*Buff Orpington Thread!*

[MagpieDucks]

Buffy is at the top and Virginia is at the bottom. These are the only two buff orpingtons I have.

 

[Deise]

How do they do with the other chickens in your flock? I've only had Buffs, I hear they can get picked on.

 

[daxigait]

My buff/EE are OK with the Barred rocks, but my young lavender are hiding from the ten week older RIR. I am curious to know if anyone else has issues or if it is just that they were added to the others and are younger. I will have my new coop for all of them done this weekend, and I will have the mess of integrating them. I was told to try moving them at night.

 

[Deise]

Wish I could help, I am curious but truth be told it's only Buffs for me. Good luck I'm sure you'll get great advice here.

 

[Fluffs]

I love that comment " my chickens are my girls I never had" ! I tell people since my kids are all 'flying the coop', I'm replacing my nest with real chickens!

 

[Fluffs]

I have 3 buff girls that I raised from chicks. I got 3 RIRs as adults. Even though my RIRs are smaller than my buffs, the Reds rule, but they don't' peck them, mainly just chase them away from food. So, I put food in multiple places so everyone gets plenty...(a funny side note: I raised my buffs up alongside my ducks "Dobby" and " Luna", and some guineas as well...before recently moving my ducks to their new pen, the buffs and ducks hung out as a group...and they got along great! I hated to separate them, but the ducks pond wasn't safe for my chickens. )

I was told about the ' pecking order' they all must endure. It can take a few days, then they should settle down. However, when I got my Bearded Buff Laced Polish pullet, my sweet Buffy girls continued to bully her! So, I got my BBLP girl "Nu-Pelly" a hen and rooster of her kind, and they're together in their own pen, and I'm still trying to acclimate them with the ol' crew, having only the fence between them.

Sorry I don't have any great answer for you! But thought I could at least share what I have experienced...good luck!

 

[icemanabk]

When I bought my house a little over a year ago, The guy who had the place offered to include up to 20 chickens into the sale. I figured, 20 was a bit much for the size of the property, and decided I'd just take 10. It ended up being 1 Red Sexling, 8 Rhode Island Reds, and 1 Buff Orpington which we chose because my daughter loved her since she sat on the eggs all the time. I was very familiar with the Reds when I had them back in 1999-2002, along with a few other breeds, however, never had a Buff Orpington.

So, We got news after the purchase, we had to give up 3 birds due to the town having a restriction on pets over 6 months old, chickens I can have up to 7. So, I gave a few to a guy at work, ended up with 6 Rhode Islands, and 1 Orpington. If you're not familiar with RIRs, they can be very aggressive in nature and mine were never shy. Best example of how they behaved, my daughter would be standing outside with a bag of popcorn, RIR comes up behind her, takes the bag, runs like a thief with an old lady's purse. I found it hilarious, daughter... not so much.

As things progressed, my Buff was always broody. Did the cold water bucket trick to stop her from sitting so she'd be out and about eating and laying, however, the RIRs weren't having it and would start beating her up quite a bit. So, she'd be out of the run walking the back yard separate from them because they started drawing blood and gang up on her 6v1 all the time. With this frustration, I considered giving the Buff to my friend out in the country that got the other 3. My daughter, loved that chicken and was pretty upset, so the plan then was, to get 10 Buff chicks online and when they were 4 weeks old, send the other chickens to the country.

So, we got the day old chicks and my daughter everyday, would want to go see the chicks and touch them, play with them, etc. We got a bonus chick in the box so I had a pack of 11 chicks. After a week, I noticed two were a little bigger than the others, and their combs were already starting to grow. I was always told that chances are if there's an extra chick in the box, it's going to be a rooster. Sure enough, 2 of them grew up to be my roosters, Paulie Walnuts (The Sopranoes, one of the Capo's who always has to look good and is overly friendly) very fancy looking, always cleaning, great looking waddles & Comb, he was overly friendly too and he wasn't even fully grown, and Ivan Drago (The Russian Boxer in Rocky IV), who's much taller and bigger than Paulie, but he was very pale, almost white, big head, huge powerful legs.

When they hit 4 weeks old, I sent the 6 Rhode Islands to the country, and took two days to clean up the coop and make sure the little pullets wouldn't escape. My Orpington (Mother, my daughter named her since she's the one sitting all the time), was always the wall flower, so she'd back down a lot. I put the chicks in with her and sat there and watched them for a while. At first they surrounded her and little paulie was trying to challenge here. She just stared at him and after five minutes of this, she eventually popped him on the back then walked off after he ran away. First few days she avoided them like the plague, then during one of my nighttime checks, I found them all huddled up with her in the corner of the nest box. From then on, she'd find food on the ground and cluck at them to tell them it was food and they'd start running over.

When my chicks finally reached close to 5 months old, I had to send 4 away to the country. Both Paulie and Ivan are now enjoying the country free ranging on a larger parcel with another old rooster out there, fred (least 7 or 8 years old) and around 18 Hens. I'll be headed out there soon to check up on Paulie and see how he's filling in since his color was so vibrant when the sickles were just coming in, and probably spoil the flock with another bag of bread.

 

[Deise]

Thanks for the info, I think it's interesting how they relate to each other. All my girls get along I have 3 Buffs, and I got them as 2 day old chicks. I have a rabbit, she thinks she is a dog, she uses the dog door and I have two dogs that come and go as they please, but everyone gets along. Kind of feels like a little hippie compound.

 

[icemanabk]

I have 3 buff girls that I raised from chicks. I got 3 RIRs as adults. Even though my RIRs are smaller than my buffs, the Reds rule, but they don't' peck them, mainly just chase them away from food. So, I put food in multiple places so everyone gets plenty...(a funny side note: I raised my buffs up alongside my ducks "Dobby" and " Luna", and some guineas as well...before recently moving my ducks to their new pen, the buffs and ducks hung out as a group...and they got along great! I hated to separate them, but the ducks pond wasn't safe for my chickens. )

I was told about the ' pecking order' they all must endure. It can take a few days, then they should settle down. However, when I got my Bearded Buff Laced Polish pullet, my sweet Buffy girls continued to bully her! So, I got my BBLP girl "Nu-Pelly" a hen and rooster of her kind, and they're together in their own pen, and I'm still trying to acclimate them with the ol' crew, having only the fence between them.

Sorry I don't have any great answer for you! But thought I could at least share what I have experienced...good luck!

The Rhode Islands I gave my friend are really aggressive like that as well. He has a bunch of feral cats to keep the rodents from having a free for all around his property, especially his Alpaca barn. He feeds a few cats at the front door, but he fed them early one morning, instead of on his way out the door. So, he found out apparently, they'd hear the can open outside, rush the front door, and beat up the cats then eat their food in front of them. So, now he's got to feed them on his deck.

On occasion over the time I had RIRs, I've seen a few times were they'd get a field mouse and rip it apart alive.

I had quite a bit of issues having RIRs and Buffs together. I should of looked into Buffs before I agreed to keep 1 with 6 RIRs. The flock out in the country has 5 Orpingtons, and around 13 or so Rhode Islands. The RIRs I believe at the most aggressive breed, least I've dealt with and I've had around 6 types so far. The Orpingtons are rated as one of the most Docile breeds. Even my Buff Rooster was Mr. Nice guy and gets chased by the smaller Rhode Island hens out at the farm. At night they'll all huddle up in the coop, but during the day, the 5 orpingtons stick in a tight pack and the Rhode Islands roam around like a band of raiders.

 

[Deise]

Will chickens go into a duck pond? I actually saw a video of a chicken swimming! I wouldn't try it, but I thought chickens would stay away from water. Just wondering because the ducks look so cute!