- Thread starter
- #61
Quote: Please don't let the critiques get you down. You are having them "judged" here by some knowledgeable, very experienced people. The intent is to teach. Your bird does have size and the overall lines are good too. Enjoy her! Most of mine are by no means show birds but I love them very much and I've learned a lot by reading what the above posters have to say.
By all means, we want you to know taht we wish to help all we can. A lady posted a photo of a Black Orpington cockerel on the Heritage thread and asked our opinions. 1) its comb had a side sprig, big disqualification. 2) it was very poor type, yet large. Today we learn the bird is only 4-5 months old. That makes a lot of difference. Photos do not do any of us justice. Walt has stated several times it is hard to judge a bird in a photo. Enter your Orpingtons in a show. Win, lose or draw...... you get a judge's hands on your birds and see what they think. I have had some judges turn and ask questions before. Some are not as keen on some breeds as others. I prefer Terry Britt as an Orpington judge. Guys like Terry and Walt can look at an Orpington and just know. (plus if they are judging, they ARE NOT showing). If I wanted a Bantam judge, Matt Lhamon would be one of my picks. Judges that are top breeders in their breed (s) can give some great advice at shows.
In Virginia you have Tom Roebuck. Tom could breed top quality buff birds blindfolded! He is pretty good on several other breeds as well.
In any case, take your birds to a show. Let a judge look them over. Your bird is standing in tall grass. Perhaps a photo on sand/gravel or dirt would show us a better look at her shanks. If she does have too much fluff, then breed to her a nice type male and start culling their chicks. By no means should she become a pot of dumplins. At least not until you hatch 100+ chicks from her. The APA National in Lucasville, Ohio may have some nice Black Orpingtons available for sale. We will be going through our juvenile pens and choosing our breeders. We are only keeping a limited amount due to space and feed cost. We have a BYC thread dedicated to the show.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/592403/2012-apa-annual-meet-lucasville-ohio-october-6-7-2012
He has taken a few class champions, best of breed, best of varieties, and just came home from getting Champion English at Puyallup. It appears to have been a bad accident. I'm hoping that one of the 5 juveniles I have from him and my two best hens turns out to be a rooster! Looks like maybe ONE is. I'm currently sorting out all of the eggs from the last 4-5 days that were in the fridge and will collect the ones from my show hens that were in with Jackson for the next 4-5 days. I do appreciate poultry fertility. They are ALL going in the incubator! This is all I feel I can do to save my breeding program at this moment. I was even starting to plan out my breeding pens for next year along with the next two shows 
