well. She loves to be held and loves attention. You would never know she almost didn't make it. I figured if she could hang on for 36 hours, than she was a fighter. She has definitely proven that.



This is Lucy. She sounded like a goose when we first got her. So we named her Lucy Goosey.


This is Ace. She is our only splash hen.


This is General and Ace. General is our blue roo.


General




Lucy


Lucy

 

[CharlotteRenee]

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Hello BO fans! I'm not sure from reading this thread if this little girl will be a splash or a blue but she has a big personality and a loud peep!

She is beautiful! I'm not sure either, but I'm sure she will be a beautiful girl when she gets older!

 

[Our Roost]

Well, blue orps are anything but blue! There is the black that in sunlight shows irrodecent shades of green, and then there is the silver gray shades sometimes having black neck hackles or just pure silver gray. Last but not least is the ever so rare splash color of white looking like you splashed paint on it! Yours is starting out to be a silver gray. Blacks are born black. The silver grays are shaded gray at birh. I had one silver so far and it was definitely all silver at birth. Never owned a splash yet so I wouldnt know what to look for at birth. To know a true blue is to look under their wings and if the wing pin bones are a deep blue black, then you have a blue orp. Leg shanks are slate gray to black and beaks and eyes are both dark to black. Good luck!

 

[Our Roost]

My 3rd year with blue orps and a splash finally emerged from our hatch this spring. Absolutely beautiful markings now at just over 6 weeks old. I'm all excited and will breed her next spring in hopes of getting more.

 

[Our Roost]

The blue orpington is anything but blue! In actuality there are 3 color strains. They can be shades of silver, black, or splash. The rooster is a deep rich silver gray with black saddle back and head predominantly. The splash is a dirt white with splashes of black in its feathering. Black is black with a mild irrodecent sheen to it. You are exploring new territory mixing lavender with the roosters predominant and inheritant color genes. I can almost bet that a good percentage of the offspring will be black. The rest is a real guess. JMO.

 

[Peanutsmomma]

Oh boy! What I previously have said will be confusing in some ways. Blue orpingtons are anything but blue is what I commented on. 3 basic colors of silver, black, and splash is what hatcheries offer and wont guarantee colors at time of purchase. I love the splash but have nly hatched out one which dies just recently. Drat! I planned to breed her this spring.
Spread your birds wing feathers out and look at the pin bones. You will notice they are indigo-blue black looking. Hence the name Blue Orpington! I cant for the life of me find out what breed was crossed with the orpingtons to arrive at this fantastic bird. If you notice, they are bigger than the standard buff color. Hate to say it but they make great table birds as well as egg layers.

Thanks! I will definitely look at her pin bones. I have signed up with our local BYC club to participate in our annual breed showcase and I was thinking of taking Miss Duncan so I better get busy and do some research on how the Blues came about since I will have to give a presentation on her. You are right about them being large birds. Our Buff hens are only 5.5-6.0 lbs and our 7 month old BBS pullets are 6.0-7.0 lbs already. They look like giants next to our Buffs! Our 7 month old Blue Cockrel is 9.5 lbs already! I am guessing he will top out at around 14lbs. He is a hunky chunky sweet thing. Here is a pic I took this morning of he and two of his favorite girls dust bathing. He really is amazing, perfectly behaved with his ladies and humans and beautiful to boot.

 

[Our Roost]

Generally a spot on the head or different color determines sexable at birth traits. I would give it a few days to see if its just a birthing defect. Pretty cramped quarters inside that egg shell!