Orpington

little orps real name is applesauce. she will come when i call her ??!!she will sit in my lay for all eternity if she could. peanut butter is skiddish and the stud when it comes to our roos thats what makes her hate every one even her hen friends. thats all i got to say BEST BIRDS EVER
orpluvr

I got this breed because I really wanted a flock of chickens that would be friendly, run up to cuddle, etc. But, even though my little girl was hand-raised from a day old, she won't come near any humans, tolerates the other chickens, and pecks (not in a curious way, in an aggressive way) every moving object. She is also the bossiest chicken in my flock; the leader of the coop. I was just really looking forward to having an Orpington after everything I've heard about them, but mine is nothing like the majority of them. Oh well, I'm considering buying another Orpington chick and trying again to get a friendly one

**UPDATE**
My girl is all grown up now. She is still slightly aggressive, but has seemed to mellow out and will occasionally let you cuddle her. She was my first hen to start laying. She started in the middle of winter! Nice, light brown eggs. They are a bit on the small side, but are gradually growing in size. Each day I get an egg from her, no fail. Great egg producer! But just not the friendliest of my flock... :/

I know that is a funny title, but, this is coming from someone with a small flock, and I enjoy the chickens with more personality. After reading about how nice and friendly Orpingtons were, I added a couple of Buffs to my first chick order. I think of all the chicks I got, seven different breeds, they are my least favorite. They don't seem particularly interested in coming to greet me when I come out, and are hesitant to take food out of my hand. They aren't unfriendly, but they seem to want to stay back a bit. I think they might be a little dull on the smarts, too. One of them keeps roosting on the gate, and I have to go put her inside the chicken house when it rains. They were the last to start laying, out of seven breeds. They are pretty, but just not enough for me to want to keep them. I think I may be finding new homes for them next Spring.

They are low-key, don't cause trouble and lay just fine, although slow to mature. They are fairly pretty. It just depends on what you want from a chicken.

I have a total of 5 orpingtons. All different colors. Great birds! So beautiful and fuzzy. Love the soft feathers. My only issue is the spookiness. Extremely hard to catch, and when you do, it's like holding a wet bar or soap. It's just doing every squirmy trick to get away! Other than that, it's my fave breed!

I have one Buff Orpington, Ginger, and she is a good bird. Pretty buff color; her fluff butt is adorable. She is in the middle of the pecking order, very calm and docile. Not overly fond of humans, but not scared either. I got her at 4 weeks, so she didn't have any early human interaction, and that could be why. She is curious, loves gently pecking bare toes (I dunno what she thinks they are, but it's not enough to hurt) She jumps back in surprise when you wiggle them. She has, so far, been very healthy and thrives with her flock mates. I would add Orpingtons to my flock again.

I am waiting to see what they will behave like when they don't have mites which they have had since I got them. Still treating them. They also have been picked on by my older hens.

We got our first Orpingtons after having a roo from another breed attack our daughter. She became uncomfortable with our having birds in the yard. We have had them for six months now and they are amazing. So very gentle with the children. Would recommend to anyone.

I absolutely love my Buff Orpingtons. They never disappoint me (besides not living forever). They're so friendly and gentle. My guests love to feed them because they'll jump in laps and eat right out of your hand. My rooster is phenomenal. He takes such good care of his girls. He protects the babies, always has an eye on the sky, lets everyone eat first, etc. The hens will literally steal food right out of the poor guys mouth and he'll just wait for me to give him a new piece. I will always keep Orpingtons in my flock, they are just so great and I love having them follow me around the yard. Even the dogs like to hang out with the Orpingtons here so they can all share snacks.


Mr. Chick Magnet.

And they make really great mothers

I have an Orpington. She is very lovely. Big fluffy and fat.

She eats a lot of bugs and helps to minimize the bug population in the summer which I love her for. She eats baby snakes! She is great at keeping the squirrels off the plum tree and is very gentle. She is actually on the mean side sometimes; not with me, but with her flock. She can be nice, but can also hold her own. Many people say their Orpington is at the bottom of their chickens pecking order, but mine holds second. She is mean when she wants to be; she can hold her own. A 9 pound chicken stocking a squirrel is actually really funny. Give this type of chicken a try and you will soon come to see that they all have their own unique personalities. They are an overall great looking bird.

We bought three breeds of chicks in April. 10 Buff Orpington, 10 Barred Rock, and 5 Speckled Sussex (to breed with my SS rooster). I loved the Buff Orpingtons better than the rest. I bought them as chicks for about $2.00 each. These little guys were the liveliest and the strongest out of all of them. They are amazing layers and excellent broodies and mothers. Out of the ten pullets I ordered, one had to be a rooster, but he is just a huge baby. He is over ten pounds already and is the sweetest rooster out of my four boys. We sold a few chickens at the fair and I sold the Buff's for $20.00 each, which helps with the feed and then I kept four and the roo for myself. I also plan to butcher a few and these are going to be perfect for the table with their large weight. These are by far the best bird for eggs and the table.
-Silver

I had one of these in my original flock. She added some lovely color to the backyard. Her eggs, that came about 4 times a week, were a pretty tan color. The only thing wrong about her was that she was the top of the pecking order and a little bossy.

We have 6 orpingtons in our flock and they are the sweetest birds we have. When we go outside they all run to us and let us pet and hold them. We had heard that Orpingtons were great chickens for kids and we would definitely agree. They are the only birds in our flock that allow the children to pick them up and 'cuddle'. We love all our chickens, but Orpingtons are the bird of choice if you are looking for a pet, not just an egg source We get 2-4 eggs from the 6 orpingtons each day.

I have two 6 mo old buff and they are very sweet and have integrated well with the rest of my flock. They have already begun to lay and are already as big as my two white brahmas who are 1/1/2.

We have one Black Orpington. Perhaps we got lucky, but she is not at all low down the pecking order. Despite being the youngest in our flock of 10 with 6 different breeds she is 4th in the pecking order (and the top 3 (joint 1st in a sort of dominance triangle) are all confident older birds). Perhaps because Orpingtons don't like to run around too much, she stood up to the older girls when introduced to the flock, while the other newcomers (Wyandottes and RIRs) gave up immediately. Despite being quite dominant she is friendly with the other birds and the chicks we have at the moment (she waits for them to leave the house in the morning so she won't squash them. Or maybe she's just scared of their mum), and she is the only one of the new birds who doesn't mind being handled.

She's funny to watch, and takes an interest in what is going on around her. She tried copying one of our smaller birds jumping on wiring over some plants, and fell off. She was also watching the chicks perching in a bush and I thought she was going to try to imitate that too. She's a character. And when she does run, it's funny. Recommend the breed and will definitely get more.

I love my buff orpington, she is very friendly towards me and gets along really well with my bossy light sussex, she stops being broody as soon as she is removed from her nesting box(not that she is broody often anyway). She also lays consistently and has a great temperament even towards completely new people. However I have met 2 buff cockerels and both were fairly aggressive...

I've currently got two Buff Orpingtons (one hen; one rooster) out of a flock of 35 chickens. I LOVE Orpingtons. The rooster I have is head honcho of the flock and really shows it everyday by crowing constantly. His name is Mal and he's pretty friendly. The hen is slightly more flighty but she's docile too. Overall a must have based on experience and reputation.

We have a black orpington we hatched ourselves and she is a family favorite because of her quirky personality. She is not hatchery stock so while she is a fine Orp speciman, it comes at a price. She is VERY meaty bird and heavily feathered with a lot of downy underfeathers so it has been tough keeping her cool enough in our hot summers. I bet she would do great in the snow though.

Also we did not anticipate the regular clean-up baths she would need. She has very thick foofy "bloomers" orps are suppose to have and one runny poo is all it takes to gum things up behind. She needs at least 2 backside baths each month. Not a big deal in summer, but when the weather gets cold I've got a chicken in my kitchen sink. These may not be issues with hatchery stock where the feathering isn't as thick and heavy. She is a decent layer of large and extra large eggs - about 4 per week. We're enjoying her but I don't think we'll risk getting another one - I prefer low maintenance grooming!

I keep about 25 buffs and a few Plymouth barred rocks and sex-links on a fenced, 5-acre property in the HOT Mojave Desert. I free-range my flock with a guard shepherd dog and have not had a loss to predators in over a year. Prior to that, I had a flock of about half-dozen Rhode Isl. reds that, one-by-one got picked off because of their tendency to range to the extent of the fencing, right up against the desert scrub where coyotes lurk. I went in search of a breed less likely to roam far from the main barnyard and one that would be big and strong enough not to be on the grocery list of the local hawks and owls. I have had great luck with this breed and have been impressed at their heat tolerance which is no laughing matter here where summer temps routinely exceed 100 deg. I breed and show and the only 'con' I've really run into is the apparent wide range of breed type in Southern California. You see everything from reddish blonde to truly buff to nearly white, all calling themselves 'buff orpington' and you also see long-legged, long-backed birds with loose feathering standing next to a roly-poly, short-legged, more "English type-ey" style. Anyway, I Love 'em and will probably never be without atleast small flock of this charming breed. Oh, and one more thing- maybe I'm biased but I've never seen a cuter chick than the fuzzy, lemon-yellow, fat little ping pong balls you get with this breed!