Orpington

love 'em

I guess the title says it all. We had a bunch of these birds when we first started with chickens, wooed by the tales of their beauty and egg-laying prowess. Well, they were certainly pretty, but pretty is as pretty does. They ate a ton, were the most aggressive flock members, and only laid four eggs a week. We sold them all as soon as we realized that they weren't as great as their reputation led us to believe.

Loud, food aggressive and pulled out my australorp pullets feathers when she could catch them. She absolutely hated to be touched. When I first got her, she was shy and at the bottom of the pecking order. Once she got braver with the other hens, she became the Orpington Terror. I didn't like her at all and placed her. She ate a lot for what she produced. Although she laid nice brown eggs, I just couldn't stand the constant beating up of my pullets and her loud squawking drove me nuts.

My Buff Orphington has been raised from a baby and was handled almost daily and still growls anytime someone comes near her to pet or pick her up. She is the highest in the pecking order of the 6 and will actively chase off any bird that comes into the yard (little brown common birds to bid doves and pigeons) and keeps the 2 newly obtained Americanas we just got who like to pick on the babies of the flock. She also gets very feisty when it comes to food and will assault you if you have something she wants! haha

I had two Orpingtons, named Oodle and Doodle.

Doodle was the best chicken I have known, and she passed away earlier this week. However, she laid one to two eggs a day for me, came when called, and I was always holding her in the yard. She could be pet any time and never fussed. Even when my daughter roughly patted her, poked her, or sloppily attempted to pick her up, Doodle just stayed still, never pecking, running, or kicking. Oodle, the surviving Orp in my little flock, is also quiet and friendly, though much shyer than Doodle had been. Oodle allows me to touch her at least once a day and comes when called as well, although she walks away when I move too fast or my daughter pulls her tail feathers. Still, no aggression what-so-ever, and she gives me an egg a day!

I would buy Orpingtons again, as a good family chicken breed.

I've had my Lavender Orpington pullet "Chumley" for about 4 months. She has not yet begun to lay, and I've read this is a broody breed....so the jury's still out on egg production / quality as well as how my sweet girl will handle the moods and urges of motherhood. Meanwhile, however, she is one of the two birds (out of my seven) with the best disposition (the other being a Brabanter). She's as equally easy-going with me or my kids as she is with her flock mates. Chumley is one of our favorites and is a great ambassador for her breed. I almost didn't get an Orpington on account of the broodiness factor, but she will be worth the potential hassle, I think. Fingers crossed!

I got my girls in March of this year; they're about five months old now. I have three EE's and two Buff Orpingtons. The Orps have always been the easier ones to handle and approach. Even as one day old chicks, they were much easier to pick up and handle. One, my Jojo, has always been a snuggler. She's an absolute LOVE. I adore her. I love picking her up and putting her in my lap because she automatically settles down and relaxes. Her "sister," Nugget, is a kook. She's still easier to approach than my EE's but she is pretty darn headstrong, especially when it comes to food. To put it plainly, she's a pig -- she HAS TO be the first one to inspect new foods. Everyone else can stand side by side and share a fresh peach, but Nugget has to get in there and attempt to rip the entire peach away for herself. You'd think she never eats! I'd highly recommend this breed to anyone -- they're extremely patient and tolerant of my five year old, letting her pick them up and hold them. They're just wonderful. Thankfully, for me, I only had two to tell apart and they were different enough in personality that I could go by that for quite a while before realizing that their eye color was different. Now their combs are different, too.

I got my first buff today and im very happy. shes really sweet and fluffy. she doesn't run much when I try to pick her up like our other girls.they also go very broody. I cant think of anything negative except shell probably go on the end of the pecking list.

I ordered 27 chickens last spring and gave most to my grandpa, keeping roundabout 6-7 for myself, and out of the whole bunch of miscellany breeds, my buff orpington was the sweetest of them all. she was the most eager to follow me, loved being held and petted and wasn't as loud as the rest of the girls (as in she didn't run around the yard screeching when she'd laid an egg, modest lol). She wasn't picky about house scraps, and did I mention friendly? I found later on that my grandpa's favorite was a buff orpington too. Sadly my orpington, Peaches died around her first birthday, I was heartbroken. R.I.P Peaches, but I highly reccomend this breed especially to a novice chicken keeper.

The Buff Orpington is by far my favorite chicken. I only have one roo and he is a BO as well. When I purchased my roosters, I bought three. My BO was so superior to the other two in personality, looks and friendliness that he is now my only roo and the king of the hen pens! Had I known how much I would love the BO's, I would have only purchased this breed. LOVE MY BUFFS!!

The Orpington breed is a very fun bird to own and have around the barnyard per say. Although the buff color is most popular, a variety of blue, black, splash, lavender and mixes are available. A bit rarer to come by but beautiful adages for an already great breed. A buff rooster in full bloom is absolutely stunning in the sun to look at as well as great protectors of the flock. Finding a docile rooster yet gentle with the ladies may be hard to find amonst this breed. Mine was a bruiser! This is a great bird for beginning a flock of chickens to raise. They handle heat and cold very well. Their fluff butts will win you over!

I had them as a kid and loved them. I have 3 right now, and they are maybe only a few weeks from laying. Out of my original flock of these, Production Reds, and Black Sex Links, they were the ones that explored and foraged the best, even from a young age. They didn't mind filling their tummies with things they found foraging, and wouldn't sit next to the feeder waiting for it to get refilled. They are very nice, and their noises they make are absolutely adorable. I love mine, and can't wait for them to start laying soon!

I am a firm lover of the Buff Orpington Chicken!

They lived a healthy, loyal and fun lifestyle running around the pen and playing.

One of my buffs went broody, and was extremely defensive before and after it's hatch.
It was also slightly hostile to new arrivals too, but got used to them over time.

They were twin buffs and great friends together, and were never seen alone really!

Would largely recommend them as they are beautiful loving chickens

I was not a chicken person til these I got a group of 5 of them. A Roo and 4 hens. As soon as I saw the Rooster, I named him Fabio because that's exactly what he reminded me of. A big guy with long golden locks! He was as sweet as he could be. never an aggressive move even though he didn't know me. he was super watchful of the sky and around the yard. At treat time, he never tried to take anything from the girls. He just stood back and watched over them to be sure that they were okay. He seldom even tried to get a treat for himself. if he did go for one, and a hen beat him to it, he'd just kinda look up at me like "did you see that?" so i'd try to toss drop several in one spot for the hens and toss him one a little farther away. He caught on to that game real quick so he was never left out unless he wanted to be. The hens, although a little greedy about treats, were just as wonderful. They were never ugly in any way and realized very fast that I was the Official treat giver so anytime they saw me they were at my feet to see if I'd brought them anything. if I didn't, that was fine, they were content to follow me until I rectified the situation.

The ONLY issue we had and it wasn't an issue for me, but for my boyfriend. As social as they were, if I wasn't outside they were all over him and he couldn't get work done without falling over them lol. That and he didn't appreciate the huge poops in his workshop, on his tools and lumber...........oops!

When I first got mine they didn't lay at all. But they were severely protein deficient at the time due to being kept in a cage and not getting any free range time. Which made their social skills all the more amazing. They were NOT used to attention but they sure acclimated to it quick! So I suppose that could be one downside, they require a good deal of food, lots of protein and time to scratch in the dirt and be a real chicken! It took me about 2 to 3 weeks of a good high protein feed schedule and extra scraps before they started laying daily and completely stopped picking each others feathers.

If you like full size chickens and have time to socialize with them they are fantastic!

I got a Buff Orp roo. Hes a great guy. Though he does like to fight with your shoes sometimes but he will let us hold him and doesn't fuss. Seams to like it actually lol. We can catch him easily by hand. No net needed like some of my other birds. This guy really rides the hens though and wears their feathers out so he's separate as our 'watch rooster'. Very nice looking birds, fairly plain but not ugly by any means.

I would recommend these to any one who wants good size birds.

We have 10 Buff Orpingtons and we really like them. They are super good foragers and do really well as free range. We had 30 chickens total 10 RIR, 10 BR, 10 Buff Opringtons, but something we think coyotes got 2 BR and 2 RIR, which to me tells me what good instincts the Buff Oprtingtons have. They'er not overly friendly birds, they will tolerate you catching them and looking the over, but other than that I don't have any buffs who want to cuddle or anything like some of the reviews. They were the second breed of my birds to lay only second to the BR and they lay really nice pinkish-brown eggs.
I ended up with two roo's out of my pullet run and they're beautiful and really good roo's. They take care of their hens and show them where and what to eat and are always keeping an eye out for predators, but they have steadily gotten aggressive. They do back down if you get after them so that's nice, but you can't really ever turn your back on them because I've been attacked several times that way.
Other than the rather ornery roo's I would say that the Orpingtons are an over all good breed of chicken.

I love my buff orpington hens! One of them has been jumping on my lap for petting since it was just a little chick, I would be heart broken if anything happened to her, she is considered a pet and part of the family. However, her sister, although usually calm and friendly, can be a pain because she goes broody so often! She will sit in her nest box all day, and she isnt quick to break her broodiness ! But when not broody, I get 4-7 eggs a week from each of my two girls.
Overall, this is my favorite breed of chicken, just because how friendly my little Gin is !

I'd like to start off by saying there is no specific breed called a Buff Orpington, and I get annoyed when people say "Don't you mean you have Buff Orpingtons, not just Orpingtons?" NO! Buff is a COLOR! Anyway, rant over. I love my Orps. My first chickens were Orp pullets and they're very fun birds. I can't wait for them to start laying. They aren't quite as inquisitive as my leghorns - they're happy to keep to themselves but don't freak out when you come near them either. I"m told they should be fairly productive birds when it comes to laying!

I have 6 chicks as of now: 2 Buff Orpingtons, 2 Rhode Islands, 1 Plymouth Rock and 1 unidentifiable.

The Buffs are the most approachable and the largest. They are reasonably active and noise level is a lot less than Plymouth Rocks.
They certainly eat more than the rest and are also larger than everyone else. Mine are only about 6+ weeks and so, I cannot comment on their egg-laying capabilities yet.

In terms of intelligence, they were one of the first ones to learn how to use the chicken nipple water dispensers. The Rocks were first to pick it up.

I am not sure whether this is an individual personality but both my Buffs are pretty confident birds and lead the rest of the flock.

Based on my experience with these two Buffs, they are the quietest among the 6 chickens. They do not whine when kept in the coop+run for longer periods of time.

These birds are very smart and have a lot of great qualities than other chickens. Be sure to purchase one of these.