Are all Orpingtons friendly?

[Jhamil21]

I have 10 lavender and they all peck at each other, my brown buffs, barred rocks, and australorps. I’ll never get them again.

 

[Donna-NC]

Just sort of an informational note here, which is not specific to Orps and meant for all hens in general.
My granny (a farm girl her whole life and taught me more than I can ever thank her for); told me when I was younger and helped out with the hens and garden, that when you pick up an adult hen for any reason and will be holding them for more than a few seconds that you should

1. Hold them in the crook of your arm against your side/front snugly with their wing tight between you and themselves
2. The other wing held firmly between their body and your arm while you have your hand below them and putting their feet up against their tummy and your hand.
3. Their head should be at the front of your body and you should pat them on the outer side as firmly as you'd burp a baby.

Something about that patting action just calms them down. I asked some vet friends about that and they agreed that it is a calming action that works well with big-bodied birds.

 

[Esrun]

Just sort of an informational note here, which is not specific to Orps and meant for all hens in general.
My granny (a farm girl her whole life and taught me more than I can ever thank her for); told me when I was younger and helped out with the hens and garden, that when you pick up an adult hen for any reason and will be holding them for more than a few seconds that you should

1. Hold them in the crook of your arm against your side/front snugly with their wing tight between you and themselves
2. The other wing held firmly between their body and your arm while you have your hand below them and putting their feet up against their tummy and your hand.
3. Their head should be at the front of your body and you should pat them on the outer side as firmly as you'd burp a baby.

Something about that patting action just calms them down. I asked some vet friends about that and they agreed that it is a calming action that works well with big-bodied birds.

Great advice, thank you (and your Grammy )

 

[South Dakota Guy]

Any except hoovers

I would like to hear of your experience with Hoover hatchery. The reason I ask is that Hoover is the closest Hatchery to where I live, Tractor Supply and Runnings farm stores locally all get their chicks from Hoover.

 

[nuthatched]

I would like to hear of your experience with Hoover hatchery. The reason I ask is that Hoover is the closest Hatchery to where I live, Tractor Supply and Runnings farm stores locally all get their chicks from Hoover.

They have poor quality birds and regularly send wrong birds and paperwork. The tscs I'm my general area has switched to Ideal or Privett.

 

[Esrun]

That’s kind of what I gathered from reading here. We went with Mt. Healthy. Hopefully we have a good experience.

 

[K0k0shka]

I've had 5 different varieties of Orpington over the years and the only non-friendly ones I had were the Lavenders. They were from a local breeder that thinks highly of herself and her stock (a bit more highly than is deserved, in my opinion). I had 7 of them that were hatched by a broody with the flock, and even though I spent time with the flock every day, and the broody tried her best to bring them into my lap (she's a lap chicken), they remained extremely skittish and uninterested in people. I ended up keeping one of them for about a year and a half and tried my best to socialize and befriend her, but she remained skittish nevertheless. By comparison, I've also had hatchery-quality Buff Orpingtons raised by the same broody (from day old chicks bought at a feed store), I spent time with the flock in the exact same way, and those ended up super friendly and perching on my shoulders. The ones I hatched in an incubator and hand-raised myself are, of course, the friendliest of them all, regardless of color. Part of me wants to do an experiment and raise some of those Lavenders by hand, and see if they'd turn out differently, but I really don't like the breeder, or the breed variety (the shredding was horrible despite the breeder's claims), so I'm not going to bother. In conclusion, I'd say that overall the breed is friendly, but different lines can diverge on friendliness (in addition to individual variation).

 

[Desertvalleychickens]

Literally anything else outside the 'wanna get chickens' Trio:
'Barred Rocks'
Silkies
Buff/Lavender Orps

All are overbred and have issues because of it.

So you would get Aseels?

 

[Desertvalleychickens]

Are all varieties of Orpingtons friendly and docile? I realize all individuals are different but as a whole? I think the Lavender Orpingtons are so beautiful and we are looking at getting 3 with 3 Buffs.

I have 5 Buff Orpingtons. I do agree with @nuthatched , though. They are a bit hyped (and noisy). Other than that, they are friendly birds! Mine like to get cuddled on the roost.

 

[nuthatched]

So you would get Aseels?

I dint personally care for the look of aseels, they look like they'd sell their mothers for a mealworm.