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Orpington

The original Orpington, the Black, was developed in England in 1886 and brought to the US in...
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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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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Great article!
I love Buff Orpingtons and own 7 of them, very friendly and calm.
Great layers too!
Pretty and very interesting birds, dual purpose
Pros: They look amazing, can get huge for meat, and also lay great eggs, and my rooster is very protective of all the birds in there regardless of their age or even if they're chickens or not.
Cons: They're not usually very tame to pick up.
My buff rooster, who's about 4 months old, has started being protective over ALL birds in the flock. Even younger hens. Even older hens. Even turkeys. The hens of this breed look amazing, and they lay well too. Wonderful birds to have.
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Pros: Kid Friendly
Cold Harty
Sweet
Easy to handle
Cons: Can get very broody
I have some of my own orpingtons and they are super sweet and lovable. I highly recommend this breed.
Orpington, orpington...
Pros: Sweet
Cold and warm hardy
adapts well
Good brooders and layers
Cons: Very broody
sometimes mean to other hens
ton of pecking order
Goldie our hen is very great, though sometimes she can get....well... Broody. We all love her, our momma hen.
6 buff Orpington hens
Pros: Friendly, great with kids, good layers, cold hardy!
Cons: None
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I have 6 buff Orpingtons, they’ll be 1 in March. They’re all super friendly and great layers. Perfect addition to our little backyard flock! Pictured is my girl LuLu
Purchase Price
$5
Purchase Date
3/1/22
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They are awesome!
Pros: Excellent layers, friendly, broody, good foragers.
Cons: none
I have a 6 soon to be 7 Orpington hen she is still one of my best layers! They are my favorite breed so far.
Purchase Price
$8
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fingerandus
i love Orpingtons mine are Australian black Orpingtons .....
Best chicken breed!!
Pros: Loyal, friendly, calm, quiet, curious, great free rangers, predator savvy, amazing layers, big eggs
Cons: Large breed, take up a lot of room in the coop
My two BOs came in the mail from Meyer Hatchery, and I was immediately in love with their personalities. Being almost a year old now, they are by far the friendliest in the flock and love attention. One of them walks up for hugs and loves trying to eat my hair and more curious than anything. The other enjoys riding in the basket of my bike and traveling to parks with me. :love
Definitely a must have breed for me.
Purchase Price
$4
Purchase Date
August 2nd
Had 1 for 5 Years
Pros: Friendly, even in her bossy-ness is more gentle than other girls, healthy, curious.
Cons: Lavenders are pretty expensive, buffs priced right
Our “Mauve” was a wonderful lavender orpington. So friendly and gentle- generally much nicer and less aggressive than the other girls in the flock. And survived several predator attacks, but just lost her and a bunch of others a few weeks ago. Great forager always seeming to get best morsels. Just ordered a few buffs for first time.
Purchase Price
About $22 lavender, now they are $26.76, buffs 4.32
Purchase Date
Jan. 2017 and Jan. 2022-
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Love- but not healthy enough
Pros: So friendly, beautiful birds
Cons: Either its the breed, or me (I think its the breed) I cannot keep these birds alive
I have been keeping chickens for 7+ years. Of all the breeds I love the Orpingtons and have kept the buff variety. I had one die of sudden chicken death syndrome at 15 months, then to get a day old that dies on day 4 and then replaced her with another that died of sudden chicken death syndrome at 9 months. As others have stated they are super friendly and wonderful, but I can't handle the heartbreak and there are other breeds that I have kept that are thriving and laying at 7 years of age :idunno
Purchase Price
Varied- but under $4.00 per chick
Purchase Date
3-2017 and 5-2019
Fluffy Lambs
Fluffy Lambs
Mine are 2 years and doing great 🤷‍♀️
My personal experience
Pros: - They are very beautiful and active birds
- They are very hearty and strong birds
Cons: In my own personal experience
- The rooster is very evil👿
- rooster is very aggressive towards the hens
- They aren’t very friendly with kids either(the rooster)
I don’t know if it’s just because my chicken was an overall meanie, but I only got one of the lavender Orpingtons and he turned out to be a boy. He constantly attacked the girls and would also attack humans. He was just overall very aggressive and a very dominant bird. He did get along very well with the other rooster he was raised with though and was very pretty, he just wasn’t nice at all to humans and hens. Again this is my personal experience with the rooster of this breed. I have never had the hens so can’t speak on them.
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Pros: Good layers, good mothers, protective.
Cons: Mine is personally loud; she is indeed the boss!
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Lavender Oprington, Bubbles.
Purchase Price
$5.00
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fingerandus
doesnt have much comb for a Orpington must be young ?
Love them!
Pros: Great egg layers, beautiful when they have all their feathers, great personality, and good mothers and broodys.
Cons: They can start to lose feathers when their in heavy lay if not on a high protein diet, and will go broody easily if you leave eggs in box(if you dont want them to be broody).
My buff orpingtons are some of my friendliest chickens. When their not broody they lay almost every day, and when all their feathers are in perfect condition they are beautiful! They need to be on a diet with at least 20% protein, like an all flock or flock raiser feed to be kept that way though. They make great pets and are great for your first chickens or if you want 4-6 chickens for eggs. Totally recommend them.
Purchase Price
2.00
Purchase Date
9/2018
My hex nut (BO)
Pros: Great layers, loves to be held, not aggressive to the flock but still high on the pecking order, very cold-hardy
Cons: Tends to wander and is a bit of a nutter, slightly less heat hardy.
I love Hex Nut my Buff Orp. She's so pretty and lays lovely brown eggs. She does try to hatch them on occasion but since we don't have a rooster she gives up pretty quick! I love my bird!
Good birds... a bit overrated.
Pros: Usually sweet.

English Orpingtons are fluffy.

Fairly consistent layers.

Nice and “classic” looking.
Cons: Way overrated.

Hatchery Orpingtons, especially of the Buff variety, are low quality but highly rated. They lose all of their fluffiness, and are overall just plain overrated. That’s my opinion though.

Not always nice, and occasionally may bully other chickens.
Most of this is based off of my experience with Orpingtons. And all I have is one Buff Orpington. She’s fairly ok, but not as amazing as my other birds. Worth getting if you want the classic, yellow, chicken (buff)

All negativity aside, I really want a lavender Orpington some time. Here’s a few pictures of Emily, the BO
Purchase Price
3.00, I think.
Purchase Date
February 2019

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Barbara Cheetham
Barbara Cheetham
My Buffy is so smart she is learning to do tricks. I created a chicken agility course for her and she is just as responsive as a dog.
I love my buffs! Amazing layers and super sweet
Pros: -in my experience, great layers (4-6 eggs per week)
-super sweet
-so pretty!
Cons: So fluffy and cute that they might end up convincing you to hang with them instead of getting work done....
Talking about buff Orpington and what is good and bad about them
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fingerandus
we have 5 black Australian Orpingtons lovely friendly best egg layers one hen holds the record 364 eggs in a year [not mine ] of course xx
Pros: Friendly, docile, hearty, personable
Cons: None
We have 10 birds total, three of which are Buff Orpingtons. They are by far my favorite birds of our flock. They are very energetic, love to be around us, and very curious. I start and end the day by feeding all my birds a few mealworms in their coop and every day, one of my Buff girls roosts on my arm simply to be with me and not particularly interested in the mealworms..more interested in being pet. They also enjoy our 9 year old's company. They are still young so I cannot speak as to laying abilities, but we are enjoying their company and personality at this point!
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Cinderloowho
I love my buff orp. She's such a sweet girl! She went broody a few weeks ago with nothing under her. I felt bad and stuffed an egg under her. Then I bought chicks to fool her with. Before I could get the chicks in with her, the egg hatched! I had no idea it was fertile! Guess it was meant to be. Oh, and she LOVES the sapphire gem chicks too, she just lifted her wing and they ran right under it when I took them out to her! Extended family!! lol!
Pros: Hardy, cockerels and hens both very placid, gentle birds, low feed consumption compared to their size. Very good for broodies
Cons: Not overly reliable layers, but overall is good
I have a GL orp hen and rooster and both are extremely calm, and never shown any signs of real violence.
The rooster is protective and placid and offers any food he finds to the hens
The hen is often happy and content and is a good broody. Always calm and when laying, produces good light creamy coloured eggs.
The rooster is in the foreground of the picture

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Pros: Good egg layers of med to lrg size brown eggs. Good mamas, broody if you want them to hatch eggs for you. Friendly and not flighty.
Cons: They are broody which cuts down on egg production. They eat a lot.
I love the buff Orpingtons. They have a beautiful blonde tan color and very fluffy butts. I have found that they are very friendly until you try and take eggs out from under a broody hen. 😉 The Roosters are beautiful as well and they are the same color as the hens. In my experience they don't protect the hens very well from predators. So make sure you make their pens and runs safe.
Purchase Price
$2-3 day olds
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Speckled_chick
Speckled_chick
Are you selling them??
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