Orpington Colors

[PandaGirl]

Hello, I am wondering how they have so many color of Orpingtons. Also, if I have a flock of Orpingtons, and they were all different colors, and I breed them, would more than the color change? They would still be Orpingtons, just with unusual colors, right? Do all Orpintons breed true regardless of the color? Thanks!

 

[SwampPrincessChick]

There are so many different colors of Orpington because of breeders wanting to make new colors in the Orpington breed. Usually to make a new color of a breed, breeders start out with a different breed of chicken, and breed it with the Orpington (as an example) and keep on doing that until the Orpington has that new color, but still looks like an Orpington in general. I am not an expert on genetics, so I cannot answer the question about breeding true.

 

[ColtHandorf]

Hello, I am wondering how they have so many color of Orpingtons. Also, if I have a flock of Orpingtons, and they were all different colors, and I breed them, would more than the color change? They would still be Orpingtons, just with unusual colors, right? Do all Orpintons breed true regardless of the color? Thanks!

1. How are there so many colors of Orpingtons?

Because since William Cook began developing the Black Orpington in 1880 and debuted the Black Orpington in 1886, The Orpington Breed Club was formed in 1887, and many people since then have worked on the breed, expanding the number of varieties that are available.

By 1888 a rose-combed variety of Black Orpington was developed. Buff Orpingtons made their public appearance in 1894. Rose-combed Buff in 1891.

White Orpingtons appeared in 1892/93 and had rose combs. In 1899 a White Orpington with a single comb was developed. The Jubilee, or "Diamond Jubilee" was shown in 1897 at Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee.

Spangled Orpingtons were introduced in 1900. Cuckoo in 1908. Blue (and Splash) weren't popular at first, but by 1912 a Blue Orpington took the trophy for Best Orpington at the Crystal Palace show, beating the popular Buff.

Red Orpingtons appeared between 1910 and 1912.

Bantam Orpingtons were developed in 1900 and were Buff. Blacks appeared in 1929 and were first shown in 1936. White appeared in 1946 and were shown in 1950, while Blues were first shown in 1953.

Varieties currently accepted by The Orpington Breed Club in the UK are:

Large Fowl:

- Blue
- Black
- Buff
- White
- Jubilee
- Spangled
- Cuckoo

Bantam:

- Blue
- Black
- Buff
- White

Other varieties that have been developed include Mottled, Chocolate, Lavender, Mauve, Silver-laced, Gold-laced, Columbian, Birchin and many combinations such as Blue SIlver-laced, Isabel Lavender-laced, Blue Jubilee, Lemon Cuckoo, Lavender Cuckoo, etc.

2. If I have a flock of Opringtons, and they were all different colors, and I breed them, would more than one color change?

I'm honestly not sure what you're asking, as the answer is obvious, so I feel like I must be missing something. Suppose you had a Buff male covering hens that are Black, Blue, Chocolate, Silver-laced, Jubilee, Lavender Cuckoo, and Chocolate Gold-laced. None of those combinations will breed true. The genes at play act on different parts of the bird. You have color genes and pattern genes from each bird, and none of them are compatible when it comes to producing birds that will look like their parents.

If you're just wanting birds for yourself, I suppose that doesn't really matter. If you are wanting to produce birds that look like their parents, there are some color combinations that will work together. This is not generally advised because most people that breed chickens don't like surprises, but you could combine all the birds who have genes that dilute or interact with Black. So you could run Blue, Black, Splash, Lavender, and Chocolate birds together in a breeding pen. Depending on the breedings, you could produce all of those colors in chicks, plus Mauve and Splash Mauve. If any of these birds carried Recessive White, you could also have white in the flock.

I would advise not adding any patterned birds to pens with solid-colored birds. So no Cuckoo, Lacing, or Mottling. If you went with patterned birds, you could potentially use Mottled in all of the colors mentioned above if you could find them.

3. They would still be Orpingtons, just with unusual colors, right?
Technically, yes. They would be non-Standard Orpingtons. They still lay eggs and are dual-purpose, so you could eat them. Some of them might be pretty. And some might be very ugly. If I ever have an accidental mating and hatch chicks from that union, they are sold as non-standard Orpingtons, lawn art, or eye candy. As a grumpy elitist, I never recommend crossing varieties without a good cause.

4. Do all Orpintons breed true regardless of color?

I think you're asking the same thing again. You want to know if throwing a bunch of different colored Orpingtons in a pen and allowing them to breed would result in Orpington chicks. And yes, the chicks would be Orpingtons; however, they would not be a recognized variety or even a variety being worked toward being recognized. Generally speaking, your babies would be varying colors, probably black, with some gold/red leakage and look like poorly colored versions of their parents.

 

[PandaGirl]

Sorry, looking back at what I wrote, I can see that it was not very clear. I understand that mixing the colors would mean a mixed outcome( ex. Buff + White = mystery) However, if I am not worried about the color of the birds, only about the traits of an Orpington( ex. docile, dual purpose) then would breeding a buff and a white effect that ( ex. Buff + White= normal Orpington traits) ?

Also, do all the colors of Orpingtons breed true( ex. Buff + Buff = Buff and White + White = White)

Sorry, I just want to make sure that they will breed true as I know that some of the newer breeds do not. ( And I do not know why!)

 

[ColtHandorf]

However, if I am not worried about the color of the birds, only about the traits of an Orpington( ex. docile, dual purpose) then would breeding a buff and a white effect that ( ex. Buff + White= normal Orpington traits) ?

Yes. Orps to Orps would give you Orp traits.

Also, do all the colors of Orpingtons breed true( ex. Buff + Buff = Buff and White + White = White)

For the most part, yes. Blue doesn't. You'd get Blue, Black, and Splash from a Blue pairing. Everything else I can think of would breed true unless you are working with splits. For instance, a bird needs two copies of Lavender to be Lavender. One copy of Lavender and one copy of Black would be a Black that carries or is split to Lavender. Breeding a split bird like that back to Lavender would result in birds that are visually Black and Lavender.

 

[PandaGirl]

Ok, thanks! That is what I needed!