Orpington

They were my loved companions, they would come up to me and eat from my hands. They were nice around kids and in fact the kids loved to hold and pet them

Blossom is two months old in this picture. She has always let us pet her, hold her, and she is always a pleasure!

I have two buff orpingtons and they are amazing! They are really friendly, and easy to take care of. They are fine in the summer and winter, and they really are beautiful. The only bad thing is they are hard for younger kids that come over to handle. They are heavy, and flap if they think they are going to drop them.

I had a Buff Orpington up until very recently.
She was always gorgeous, and very friendly. She wasn't the top of the pecking order, but she wasn't the bottom either. I never saw her bullying or getting bullied. She did tend to lay less regularly than the others, and the eggs were small.
However, the thing I really came to write about is what an amazing mother Ginger was. When she first went broody, we didn't have a rooster, therefore no fertilized eggs. We waited a couple days, to make sure she was dedicated, then got some hatching eggs from our neighbors. I had never hatched babies before, so it was all on Ginger. She left the nest only once during her entire hatching period. We supplied her food and water in the coop, and she just sat and sat. She was only sitting on 4 fertilized eggs, and she hatched all four. She hatched them with the other chickens, although we then moved her and the babies inside, to the downstairs bathtub. She was always incredibly careful with her babies, always watching us. She was never afraid to give us a peck while she was sitting, and when he messed with the chicks too much. We were able to reintroduce her and the chicks within a couple days, with absolutely no fear.
Ginger would peck the lead hen, who was very bossy, and Eagle understood exactly why. She would lead the babies to the food first, and stand in the middle of the dish with all of them around her, guarding. All those chicks grew up to become beautiful chickens, even though they looked nothing like her, and were all from different hens from the neighbor's house. One of them is my rooster today, George.
Unfortunately, Ginger passed away about a month ago. I'm still not sure why, but I miss her all the time. Later on, when we expand our flock, we plan on getting some Buff or Lavender Orpingtons.
My experience with them has been wonderful.

I LOVE these birds! They are great for familys. If you are wanting some chickens, I encourage you to get orpingtons.

My four orpingtons are buff and they are the sweetest things ever!!! orpingtons are sweet, docile birds with great personalities! I cannot say enough good things about them!!!! I would highly recommend them for any first time chickens owners! Orpingtons 4 life!!!!

I don't have much to say but, this is a must have breed for any flock!

Love my girl! She is the friendliest of the flock. When I sit with them she always wants to be pet and is good with the smaller children as well. she never gives me any problems! really a great bird!

We got a BO pullet from Meyer Hatchery the week before Easter. She was only with us six weeks before a freak accident took her. She was the sweetest chicken I have ever known. She didn't mind my kids picking her up all the time. Even my two year old could pick her up with very little protest. She was always the first to come over when you got near the brooder or coop. She also seemed to be the best forager of the three (we also have a barred rock and an Easter egger), even at six weeks she would eat june bugs the size of her head. We will defiantly get another in the future.

Hi all,

I bought three Buff Orpington chicks (all 3 1/2 weeks old) at Steven's Hay and Grain, and they seem to be doing great. My chicks (Puff, Chicksa, and Chicken Little) all have different personalities. One is very large and slow at figuring things out, but really docile (Puff). Chicksa is a little more on the temperamental side, but she is one of the most curious chicks that we have. She is the medium one, and she likes to dust-bathe more than all the others (Even on my hand!). Chicken Little is probably the smartest chick we have. Overall, Buff Orpington chicks are soft, docile, inquisitive, and nice.

I love my buffs, Tiny and Peep, naturally named by their description. Sweet birds, very calm when held, very submissive to the roos, but very aggressive with new chicks. From what I've observed, it appears the buffs feel they are lowest in the pecking order, although this isn't really the case. They seem to fight hard to keep their ranks. I have a flock of 12 overall (2 buffs, 2 RIR, 2 White Silkie Roos, 1 half cochin half EE, 1 full EE, 1 White EE, 1 Barred Rock, and 2 Silver Penciled Cochin Bantams-1 of which might be a frizzle). My buffs get along great with other hens and roos.

I am babysitting an Orpington, but it looks I will have her for a while. Oh, darn. I have three mutt chicks I hatched from her because she is one of the best chickens here. She is very sweet and perceptive, and I named her Whisper because she makes sweet, low noises and does not intrude much, but she is often very important and meaningful, like a whisper. Her best friend is a little Nankin hen named Penny who no one but her likes. They roost by themselves even though everyone likes Whisper because she will not leave Penny by herself. If anyone pecks Penny or shoves her out of the way, she gives them the smack down. You do not want to be anywhere near her if she sees you have brought a dog around her. She fluffs herself out to be huge and charges worse than any rooster I have had, like a big, fluffy, yellow bull. The dog is sorry! She is one of the boys' favorites, for sure. She does not love people, she tolerates them, but she had a bad past. Orpingtons would be great for the average person.

I like the Orpington. Is a really good docile and nice chicken! Good layer! Sometimes it gets pick on from other large chicken like RIR but not mine.

We have 4 Orpington's and would definitely get them again, they are very good egg-layers and although we didn't hatch eggs under them, they showed signs of broodiness. They were very good to bring other people around and are total cuddle-bunnies. They do not make much noise and are very hardy. Loved them so much, I would totally get them again! My only complaint is that they would sometimes pull the other hens feathers and peck them, without losing a feather themselves.

Full of life, follow you around and like to be held. Generally very good mothers, go broody often. Lay very well, large eggs.

One of my favorite standard breeds, I can't remember a time where we haven't had at least one Orpington in our flock. They are exceptional mothers and have a very laid back disposition. Roos have usually been fairly evenly tempered in my experience. I have had a few "daring" ones, but nothing terrible (no floggings from any of them, just the occasional charge here and there). They lay nice light brown eggs, sometimes with an almost pinkish tint to them. I also appreciate the fact that they are not really hard to find, with many commercial farm stores offering them during chick season. They're huge, puffy, and all in all a pleasure to own.

I own two BO's, both very sweet animals, but not super affectionate. Both of my Orpingtons tolerate being picked up or held without much raucous, although it's not their favorite activity. They like to be around people, and each have their own personality quirks. One of them is a little shier than the other, but if I'm calm around her, she'll come right up to me for pets or possibly for snacks. They were much more social as chicks, always the first to climb on my lap when I took them out of the brooder. As they have aged they have become less attached, but are great layers and still very friendly. They lay nice big brown eggs all year, and although I have heard they can be broody, I haven't had any problems yet.

I definitely recommend these birds as pets and egg producers, but unfortunately, this is the only breed we've lost to a predator. I suppose it could happen to any bird, so this probably isn't totally fair, but the Buff Orpingtons did always seem to wander away from the rest of the flock, singling themselves out. If you are free ranging, just keep in mind that these chickens make big, tasty targets, and might need a little extra protection.

All that being said, this is my 6 year old daughter's favorite breed. They tolerate being picked up and toted around the yard by a (gentle, respectful) kindergartner just fine, and that alone says a lot about them. I find that they don't have as much personality as other breeds, but sometimes personality is a difficult thing in a chicken.

As far as looks go, they are some of the cutest chicks, and they don't lose that cuteness as hens either. They are remarkably similar in looks though. We originally had different names for our Orpingtons, but we ended up calling them "Big Buffy" and "Little Buffy", because they were very hard to tell apart.

They were great egg producers though, with an egg nearly every day. They did tend to go broody sometimes - maybe three to five times a year. Nothing terrible.

Very hardy, healthy birds!

I just got my lavender orpington, Lilly, and I am so glad I did!! She is probably the sweetest chicken I have ever had. I don't know how well they lay yet because she is just 11 days old.