*Buff Orpington Thread!*

[danieljblais]

People have asked me that question, I sell some of my eggs. Some people just don't like the fact that they are fertilized, others don't like the small spot on yolk of the fertilised egg, on others don't care. For what it is worth, I think, if your roo is nice and doesn't always try to be over friendly with your hens he is good for your little flock.

This boy sits on the lap of anyone who will let him. In a bigger area the hens avoid him. He clearly warns of danger and calls the all over if he finds edible treats

Love those buffs

 

[danieljblais]

Hello right back at ya peanutsmom

 

[Ponyfeather]

I have a buff orpington pullet and I was just wondering she is about 5-6 months old, and still feathering out. Delayed feathering gene she has always been slow getting her feathers in and I was wondering how much she should weight right now? She came from our local feed store so I know they tend to be smaller but I weighted her recently and she only weighted 3 pounds. x_x Is this normal or if she possibly not eating enough? She is still on organic chick starter because I didn't want to harm her kidneys by giving her to much calcium. Also I can't find “Developer or finishing” pullet rations locally.

 

[Half Moon Ranch]

How was that omelet you were saving those eggs for?

I am still new to having chickens as well but we found ourselves in the identical situation you described; three BO pullets and 1 BO cockerel. I had the same question about the taste of a fertilized/unincubated egg v. an unfertilized egg and I was assured that there was no difference by so many seasoned chicken keepers. We no longer have that issue because our roo was so overly amorous with our girls (we were told by so many that a rooster needs about 10 hens in order not to over breed them) that we made the decision to rehome him. Hopefully, you have some additional hens besides the three BOs to keep him occupied but then again your roo may not be as hormone crazed as ours was. LOL! I don't know if we can post links to outside articles but there is a good one on The Chicken Chick's website. It is entitled, Facts & Myths About Fertile Eggs.

Sorry, I meant fertilized, not incubated! Durrr...
This is what happens when I try to form a sentence before coffee.

The roo is getting pretty crazy as he gets older and I guess time will tell if he gets too out of hand.
I'm not sure if we would re-home him, or put him in the freezer, but the girls come first and I don't want him making life too rough for them.

This morning we'll be trying out those eggs for the first time and making that omelet!

 

[Peanutsmomma]

People have asked me that question, I sell some of my eggs. Some people just don't like the fact that they are fertilized, others don't like the small spot on yolk of the fertilised egg, on others don't care. For what it is worth, I think, if your roo is nice and doesn't always try to be over friendly with your hens he is good for your little flock.

This boy sits on the lap of anyone who will let him. In a bigger area the hens avoid him. He clearly warns of danger and calls the all over if he finds edible treats

Love those buffs

Wow! He is quite a specimen!

 

[TheSpiceGirls]

Okay, today IS the day. I can feel it. My 6 month old BO is going to lay for me today. She's been squatting all week. And yesterday she kept going into the coop. Strange though, she wouldn't go sit in a nest. She found a spot in the shavings in the corner of the coop and decided that was nice.

I even have fake eggs in my nests to encourage them to lay there. She's just new to this and confused.

I do have a free standing wooden nest which I tucked into the coop to see if she might like that.

She's eaten some soft shelled eggs in the past so I'm eager to monitor her today and see what she does and hopefully, I can collect the egg before anything happens to it.

 

[Peanutsmomma]

Sorry, I meant fertilized, not incubated! Durrr...
This is what happens when I try to form a sentence before coffee.

The roo is getting pretty crazy as he gets older and I guess time will tell if he gets too out of hand.
I'm not sure if we would re-home him, or put him in the freezer, but the girls come first and I don't want him making life too rough for them.

This morning we'll be trying out those eggs for the first time and making that omelet!

Weren't those the prettiest egg yolks?

That is what we had to do put our girls first. Our roo Leo was a big ole sweetie pie until the hormones really kicked in. Our three girls have always been the sweetest things since day 1 and I noticed that after several weeks of Leo's trying to mate them constantly they started staying in the coop to avoid him. Then for some reason he decided he didn't like it when I loved on his ladies so he started getting aggressive with me which was an incredible shock given his history of being a loving little guy. As soon as I would put them down, he would jump on them with a vengeance and not long after that the girls figured out if they avoided me they wouldn't have to deal with him and that just broke my heart. When I realized what was going on I knew he had to go as it was not worth them living in fear of him. Maybe if they had been older and were more receptive to his advances it would have turned out differently. Throughout this ordeal I got some wonderful advice from speckledhen and when he finally tried to flog me I knew it was time to let him go. After he was gone, it took about two days for our ladies to return to their normal sweet behavior and within two weeks they started laying. The people who gave him a new home have a flock large enough to keep him busy and they say he is a sweetie and is doing his rooster job very well. All in all everything worked out perfectly and everyone is happy now. Hopefully, your roo will be easy on your girls and you won't have to get rid of him or send him to freezer camp.

 

[Peanutsmomma]

I have a buff orpington pullet and I was just wondering she is about 5-6 months old, and still feathering out. Delayed feathering gene she has always been slow getting her feathers in and I was wondering how much she should weight right now? She came from our local feed store so I know they tend to be smaller but I weighted her recently and she only weighted 3 pounds. x_x Is this normal or if she possibly not eating enough? She is still on organic chick starter because I didn't want to harm her kidneys by giving her to much calcium. Also I can't find “Developer or finishing” pullet rations locally.

Your post made me curious about how much our BO pullets weigh as they too are on Organic feed. Ours are 22 weeks and weigh anywhere from 4.25lbs to 5 lbs. I am guessing that is normal as our girls are super healthy, laying every day and are beautifully feathered. Back when they were about 9 weeks old one of ours had a beak injury. I took her to the vet and she commented on how thin she was and I told her that she was on an organic non gmo, no corn, no soy feed (Scratch and Peck). That is when she recommended that I add corn to her diet. Well, with it being super hot here on the Gulf Coast at the time I decided not to do that since corn makes them hot in the summer. However, when I switched them over to the Scratch and Peck Layer feed I decided to go with the version containing corn since we were headed into fall and I do believe it has fattened them up a bit. This is going to sound like a commercial for Scratch and Peck feed but I brought home two 5 week old Chocolate Orpingtons last week that looked kind of pitiful in the feather department and after a week on the S&P Starter they look so much better. Their poops look better too. You can order Scratch and Peck from their website. They ship USPS priority mail and I always get our feed in two days. Good luck with your little girl!

 

[TheSpiceGirls]

6 month old BO lays her first egg today. It's the missile shaped one on the left. Unfortunately, she laid it out in the run. But fortunately, it wasn't pecked open. Despite being covered with beak marks.

Hopefully, she'll figure out that those cozy nest boxes filled with fresh pine shavings, a little dried herbs and a sprinkle of DE to keep them fresh are not so bad after all.

I think this was the longest I've ever waited for my first egg from a hen. Here's hoping that she gets going well enough to lay all winter long for me. We're right on the edge of having enough daylight for hens to lay all winter long here w/ out supplemental light.

 

[Ponyfeather]

Your post made me curious about how much our BO pullets weigh as they too are on Organic feed. Ours are 22 weeks and weigh anywhere from 4.25lbs to 5 lbs. I am guessing that is normal as our girls are super healthy, laying every day and are beautifully feathered. Back when they were about 9 weeks old one of ours had a beak injury. I took her to the vet and she commented on how thin she was and I told her that she was on an organic non gmo, no corn, no soy feed (Scratch and Peck). That is when she recommended that I add corn to her diet. Well, with it being super hot here on the Gulf Coast at the time I decided not to do that since corn makes them hot in the summer. However, when I switched them over to the Scratch and Peck Layer feed I decided to go with the version containing corn since we were headed into fall and I do believe it has fattened them up a bit. This is going to sound like a commercial for Scratch and Peck feed but I brought home two 5 week old Chocolate Orpingtons last week that looked kind of pitiful in the feather department and after a week on the S&P Starter they look so much better. Their poops look better too. You can order Scratch and Peck from their website. They ship USPS priority mail and I always get our feed in two days. Good luck with your little girl!

Thanks for the recommendation of the food. It looks like I can get it from many places locally. So after this batch of feed I'll try it if I can get it in small helpings since right now it is just
Pancake we are feeding. Next year we'll be adding more hens I hope. Hopefully we will get eggs after she has all her feathers.