Orpington

Hi, Folks,

First let me say that my intention is not to write off all the other wonderful Orps out there.

"Buff" was pretty clearly a roo at an early stage- by about 6 weeks, he went from the friendliest chicken to the most stand-offish. His wattles and comb were RED by about 8 weeks, at which point I did consider re-homing him, as he was a gorgeous bird. (We can't have roos in town.)

But then the aggression (towards us, as well as our flock) started, and I came to understand that no one else would want him, unless on a plate. So, once he started crowing, we chose our own dinnerware over someone else's plate. At 11 weeks old, he was rather small, still, but very flavorful. Quite delicious.

I can tell from reading all the positive reviews on this site that there are lots of folks who simply LOVE BOs. And I think that's great.
But since I can only speak from my own experience, I wanted to (at the very least) throw my two cents into the mix.

I know that there are sometimes "bad eggs", regardless of breed, that show up.
We clearly got one of those. And it may be, that, at some point, I might want to try a Buff Orpington again. But with all the other amazing breeds (Easter Eggers ended up being our favorite, by far, thus far!) out there, it probably won't be for quite some time. (I will definitely come back and update when that time comes.)

We have had our Buffs for just over 2 years their production is good. Hearty birds they can handle the winter well and keep laying. Come when they are called keep the garden clean of bugs, not party animals ( they go to bed at night ) not like the ducks who stay up till they get locked in. An all round good looking , good laying , good foraging, happy (spoiled) chicken. Whats not to like about a Orpington Buff or otherwise.

awsome

I really want her to throw her weight around this little flock! Get tough with the other girls! But, no she's the Quaker of the bunch! No war, just peace LOL! So she recently has become a loner at times. Someone suggested to have more than one so I may get another so they have each other. Love her so much, but I worry for her.

They are soft, nice and cute. We got some in march and they are so nice to add to the flock.

This breed is friendly gentle and beautiful . But for people who want want egg's may not be the best breed for that good for hatching eggs thow as they always seem to be broody . I love this breed!!

Mine is very cute and lays all year. Must have for beginners to experts!!!

I love my buffs and have had great experiences with them. Even hatched 3 chicks under one once.

The buff orpington is the best chicken breed I have ever owned!! They are so sweet, friendly, cuddly and awesome! They are on the jealous side meaning if I hold another chicken, they will come over and peck her. One of mine is very loud when she wants something and another one has gotten frostbite twice. They are large breeds meaning they will need a large living area. But, they lay amazing, large eggs. Mine aren't very broody but the breed is known for it's broodiness. I've had my buff orpingtons for three years and they have only gone broody twice. This breed will really slow down on laying in their third year. They are a healthy and beautiful breed! They also are great foragers and do well in either confinement or free range. The chicks are the sweetest and most curious chicks I have ever raised!

I recommend this breed to everyone!!!

our BOs are constantly picking at our other chickens even picking at their feet and making it bleed. they follow us all over the yard but they take away all the other chickens snacks, and then continue to pick them.

Being a large girl isn't really a "con" but is something you'd want to know when having an Orpington. When they squash themselves down flat to cover eggs, they become huge and can take up the entire box.

I have hens for egg production and I don't have roosters. I want to try different breeds of chickens but didn't want to do the whole incubator business. I decided to get one Orpington as I heard they were not only good egg layers but had a tendency to go broody and made good mothers. Figured I'd put her to work and let her incubate eggs and raise chicks for me.

My oprington is a year old and recently went broody. I purchased fertile eggs online, getting a few different breeds. I slipped them under my broody orpington and she has readily accepted these eggs as her personal clutch. She is making a wonderful mother so far and is very attentive to the nest.

When not broody, she consistently lays a nice sized egg. She's an excellent forager, too. Of our hens, she's one of our favorites as she's very friendly.

Between egg production, egg incubating, and chick raising, the orpington is a real work horse in the chicken coop.

I really love my buff orpington pullet. When I introduced my pullets to my existing hens, my buff orp got beaten to the point where her skull was showing and she had no skin on the back of her head. It's a really good thing I found her. That was my fault, I should have removed the head hen for a while or something. She's healed up very nicely as an indoor chicken. I let her out in the front yard but not in the back with the others yet. I won't let her back with them until feathers grow in on her head.
She's a real sweetheart. Eats from my hand, is very eager to come out of her cage for snuggles, lays in my lap, and follows me around when I'm doing yardwork. Such a cutie. Doesn't even struggle when I'm trimming her beak or nails (I have to trim her nails a bit since shes an indoor chicken right now, don't want her scratching my arm).
She's also the only one of my chickens that will lay with my cats. The others won't get that close to them.

I got some, and I worked hard to tame them, but they never got tame, while my barred rocks were easy to tame. The buffs are beautiful though, but just not a chicken I like. In bantam version, sure, but in regular version, not at all. So, not getting them again, toooooo skittish.

we have 5 hens and two roosters(i don't recommend two roosters) they are beautiful birds.
they lay a lot of eggs per week (for five hens)
they are living with two buff bantams too.(they don't beat up on the other breeds.
they are not aggressive.the roosters a quite large and can either be docile or a little territorial.
all around i would say that the buff orpingtons are on the top of my list.

These are THE BEST CHICKENS EVER!!! They are so sweet and the follow me around the yard and look up at me, expecting me to pick them up. One of the three flies up on my shoulder every so often! Get these wonderful birds if you want a pet chicken! They are good free range birds and even the roosters are good tempered. Love these chickens!

I have 2 Buff Orpington and LOVE them. They are my favorite. They will come over and talk to you and they MUST inspect anything they see you carrying. Super friendly! One of mine went broody this year (her first year) and did a fantastic job hatching and mothering. The other is "special" and tried so hard to do the broody thing but just couldn't get it down. The other hen has been super patient and even let her sit in her box with her throughout the sitting and hatching process. The "special" hen copies everything the other hen does. So I bought more chicks from the feed store for her to foster when the other chicks hatched. They are now co-parenting and it's amazing to watch the other hen teach the "special" hen how to raise chicks while raising her own.

We have had 3 Buff Orpingtons for a year now and love them. We live in Nashville and have them in our fenced in backyard. We have a two toddler who loves them. They let him pick them up, and are very sweet and docile while being held. They are good layers--in the summer we get 3-4 eggs every 4 days.

They are not flighty, they aren't too chatty and they lay lovely eggs. They are really great backyard chickens.

I love these, mine will let me turn her onto her back, the rub her chest, she is so sweet

these are lovely looking birds and they are very docile. my cockerel is also not very noisy compared to others. recommend getting 1.