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Orpington

The original Orpington, the Black, was developed in England in 1886 and brought to the US in...
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General Information

Breed Purpose
Dual Purpose
Comb
Single
Broodiness
Frequent
Climate Tolerance
All Climates
Egg Productivity
Medium
Egg Size
Large
Egg Color
Light Brown
Breed Temperament
Friendly, Easily handled, Calm, Bears confinement well, Quiet, Docile
Breed Colors/Varieties
USA APA: Buff, Black, White, BlueSplash in not recognized at this time.Also there are a few other colors of Orpington Projects under way in the USA as of today.
Breed Size
Large Fowl
APA/ABA Class
English
Color
The original breed colours/varieties are black, white, buff, blue and splash
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The popular Orpington breed originated from the town of Orpington, Kent, in south-east England, where the original black Orpington was bred by William Cook in 1886. (Mr Cook also created the Orpington duck breed). Mr Cook crossed Minorcas, Langshans and Plymouth Rocks to create a new hybrid breed, from which he selected to breed a black bird, that would also exhibit well, by hiding the dirt and soot of London.
The breed was shown in Madison Square Gardens in 1895 and its popularity soared. Its large size and soft appearance together with its beautiful colours make it very attractive breed and as such its popularity has grown as a show bird rather than a utility breed. Hens are fairly often broody and are good mothers. Although rather heavy, they are able to fly small distances but rarely do so.
The original breed colours/varieties are black, white, buff, blue and splash. Although there are many additional varieties recognised throughout the world, for example the Jubilee Orpington, only the original colours are recognised by the American Standard, the Buff being the most common colour. In the beginning of the twentieth century, Herman Kuhn of Germany developed a Bantam variety of Orpingtons and the Bantam retains the appearance of the LF Orpingtons, but in a smaller size. There is a large variety of colours in the Bantam version, including black, blue laced, white, buff, red, buff black laced, barred, buff Columbian, and birchen.

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Orpington hen with chick

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Orpington chick

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Orpington hen

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Orpington juvenile

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Orpington rooster

For more about Orpingtons and their breeders's and owners' experiences with them, see our breed discussion here:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/chicken-breed-focus-orpington.1088559/
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Latest reviews

The Welch Chickens
Pros: Adorable and fluffy; easy to pick up and cuddle! Cold tolerant, pretty good layers. Calm and kind to their flockmates. Middle-bottom of the pecking order.
Cons: Prone to obesity and poopy butt feathers.
I have two Lavender Orpington hens. They are so sweet and pretty! They are big girls, though. Not overweight (though that happens often with Orpingtons), but a bit chunky! Lots of fluffy feathers. They are friendly (they love cameras and shoes!), and let us pick them up for cuddles. (One of mine is pecking at my boots as I speak!)

One con is that their fluffy butts often get dirty and need trimming or cleaning. Not too big of a problem if you don’t mind that, though.

Overall, a great breed (the Lavenders are, at least); I would recommend them!
Purchase Date
April 2023

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Jenbirdee
English chocolates are super floofy smart and sweet
Pros: sweet &friendly, good with kids, cold hardy, large eggs, smart, brave
Cons: so poofy floofy they get dirty easily (floof drags on ground, and poop can get on butt feathers) &not too great in very hot weather.
whats funny about my chocolate orps is how they boss my ducks around. only 2 hens and they chase off all 12 ducks. they are brave.
they understand duck-speak. when there are treats theres a special quack to call the ducks ,,and the chickens actually come running so fast theyre the first ones there., they are smart.
They are very sweet and friendly, even jump up on my lap sometimes. and gentle with children.
so super floofy - they look round like beach balls! beach balls with feet lol. I have to really watch and check them often for bugs because their floof feathers practically drag on the ground. they also need bottom baths every few months . theres just too much floooof for the poops to make it over and out without sometimes getting on those butt feathers,
Purchase Price
$40 ea for poults at pol
Purchase Date
summer of 22

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GirlsHuntToo
Great article!
I love Buff Orpingtons and own 7 of them, very friendly and calm.
Great layers too!
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Comments

CochinLover1
Then... don't rate the bird poorly because of a bad line. Try again with a murray mcmurray, (all of my buffs from there are so super sweet and excellent layers). Then rate once you are 100% sure on the breed. Rate Ideal Poultry poorly. Not the breed.
 
MamaWalker
We only started raising chickens a year ago but this is the most gentle breed that we have every had. They are so loveable! I have one that follows me around like a puppy dog! She makes every step that I do. Another flies up and rides on my shoulder when I'm in the coop. I just love all of them! They are great for my 7 year old too because he shares his mothers love of chickens.
 
tennboy1
orps are my new fav too the make the best mommies i bought several the other dday at the coop one ended up being a roo but now i have 9 hens and one roo i am going to sratrt being a breeder i got murray cackle and ideal so far in the genetic mix for them what do you think
:?
 
SeaHen
I have descendants of my first Buff Orpingtons and Buff Cochins from 14 years ago and my only frustration with them is their extreme propensity for broodiness. I know that would normally be a plus, but it's exasperating when several of them show up with surprise babies you weren't planning for! Other than that, they are sweet, docile and beautiful birds, as well as being excellent layers.
 
hbhoffman
SeaHen, Sounds like your girls have learned "chicken math"!
My Orpingtons are the only ones smart enough to hide from the hawk! They hear the blue jay screech and run for cover. (Illegal to shoot/kill the hawks here.) My Jubilee ones are gorgeous, consistent layers.
 
RodNTN
SeaHen, I agree- orpringtons go broody a lot!My buff orp only went broody once, but 1 time was more than enough. Seeing how she stayed broody over a month! I really want more orps. I bought some feed store chicks but at the time both of my feed stores didn't have any orpringtons. Maybe next time though :)
 
holm25
O have 2 that always went broody but the other three dont seem to be interested in brooding. They r great layers.
 
Frutfarm
I wish we'd gotten ours as chicks, but even my huge rooster, Elvis, who used to flog me occasionally has relaxed lately and enjoys eating from my hand. They are fabulous layers and mothers. The cockerels we've culled over the years have made for fabulous meat birds.
 
firestomp
look up the topic,"PECKING ORDER OF THE FLOCK" all animals have a pecking order or, simply it's place in the group. It will all get figured out, if a bird is weak or inferior, the group will shun it so bad, and will go as far as keeping it from water and food that it will die.Multiple feed and water stations will stop this part, They can't guard them all at once. Another trick to adding new animals is to keep them separate by wire mesh so they can see and hear each other for a week or two. Then allow them to mingle. If you can let them "free range" this helps a lot as no one is guarding it's area.
I have seen adult females be dominant over a a male pup. As the male matured he became or forced his way to the TOP DOG. Also, if other animals SAY cats figure out an individual wont defend itself, they will purposely harass that animal. I see it every day with our cats. Even the sweetest one will go out of her way to tease Samantha, she will hiss then run. They picked up on this very quickly. No harm is ever done, just bullying. Hope this helps. I have used these methods for years.
 
21hens-incharge
It surprises me that you had issues. My Buffs are higher in the rank than many others in the flock. I think the reason you had issues is that your red was a male. Males will often drive out weaker hens so that his genes get passed on only by strong hens. Survival of the fittest and all that.
 
Foristers
My experience has been that orpingtons do quite well with other similar (dual purpose) birds. I have observed them together with 18 other birds including: Americuanas, Rhode I. Reds, Delawares, N.H. Reds, Barred Rocks and some mixes and a couple of breeds that I don't remember the names of. When I read that they are docile around other birds, I do agree with this, but not in terms of defending themselves. My observations have been that they usually defend themselves quite well. What I have observed is that they do not instigate trouble with others. I also feel as though your observations about them getting "ripped to shreds" is probably specific to your birds and not a trait of the birds as a whole.
I really appreciate your input and it adds to the discussion as a whole.
 
cluck333
@Rosecomb Lover: It's not uncommon for more docile chickens to get beaten up by less tame ones. It has always been true with all the breeds in my flock: the fiesty ones (like most of my RIRs) are on top of the pecking order, and the tamer Orpingtons and one Barred Rock I had are on the lower end. Don't worry too much about fighting unless there is serious plucking or bleeding invovled.
 
pjschubert
I have 6 chickens, born March 1 and raised them to be friendly. 2 blacks sex links,(Lucy and Ethel) 2 cuckoo morans (Thelma and Louise, and 2 Barred Rock (Shirley and Laverne). Lucy is the smallest and has decided she is the leader, lol but they are all really sweet. Shirley and Laverne hop on my back when I bend over to refill their water or feeders and all 6 will sit on me. I put a chair near the pen and when just watching them I will put it in there and just watch them for awhile. They each have their own personalities. I had 8 ducks last year, raised them from 2 days old and 7 matured to be males and I had to give them up. Broke my heart, they were so friendly and funny. So we decided on raising chickens. I have always wanted some and husband finally gave in. I am 69 now and enjoying them so much.
 
mccorbin
My Buff just passed about 4 months ago. She was 11 yrs young. She saw flocks of girls come and go and she was the big mom in the hen house. She still looked beautiful when she passed of natural causes. She hadn't laid and egg in 7 years but I could not part with her. So my husband indulged me.
 
elaineinspain
when do orpingtons begin laying? I have a pullet who is 32 weeks old and she isn't laying yet. She has an orpington cocvkrel with her of the same age and a cochin pullet, same age too.neither girls have started laying...
 
Soula
We had one buff Orpington who was our favorite. She laid big pink eggs almost everyday. But she died for no reason before her first winter. She just sat under a grapevine and died in one afternoon. No sign of sickness before that, she even laid an egg that morning...but we didn't dare to eat that egg. We might get one more in the future, this breed looks beautiful and lay big eggs.
 
unbaked pegga
I have 2 buffs, 1 jubilee and 2 red Orpington hens. I agree 100% with your review!!. They have the best personality of any of the other breeds
 
sssharon
I have one buff Orpington and she lays an egg several times a week. She is probably 2 1/2 years old I would say. She doesn't seem to be slowing down any and she does lay a really nice big egg sometime she has laid huge eggs. My other favorites are barred rock and then next week be welSummers. I only have one right now but I am hoping to have a few more pretty soon I have a dozen in the incubator and it's only the third day tomorrow and I can't wait to check and see if there are very many fertile eggs. I had to let my rooster go and hopefully the eggs that I have saved are fertile and I get a few of his offspring.
 
weirdlywired
I'm sorry for your loss! I don't have a long experience with chickens but the Buff Orpingtons we have/had are the sweetest things. One of ours died on New Years Day - it broke my heart!
Cute names for them as well - hopefully you'll be able to add more to your flock soon.
 

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Category
Chicken Breeds
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