*Buff Orpington Thread!*

[microchick]

My Buffs are a little over 5 weeks now and have been a joy since day one. The pullets are sweet and friendly to the point that when I put my arm in their secondary pen they are immediately jumping on me and settling there like my arm is a roost. So far the roos haven't been difficult to handle either although one out of three doesn't like to be picked up.

These are the first Buffs that we have owned and yes, I highly recommend them as a breed to add to your flock.

I really home one of ours goes broody once she starts to lay.

Chicks Rule!

 

[BayBay Peepers]

When they're broody, are they mean? And can I keep a broody hen in the coop with the others?

I also had to add nest boxes because too many buffs would occupy boxes haha They definitely get stubborn when they're broody, but I've been lucky enough to keep them in the coop until the chicks hatch and dry. My boxes are too high for little chicks so when they're all set I give them a private area until my hen feels they're grown enough to have the chicks in the coop.

If you want a broody for chicks they are a great breed for it, so far mine have made excellent mothers. BUT on the same token if they go broody and you don't want more chicks prepare yourself for a battle. Convincing these hens you know best is a challenge, but they're worth their weight in gold

 

[BayBay Peepers]

My Buffs are a little over 5 weeks now and have been a joy since day one. The pullets are sweet and friendly to the point that when I put my arm in their secondary pen they are immediately jumping on me and settling there like my arm is a roost. So far the roos haven't been difficult to handle either although one out of three doesn't like to be picked up.

These are the first Buffs that we have owned and yes, I highly recommend them as a breed to add to your flock.

I really home one of ours goes broody once she starts to lay.

Chicks Rule!

You should have no trouble getting at least one broody girl. I had one start immediately. She decided to start her first nest at the neighbors and disappear for two days on me

At about a year is when most of ours really started. It was like monkey see monkey do no matter how quickly I tried to gather eggs. Good luck with your buffs

 

[microchick]

I need to get our birds out in their coop! They have outgrown their brooder and secondary pen that I attached to it to give them more room. They will be 6 weeks this weekend. The pullets are completely feathered and for the most part so are the roos although they still have that scruffy pin feather look about them.

I used two shutters we have on hand for ventilation in their coop for summer and I have blocked off about 3/4s of them to lower the draft potential and added a lamp for them to get under at night if they need to.

Our temps are going to get down to 35 on Wednesday so I'm a little concerned about them being out when they aren't used to being outside. They are not using a heat lamp at night anymore in the house.

Do I need to do anything else to protect them? They are starting to fuss and get crabby with one another in side, especially the young roosters.

 

[thechxwhisperer]

I LOVE Orpingtons!

 

[BayBay Peepers]

I need to get our birds out in their coop! They have outgrown their brooder and secondary pen that I attached to it to give them more room. They will be 6 weeks this weekend. The pullets are completely feathered and for the most part so are the roos although they still have that scruffy pin feather look about them.

I used two shutters we have on hand for ventilation in their coop for summer and I have blocked off about 3/4s of them to lower the draft potential and added a lamp for them to get under at night if they need to.

Our temps are going to get down to 35 on Wednesday so I'm a little concerned about them being out when they aren't used to being outside. They are not using a heat lamp at night anymore in the house.

Do I need to do anything else to protect them? They are starting to fuss and get crabby with one another in side, especially the young roosters.

How much room do they have? And how many cockerels & pullets do you have in the bunch?

 

[BayBay Peepers]

I LOVE Orpingtons!

Great pictures

 

[microchick]

I have three male and 5 female Buffs and 2 male and 2 female Wellies. The numbers were supposed to be 10 female and 2 males but the chicks had different plans, lol.

They are actually getting along fairly well at this point. Not as tolerant of one another as they once were but then they are maturing. Given their cramped brooder/cage conditions I'm pretty impressed that blood hasn't been drawn yet.

The coop is a little on the small size given the ratio of hens to roos. 4X8X4. But I had already began construction thinking I had two roosters and 10 hens when suddenly the two Wellies decided to grow in black chest feathers and grow combs and one of the Buff hens grew a comb and wattles.

I will probably have to enlarge by fall but at the moment I'm planning to put up a 10X18 foot run made out of kennel panels and hot wired for predator protection. Since they will only be pinned up at night and have been offered plenty of roosting space in the coop, I'm hoping that the extra run space will give the the square footage that they need. The coop has been built inside our barn and part of the run will also be under the barn's overhang so they will be able to get out even in nasty weather if they want to. And since I set the main coop 3 feet off the ground I have space down below to add a chicken condo if I need to...and probably will have to all things considered.

I'm planning to post a pic once I get it painted. Believe it or not, I have spent the grand total of somewhere around 10$ on this coop. We had all the wood, posts, etc on hand from other building projects and the money went towards nails. I promised my husband that the chickens would not cost us an arm and a leg so I'm pleased that I've managed to keep my word to him.

Just an FYI, we had a 75w black light on overnight in the coop and the temp was 55 this morning. Looking for a higher wattage light bulb to see if we can get the temp up a little better.

 

[BayBay Peepers]

That's a rough ratio. Your girls are going to suffer when they all start maturing, I would be very careful with that. Any chance you could swap out some of the extra males or even make a bachelor pen?

 

[microchick]

That's a rough ratio. Your girls are going to suffer when they all start maturing, I would be very careful with that. Any chance you could swap out some of the extra males or even make a bachelor pen?

Agreed. That's why I'm hoping one of my hens will go broody right away once they mature so they can give me a few more hens. I'm also hoping I can pick up a couple more mature hens sometime this summer. I thought about picking up a couple Orschelin chicks but frankly I do not want to brood any more chicks this year. And the way my luck runs I'd just mess up and pick out more roos.

I can definitely make a bachelor pen. We are planning to make a tractor run and if bad goes to worse we can keep a couple three roos in it and let them work on the bug population in our orchard and arbor. I did think about swapping but I have really gotten to know and care about these silly roosters. Foo and Snaff (short for Fubar and Snafu) are just nice little boys and the two Wellys are growing into beautiful young birds. Big Red, the roo who was supposed to be a hen: Here he is with one of the other Buff roos in the upper right hand corner and one of the Welsummer roosters in the lower left.



He is the least friendly of the 5 and will probably be assigned to a bachelor pad. I can always rotate them out so they don't grow frustrated but in the meantime, I'm standing over my sweet Buffy girls and whispering ...."repeat after me....go broody!"