CSU - Chicken State University- Large Fowl SOP

[OSUman]

Sorry, I meant that they had a cushion and then the hard tail feathers. I probably used the term incorrectly, a LF Cochin breeder near me told it to me when he had it show up in a couple of his pullets

Jon,

Do you mean that the hens' tail coverts weren't covering the base of the main tail, so there was a break in the topline? I'm not sure what you mean by "double tails".

 

[fowlman01]

Sorry, I meant that they had a cushion and then the hard tail feathers. I probably used the term incorrectly, a LF Cochin breeder near me told it to me when he had it show up in a couple of his pullets

Just 'cushion" works. That is sometimes hard to get rid of.

w.

 

[fowlman01]

Here are the LF Orps I had about three or four years ago, first show birds I had. I ended up getting out of them because they weren't as nice as I had thought they were when I got them. The male has a flat back and a separation to a tail, which shouldn't be there. The hens all had double tails.

The male is on alert, so it makes it harder, but the things for sure are: tail begins in an angle to the back instead of a smooth transition and he is pretty shallow, so much so that you can see a diagonal like from the upper chest on down. You should see no straight line in the underline of an Orp.and most other breeds as well. Can't see the females very well, but would guess that they are shallow as well. The female in the foreground appears shallow even though her head is down. I can't see them well enough to ad much more. The color is too hard to determine with just a picture. The male appears to be washed out, but that happens when they are out in the sun too.

Walt

 

[Tailfeathers]

Here is a rear shot of 3 of my 6 month old 50% English x US pullets . The Brat, in the middle, lost her top tail feather when she offended one of her aunties.



I'm really working on combs as so many Buff Orps have really awful ones. Here's a shot of 2 of my old girls so you can see what I've been up to. Twisted, floppy, too many crowded points, as Walt has said . A challenge to fix those but you can see the improvement here in the next photo.




2 6 month old Monty pullets front left, and center, with the old girls behind. I hope you can see the difference here. A vast improvement on their mother's combs. Their brother was posted earlier.

I am not an Orpington breeder so I don't really have a dog in this hunt but I do have a question. I agree that the bird in the forefront of the bottom pic has outstanding color. But the Type seems to be completely different than the three in the top pic.

I have noticed a trend in the last couple years of a much more roundish looking bird. Almost Cochin like. I got a couple Buff Orps from a breeder a few years ago which looked very much like the top 3 pictured. Longer backs and necks. Smaller, oval heads. Lower tailset with little cusion on the back and noticeably wider thighs. I've been told this is the American Orp and the more Cochin-looking, roundish birds are British. First question I have is, is that correct?

I have recently obtained some BO's that originated from Lewis Clevenger and they seem to be what I'm looking for. I'm really looking forward to having some nice BO eye candy on the place again.

God Bless,

 

[Fred's Hens]

The australorp was bred out of black orpingtons to improve egg laying in black orpington..the black orpington was one of the most popular breeds at that time but not known for good egg laying..the blk orp started laying late like 10 mos and maybe an egg every other day some of them did much better than that ..the hope was to increase egg laying ability in this new cross.. they crossed leghorn langshan and blk orp to create what they called the utility orpington then the australians made this bird thier own..it was called the australian utility orpington, or australorp ..the hens in australia set world records in egg laying..surpassed anyones expectation..

I LOVE that blue australorp hen..I think she really looks like a dual purops meat egg bird.. really wonderful work..same with the black..

Such a good contribution.

 

[Fred's Hens]

Here is a blue Australorp pullet and a Black Australorp pullet. Remember I am in Australia so a slightly different standard to yours. Still interested on everyones thoughts though.
Blue Australorp Pullet








I only have one pic of my black pullet but here she is.

I've honestly never seen such birds. Then again, I've never been down under. I'll go back under my rock now, but I must say that I'd love to see such deep birds here in the US. I cannot take my eyes off your photos. The silhouette of the first blue bird is incredibly pleasing to the eye, even if it were in a black/white photo.

 

[aveca]

I have been saying that for years fredshens..they produce fantastic australorp... I looked into importation , but australia has banned all import- export at this time, at least last time I looked ..might have to do with the deadly bird flu plus few other goodies..but when I looked into it found a man who is a banker, also raises australorp, he was willing to go through the steps but they told us they could not issue any import papers for us..last time I looked, same thing.. gave up after a while..but never get tired of looking at them..Thats probably why greenfire and other importers dont have them..plus there were a lot of waiting lists in australia for them..So glad the aussies are sharing thier pics for us to enjoy,,

My australorp hens are a mess all except 1..hard to make a silk purse out of a sows ear..i did get a couple decent ones but nothing to write home about...

 

[thedragonlady]

I am not an Orpington breeder so I don't really have a dog in this hunt but I do have a question. I agree that the bird in the forefront of the bottom pic has outstanding color. But the Type seems to be completely different than the three in the top pic.

I have noticed a trend in the last couple years of a much more roundish looking bird. Almost Cochin like. I got a couple Buff Orps from a breeder a few years ago which looked very much like the top 3 pictured. Longer backs and necks. Smaller, oval heads. Lower tailset with little cusion on the back and noticeably wider thighs. I've been told this is the American Orp and the more Cochin-looking, roundish birds are British. First question I have is, is that correct?

I have recently obtained some BO's that originated from Lewis Clevenger and they seem to be what I'm looking for. I'm really looking forward to having some nice BO eye candy on the place again.

God Bless,

The pullet in the bottom photo is one of the same pullets in the top photo. She was just squatting to eat something in the last photo.
The US birds are not as heavily feathered and round as a lot of the English birds. There is a fad now in England for much more Cochin feathering than is actually called for in their standard. That is what you are seeing a lot of over here. Our standards are almost identical except fot the tail angle which was changed from 45 degrees in ours after WW1 to 20 dergrees.

Go back a bit in the thread, and you can see one of my English type birds. Lots of cushion there, but no hanging fluff. Glad you are back into Orps !

 

[capayvalleychick]

Here is a blue Australorp pullet and a Black Australorp pullet. Remember I am in Australia so a slightly different standard to yours. Still interested on everyones thoughts though.
Blue Australorp Pullet








I only have one pic of my black pullet but here she is.

Beautiful birds. I'm not a breeder of Orpingtons or Australorps, but have a novice observation. Looking at the artwork in the APA SOP, the tails on these pullets look more Orpington than Australorp. Maybe it's their youth or the Aussie standard. ?

 

[Canieldonrad]

Beautiful birds. I'm not a breeder of Orpingtons or Australorps, but have a novice observation. Looking at the artwork in the APA SOP, the tails on these pullets look more Orpington than Australorp. Maybe it's their youth or the Aussie standard. ?

I try not to pay attention to the illustrations, a lot are artist renditions that are poorly portrayed(in my opinion). I would much rather prefer if they collected photographs of exceptional birds to place in the Standard.