Best dual breed?

[Egghead_Jr]

You'll like the Orpington over Brahma. Orpingtons are a true dual purpose breed. England wanted a bird of the Plymouth Rock utility value and also didn't like the fact we in the states produced a better bird so the Orpington came to be. Yes they are big but don't be fooled by all that fluff, they'll still fit through a 13" square coop door.

Those Buff's offered must have been excellent show quality for that price. That's near $80 U.S. for the pair. Solid color varieties are easier to work with when keeping to standards so they likely are still good layers 200+ eggs per year. Fancy colors can get tricky to maintain and sometimes egg laying ability suffers with breeders attempting to maintain color over utility. If that Buff breeder has a good reputation and the birds are to standard I'd try and get a trio for 70 pounds.

 

[Hawkesy]

You'll like the Orpington over Brahma. Orpingtons are a true dual purpose breed. England wanted a bird of the Plymouth Rock utility value and also didn't like the fact we in the states produced a better bird so the Orpington came to be. Yes they are big but don't be fooled by all that fluff, they'll still fit through a 13" square coop door.

Those Buff's offered must have been excellent show quality for that price. That's near $80 U.S. for the pair. Solid color varieties are easier to work with when keeping to standards so they likely are still good layers 200+ eggs per year. Fancy colors can get tricky to maintain and sometimes egg laying ability suffers with breeders attempting to maintain color over utility. If that Buff breeder has a good reputation and the birds are to standard I'd try and get a trio for 70 pounds.

I'm not so sure, the large fowl birds over here are very large. I would be more interested in the regular orpringtons which are smaller and less expensive.

I mean take a look at this - http://www.orpingtonchickens.co.uk/birds-sale/ - it shows the price range from a regular supplier. These are the large fowl type of birds I'm talking about from the UK ( then again everything is overpriced here..)

Thanks for the heads up though, think they shall definitely be the next addition to my flock!

 

[Egghead_Jr]

They are nice looking birds. Trust me though, there's a lot of fluff there. Over the pond England has pushed for more and more feather over the decades and are near Cochin type birds. Standard weight is still 10 lbs for a Orpington cockbird. They'll squeeze into a small hole.

The English type Orpingtons will have fertility issues though. If low fertilization of eggs you need to cut the feathers around the pullets/hens vents. It's that much fluff. The Buff Orpington are the best laying variety. I see that link states they only get 180-200 from all of their more colorful varieties.