Russian Orloffs

[furryloo]

Quote:
No, this is not correct. This is from the standard that only described black birds.

Varying amounts of white in a spangled Orloff is no big deal.

AND, I am SO excited to see the feathers between the toes! I can't remember where I found it now, but it was one of the older documents that described those feathers! That, to me, says these are probably more pure than many lines of Orloffs out there and I would be PROUD of them! In fact, I would love to have them. Could you possibly share with me in PM who they came from?

Edited to add that you would do just fine to breed them. And when you do, if you want to test your egg shipping skills, I will gladly buy some!

Ah, see that goes to show how much I have left to learn about these beautiful birds! And that would also explain to my why I see so many photos of orloffs with white tips and then those called "white orloffs."

I am still on page 23 of this thread - it is taking me a few days to go through as I want to really absorb what everyone else has said.

 

[nhc]

Rachel, I wish I knew who we bought them from because I am not even sure how old they are and know nothing about their history. Like I said, an impulse buy. Though I keep thinking that the woman who sold them to us must breed Orloffs, so maybe she is on this thread and will remember selling 2 Orloffs at the Ohio Nationals. Thanks for the encouragement - how interesting about the leg feathers. As I said, we are not allowed roosters (it is a new city ordinance but we live on a dead end street so we might be able to get away with keeping him if he isn't too loud) and the other one, which we HOPE is a pullet, isn't laying yet, AND we have never tried to breed chickens, but if we do and we have any luck, I can learn to pack and ship eggs. I have enough broody silkies who would love to actually have a real fertilized egg to hatch.
Furryloo, the mystery of this breed seems to fit their unusual personalities. They are intriguing and it is fun being intrigued by them. We are learning and uncovering together.
Thanks for your responses.

 

[furryloo]

Quote:
I am still reading through ALL the pages on this thread, but somewhere on here, someone gave good advice. That all genetic lines have some value. Also they said that since there is no set criteria yet on the feather coloring yet, that the best focus we can have are on the basic visual traits (yellow legs, upright carriage, muffed beard, etc). But to focus more on the original traits that made them valuable: cold hardy in Alaska weather, strong, meat birds, mean looking but really very gentle/docile, mysterious, ability to breed, forage, etc.

Out of everything I have read so far, this has been most helpful. This is the reason why I was drawn the birds in the first place. Anyone else have anything to add to that? This has been a great thread to read - still reading it! Okay, back to page 20something. lol.

 

[Wolfwoman]

Here's a couple of mine...

 

[Rare Feathers Farm]

Ah, see that goes to show how much I have left to learn about these beautiful birds! And that would also explain to my why I see so many photos of orloffs with white tips and then those called "white orloffs."

No, white Orloffs are pure white. The ones with too much white on them are just that....birds with too much white. They look almost mottled. A lot of hatchery stock has too much white. Also, as the birds age and molt, any of them will get whiter with each molt.

I'm trying to stick to breeders with less than 1/2" white anywhere on there bodies. It's harder with wing feathers which I let slide for a generation to focus on the spangling but this spring I'll be culling hard for any excess white.

 

[mississippifarmboy]

Quote:
Wow, you and I have to get together and compare stock because I'm getting the exact opposite! My roosters look great as far as the spangling goes as young cockrells, but are loosing most of it by the time they mature. The hens are staying pretty much the same except getting more defined spangling as they age. I wonder why?

 

[Rare Feathers Farm]

Quote:
Wow, you and I have to get together and compare stock because I'm getting the exact opposite! My roosters look great as far as the spangling goes as young cockrells, but are loosing most of it by the time they mature. The hens are staying pretty much the same except getting more defined spangling as they age. I wonder why?

Are they losing the spangling to solid or are they going too white? That's interesting with your hens....what lines do you have? I have two different lines now...thinking about a third this summer if I can buy another pullet or something...

 

[HaikuHeritageFarm]

Quote:
Wow, you and I have to get together and compare stock because I'm getting the exact opposite! My roosters look great as far as the spangling goes as young cockrells, but are loosing most of it by the time they mature. The hens are staying pretty much the same except getting more defined spangling as they age. I wonder why?

I think Shelley said the same thing.

Personally, I'm not worried about color. It's the least important part of the bird according to numerous documents, both historica and current in other countries, and the spangled color wasn't even addressed in our former standard.

That being said, what does the Bantam standard say about the color description? I would love to see the ABA standard.

 

[mississippifarmboy]

Quote:
Wow, you and I have to get together and compare stock because I'm getting the exact opposite! My roosters look great as far as the spangling goes as young cockrells, but are loosing most of it by the time they mature. The hens are staying pretty much the same except getting more defined spangling as they age. I wonder why?

Are they losing the spangling to solid or are they going too white? That's interesting with your hens....what lines do you have? I have two different lines now...thinking about a third this summer if I can buy another pullet or something...

The two lines I'm working with now are from Welp hatchery and the old Sandy Roberts strain. The Welp birds are ok, but lots of white (Some look like the splash colored ones on Feathersite) and those darn white legged roosters. The hens I had to cull heavily on these for partridge type hackles and general blahs. I'm almost sure these have had some speckled sussex or something crossed into them at some point. They also do not have the proper upright carriage. Most have a wrinkled walnut type comb.
The Roberts line has less white and in much better spangling, but correct legs, better carriage and body shape, and better combs. The hens on both are ok although the Roberts strain hens are just a touch taller and larger. Not much, but you can see the difference when the hens from the two strains are standing together. These are better birds in my opinion, but all my Roberts roosters are loosing most of their spangling as they age. These all have more of a strawberry type comb.
I just culled from a total of 75 chicks from last year down to I think it's 11 now. I have one rooster and only three hens that I kept from my Welp hatchery birds and I kept the best shaped rooster and six hens of the Roberts strain. There were some better colored roosters I culled, but I decided to work on building the barn before painting it as suggested by one of my mentors.
I just finished culling a few days ago. They have just started laying a bit in the last few weeks, so I seperated the strains and am going to set all the eggs from each strain starting mid March for a couple of months, then I'm going to switch roosters, wait 30 days, and set those eggs for a couple of months to see what happens when I cross the stains. Next year I will decide if I'm going to keep one strain, mix the two for a breeder flock or just keep working with both strains.
I also have Erhard Weihs strain in both spangled and mahogany in the incubator and am going to grow those out until next spring to see if they are any better than my current two strains.
I just got wind of some German imported birds I'm trying to trace down somewhere near Memphis, Tn. So depending on what I find, I might be able to add a fourth strain of spangled.
I'm running out of coops trying to keep them all seperated.

 

[NCSprout]

Quote:
Lol I'm building more right now to keep mine in once they hatch.
never ending process.