Buff Orpington questions

[bufforp89]

What is more desireable in Buff Orphington roosters? A taller rooster with long legs or his shorter thicker brother? Also it it ok for them to have black in their tails? I know that females can have "pepper" in their tails but Im not sure about boys. Im trying to decide what roosters to keep as breeding stock. Thanks

 

[Krys109uk]

Broad stocky birds low in the leg, deep in the keel. All feathers to be solid buff, no black feathers or smut in any part of the body of male or female.

 

[Chris09]

I agree with Krys all the way.

The Plumage should be:
Surface throughout-- an even shade of rich golden buff.
Male-- Head, neck, hackle, back, wing bows and saddles showing greater luster.
Undercolor-- matching surface as near as possible.

Buff definition:
A rich medium shade of orange-yellow color with a rich golden cast; not so intense as to show a reddish cast, nor so pale as to appear lemon or light yellow.

Chris

 

[bufforp89]

I found out that I cant have any black in the tails of the males but this is a quote taken from the United Orpington Club website

"A little “pepper” (small black or gray spots) in the tails of females isn’t a bad thing. You want to keep some of those females in your breeding pen, according to some long-time poultry breeders. They say that you will eventually lose your good buff color if you cull all those females with any pepper in the tail"

Is this true? Has anyone tried breeding it out? I went out today and saw that about 1/3 of my pullets have pepper in their tails. It dosnt matter to me that they do. Im not breeding for show just for quality orps.

Im going to keep the shorter heavier males but am going to try breeding one of the huge big bodied tall roos to a heavy short pullet to see what I get also. Not that it matters, if they come out weird they all have homes here!

 

[Krys109uk]

"A little “pepper” (small black or gray spots) in the tails of females isn’t a bad thing. You want to keep some of those females in your breeding pen, according to some long-time poultry breeders. They say that you will eventually lose your good buff color if you cull all those females with any pepper in the tail"

I was told by exhibition Orp breeders in UK not to breed from birds with smut in the flights. There was not a problem with the colour of buff Orps......I've never seen a buff orp hen with smut in the tail, (unless it's been outcrossed to something else a couple of generations ago).

I have heard this smut theory, told in USA, (I thought they were referring to flights) but I wonder whether it isn't one of these selling myths like the one about red leakage in the hackles breeds better coloured offspring ....that one is certainly a load of old cods.

 

[Chris09]

bufforp89:
If you are breeding for quality orps. then you will want to breed to there standard and that would be with no smut in there tails as the standard says..
This was taken right from the American Standard of Perfection.

The Plumage should be:
Surface throughout-- an even shade of rich golden buff.
Male-- Head, neck, hackle, back, wing bows and saddles showing greater luster.
Undercolor-- matching surface as near as possible.

Buff definition:
A rich medium shade of orange-yellow color with a rich golden cast; not so intense as to show a reddish cast, nor so pale as to appear lemon or light yellow.

Chris

 

[Fancypants4569]

ok, now Im curious about the peppering in the tail.... I have tryed to research it here and am not coming up with anything...Im pretty sure all my Buff Orpington pullets have it, but I thonk it looks like mold of some sort and have been trying to figure out how to was it out before fair??? Think I might have to come back and post a pic of it so I can find out from the experts what it is??? Dont want to show birds that have undesirable traits. But Ill keep researching on it. Is this called peppering? Is it called anything else??? Need more search words to research

 

[Krys109uk]

Peppering, smut, mossiness. There are probably other names but that's all I can think of right now.

 

[Fancypants4569]

Hmmmm, searched all these words, and still nothing???? Ill keep lookin tho...TY!!!

 

[wilds of pa]

heres some great info on breeding buff..hope this helps.
I must say Danne got the best info in his book than Ive ever seen compiled anywhere else on Buff colorations and one can gain plenty of knowledge from his book, give it a min to load it is in pdf type file..

by: Danne J Honour..get ready to read, its a good one
http://www.aviculture-europe.nl/Buff-Coloration.pdf

by: Mark Peterson
http://www.crohio.com/rockclub/Articles/Breedingbuff.htm

~Wilds~