Blue Orpington

[suzie1]

Yes they were both dark blue last time I saw.

 

[fatcatx]

Yes they were both dark blue last time I saw.

There is defintely going to be a learning curve for me! How old are they when you can definitely tell they are a blue and not a black if it is questionable? BTW - where in CA are you at?

 

[fatcatx]

A breeder sent me the info below. His pics were nice examples for reference so I thought I'd share. (Thanks for your help Kevin!)

If your blues are dark like ours it will be harder to distinguish between the blue and black but splash will stand out. The blues will be dark grey with a white chest and the blacks a slightly darker shade, still with a white chest. The splash will be a light grey/lavender colour.

However, if your birds are a lighter shade of blue then it will be harder to distinguish between splash and blue but black will stand out.

If you waited for a week or so when their feathers are coming through it will be a bit easier but you will get the hang of it over time.

 

[suzie1]

The chicks I had pics of I saw them at two weeks and they were looking dark blue. All my other chicks I sold them before they got in much for feathers. I'm still new at it so I'm learning every day.

 

[suzie1]

I'm up in Redding CA.

 

[fatcatx]

The chicks I had pics of I saw them at two weeks and they were looking dark blue. All my other chicks I sold them before they got in much for feathers. I'm still new at it so I'm learning every day.

I can tell I am going to have trouble telling the black from the blue unless it is blatantly obvious. I have seen some chicks that are mostly light grey. Not sure if those would be a splash or just a very light blue.

I'm up in Redding CA.

Ouch - I think you have more hot days to deal with than we do. How do your chickens tolerate the summer? Do you artificially cool your coop? Our run will be in the shade all the time and the coop will get shade by mid-afternoon, but I doubt that will be enough when it is 105 outside. Do you know if they will be OK as long as they have access to shade or is there a temp that I need to cool them down?

 

[suzie1]

I got my chicks last fall so we didn't have a lot of hot days. The few really hot days they were okay in the shade. My run is very shaded so I think they will be fine and my coop has two screened windows that let in a nice breeze. I know other people up here that have sunny runs and they just put up shade cloth over part of the run and make sure they have fresh water every day. They do fine.

 

[DKrueger4]

I have a Blue rooster and a Black hen. Her name is Crow and his name is Blu. If Blu turned out to be a hen, I'd name her Blucille.

 

[fatcatx]

I have a Blue rooster and a Black hen. Her name is Crow and his name is Blu. If Blu turned out to be a hen, I'd name her Blucille.

Blucille - I love it! ;-) Will be even more clever if/when you name his daughter Blucille.

 

[suzie1]

Do you have any pictures of Blue and Crow? We would live to see them