*Buff Orpington Thread!*

[Wyorp Rock]

I have a question. I have an almost 6 month old pullet from a Lavender Orpington cockerel over a Buff O hen. Here she is at about 12 weeks of age:


She was about 8 weeks old when these pictures were taken.



She is a very beautiful little girl. The black neck feathers have been replaced with vivid bright red fawn colored feathers. She is very friendly, and the key word is little. I have Buff O Welsummer cross pullets that will be close to POL next month and this little girl is half their size. I realize that Buff Os mature slower. My BO/Welsummer crosses have matured quicker than my Buff O girls have-about at the same rate as my Welsummer pullets but this little girl seems to be way behind the 8 ball when it comes to maturing. In fact, I have pure bred 11 week old pullets that are only marginally smaller than Baby is. The thing is she has all these fluffy partridge feathers that make her look bigger than she really is.

Any ideas as to why she is small for her age? Her father was a BIG boy. She is his only offspring. I found him dead when he was just about a year old from a suspected heart attack. All my Buff O girls are just your typical fluffy butts. Several are smaller than the others but they are just typical BOs.

She follows me around the run until I pick her up and carry her with me. She eats good. Doesn't seem to hang around with any of the other hens simply because she is small and tends to get picked on a lot. So yes, she gets a lot of attention from me.

You have to admit, she is a cutie.

She is cute!

 

[mamatink7]

I have a question. I have an almost 6 month old pullet from a Lavender Orpington cockerel over a Buff O hen. Here she is at about 12 weeks of age: She was about 8 weeks old when these pictures were taken. She is a very beautiful little girl. The black neck feathers have been replaced with vivid bright red fawn colored feathers. She is very friendly, and the key word is little. I have Buff O Welsummer cross pullets that will be close to POL next month and this little girl is half their size. I realize that Buff Os mature slower. My BO/Welsummer crosses have matured quicker than my Buff O girls have-about at the same rate as my Welsummer pullets but this little girl seems to be way behind the 8 ball when it comes to maturing. In fact, I have pure bred 11 week old pullets that are only marginally smaller than Baby is. The thing is she has all these fluffy partridge feathers that make her look bigger than she really is. Any ideas as to why she is small for her age? Her father was a BIG boy. She is his only offspring. I found him dead when he was just about a year old from a suspected heart attack. All my Buff O girls are just your typical fluffy butts. Several are smaller than the others but they are just typical BOs. She follows me around the run until I pick her up and carry her with me. She eats good. Doesn't seem to hang around with any of the other hens simply because she is small and tends to get picked on a lot. So yes, she gets a lot of attention from me. You have to admit, she is a cutie.

they all grow at their own rate, wait till she shoots up then you'll be really amazed!! We have smaller girls within same breed as well and it's always a mystery for us too. Shes a cute little thing

 

[Lelanae]

I have a question. I have an almost 6 month old pullet from a Lavender Orpington cockerel over a Buff O hen. Here she is at about 12 weeks of age:


She was about 8 weeks old when these pictures were taken.



She is a very beautiful little girl. The black neck feathers have been replaced with vivid bright red fawn colored feathers. She is very friendly, and the key word is little. I have Buff O Welsummer cross pullets that will be close to POL next month and this little girl is half their size. I realize that Buff Os mature slower. My BO/Welsummer crosses have matured quicker than my Buff O girls have-about at the same rate as my Welsummer pullets but this little girl seems to be way behind the 8 ball when it comes to maturing. In fact, I have pure bred 11 week old pullets that are only marginally smaller than Baby is. The thing is she has all these fluffy partridge feathers that make her look bigger than she really is.

Any ideas as to why she is small for her age? Her father was a BIG boy. She is his only offspring. I found him dead when he was just about a year old from a suspected heart attack. All my Buff O girls are just your typical fluffy butts. Several are smaller than the others but they are just typical BOs.

She follows me around the run until I pick her up and carry her with me. She eats good. Doesn't seem to hang around with any of the other hens simply because she is small and tends to get picked on a lot. So yes, she gets a lot of attention from me.

You have to admit, she is a cutie.

She is adorable. I would love to see more pictures as she grows up! I had to give up my two English Orpington Roos to a local famer who has production reds and buff orpingtons. I am hoping her breeds the lavender cuckoo roo... nice to see what the offspring would look like!

 

[microchick]

Thanks. I have been waiting for a nice sunny day to get some pictures. It was nice yesterday but every moment outside was spoken for and now it is raining.

Her feathers are so unlike the Buff's in that they are very soft and long, almost like an English Orpington. Her sire was a beautiful LO. When she hatched in June I was excitedly planning to mate him with my best Buff hens this coming spring and see if this color variation bred true. About two weeks after going into molt, I went out into the coop one afternoon and found my cockerel on his back quite dead. I read somewhere that when you find them dead on their backs it is generally from a sudden death heart attack.

Here is Larry Bird about several weeks before he died. My Welsummer rooster BO is on the left and Dos, Buff O/Welsummer cross from a Feb. hatch is in the background. They had just been exiled to the rooster pen and none of them were very happy with me at the moment.

 

[WyandotteLove1]

I have a question. I have an almost 6 month old pullet from a Lavender Orpington cockerel over a Buff O hen. Here she is at about 12 weeks of age:


She was about 8 weeks old when these pictures were taken.



She is a very beautiful little girl. The black neck feathers have been replaced with vivid bright red fawn colored feathers. She is very friendly, and the key word is little. I have Buff O Welsummer cross pullets that will be close to POL next month and this little girl is half their size. I realize that Buff Os mature slower. My BO/Welsummer crosses have matured quicker than my Buff O girls have-about at the same rate as my Welsummer pullets but this little girl seems to be way behind the 8 ball when it comes to maturing. In fact, I have pure bred 11 week old pullets that are only marginally smaller than Baby is. The thing is she has all these fluffy partridge feathers that make her look bigger than she really is.

Any ideas as to why she is small for her age? Her father was a BIG boy. She is his only offspring. I found him dead when he was just about a year old from a suspected heart attack. All my Buff O girls are just your typical fluffy butts. Several are smaller than the others but they are just typical BOs.

She follows me around the run until I pick her up and carry her with me. She eats good. Doesn't seem to hang around with any of the other hens simply because she is small and tends to get picked on a lot. So yes, she gets a lot of attention from me.

You have to admit, she is a cutie.

I really don't think you have anything to worry about as long as she is eating and drinking healthy, her egg yokes look fine, and she is acting completely normal for your average BO Welsummer. Was her mother small at all, and do you think her father might've passed on disordered genes from his heart attack or anything like that? I really don't think you have anything to worry about! She's quite the birdie!

 

[microchick]

She hasn't started to lay yet and I'm not expecting her to until spring given her slow development. I have two Buff O Welsummer crosses that were from the same hatch and they have done so much maturing the past month that I wouldn't be surprised if they are not at POL by the end of next month. Baby just seems to be puttering along. She is about half their size. Her sire was like I said, a BIG boy and I'm not certain which hen provided the egg she came from. I haven't had any problem with my hens at all. Roosters have been a bit dicey. My flock master BO cockerel who appears as my avatar, Big Red died at 8 months from a mystery illness that didn't respond to any treatment. He was the only one who got sick. Two months later I lost a young cockerel from a Feb hatch. He suddenly lost neuromuscular control and started to then have seizures. When he got to the point that he couldn't move and seized whenever I touched him, I had no choice other than to put him down. He loved to ride around on my shoulder. Then I lost Larry Bird to what I suspect was a heart related condition.

I have three pure blooded BO cockerels at this time. They are all half brothers sired by Big Red. To date they are all three healthy and quite the characters. At this point in time I have no idea if Baby has inherited any possible heart problems from her sire. Or even if what he had was a genetic defect or just a freak of nature. Like I said. She acts normal just petite.

 

[WyandotteLove1]

She hasn't started to lay yet and I'm not expecting her to until spring given her slow development. I have two Buff O Welsummer crosses that were from the same hatch and they have done so much maturing the past month that I wouldn't be surprised if they are not at POL by the end of next month. Baby just seems to be puttering along. She is about half their size. Her sire was like I said, a BIG boy and I'm not certain which hen provided the egg she came from. I haven't had any problem with my hens at all. Roosters have been a bit dicey. My flock master BO cockerel who appears as my avatar, Big Red died at 8 months from a mystery illness that didn't respond to any treatment. He was the only one who got sick. Two months later I lost a young cockerel from a Feb hatch. He suddenly lost neuromuscular control and started to then have seizures. When he got to the point that he couldn't move and seized whenever I touched him, I had no choice other than to put him down. He loved to ride around on my shoulder. Then I lost Larry Bird to what I suspect was a heart related condition.

I have three pure blooded BO cockerels at this time. They are all half brothers sired by Big Red. To date they are all three healthy and quite the characters. At this point in time I have no idea if Baby has inherited any possible heart problems from her sire. Or even if what he had was a genetic defect or just a freak of nature. Like I said. She acts normal just petite.

Then I don't think you have anything to worry about! My friend has some TINY birds that were originally not from a small breed, and they are perfectly normal. I think she's just a small bird. As you say, it's probably just a freak of nature.

And about the mystery illness too; I had a Red Star die from a mystery illness a while back, and we might be talking about the same illness. It's called Sudden Death Syndrome, and I've heard that it's happened more than once because of egg blocks in hens, but it has also happened to roosters. My Red Star, Peppermint, was completely healthy when she died. I think that's a likely possibility for the sudden death of some of your roos. I hope you find this helpful!

 

[microchick]

Then I don't think you have anything to worry about! My friend has some TINY birds that were originally not from a small breed, and they are perfectly normal. I think she's just a small bird. As you say, it's probably just a freak of nature.

And about the mystery illness too; I had a Red Star die from a mystery illness a while back, and we might be talking about the same illness. It's called Sudden Death Syndrome, and I've heard that it's happened more than once because of egg blocks in hens, but it has also happened to roosters. My Red Star, Peppermint, was completely healthy when she died. I think that's a likely possibility for the sudden death of some of your roos. I hope you find this helpful!

Red suddenly dropped weight in spite of having a very healthy appetite. Wattles and comb turned white and dry. I tried worming with both a coccidia treatment and then a general wormer. No change. No cough, no discharge from eyes or nostrils. We switched him to a broad spectrum antibiotic. With both the wormers and the antibiotics, he would show a 48 hour improvement and then slide back down hill again. When he died, his breathing was labored and I found him dead with clear fluid coming from his beak.

I spent days combing the internet looking for an illness that matched his symptoms to no avail. To this day I do not know what he died of or from and he was the only one of my flock to get sick. He was a sweet funny boy and I miss him to this day. One of his three sons is his spit'in image. I call him JR short for Junior Red.

I'm one f these crazy chicken people who loves their roosters. They don't get eaten, given away or sold. They get to live in a plush bachelor pen and rotate turns with the hens. More than once they have proven to be good guardians for the flock and have earned their keep.

 

[countryladyNH]

SOME PHOTOS OF OUR OWN '18th century coop, FORT ORPINGTON', AT CHRISTMAS TIME.
~NOVEMBER 25, 2016~ OUR FOUR BUFF ORPS, PRISSY, MAISIE, HANNAH, AND BELLA SEE SNOW FOR THE FIRST TIME!!

(Plus a few photos of our 'Christmas coop'!!)

 

[TheSpiceGirls]

SOME PHOTOS OF OUR OWN '18th century coop, FORT ORPINGTON', AT CHRISTMAS TIME.
~NOVEMBER 25, 2016~ OUR FOUR BUFF ORPS, PRISSY, MAISIE, HANNAH, AND BELLA SEE SNOW FOR THE FIRST TIME!!

(Plus a few photos of our 'Christmas coop'!!)

OMG, how totally adorable. I may have to try this w/ my BO's.