*Buff Orpington Thread!*

[TheSpiceGirls]

Wow, seems like lots of us have a 'Bella'! Lovely bird, by the way! We got our 4 buff orpington chicks last April at one month old. I had picked out 3 names, and hubby came up with BELLA for the 4th, and ours is a sweetie too!



A few weeks ago our Bella was limping a bit, probably from a jump from a perch. She is right as rain now, but she spent one day wearing a chicken apron, and sitting in an old 'poop proof' chair from the attic. One of our yorkies, Sasha, stayed by her side for hours.

Awe, poor baby.

 

[TheSpiceGirls]

My BO's will be 19 weeks old this weekend. One of them just squatted for me last night. Full on squatted and I gave her a big scratch on the back and she got up and growled and shook herself several times. Like she was confused about what had just happened.

Doesn't 19 weeks (or probably more like 20 if she's a week out from laying) seem awfully young for a BO to come into lay?

She does have the reddest comb of the 4 of them. But she still seems so little and seems like she still has so much growing to do.

Thoughts?

 

[jenniferlamar70]

My BO's will be 19 weeks old this weekend.  One of them just squatted for me last night.  Full on squatted and I gave her a big scratch on the back and she got up and growled and shook herself several times.  Like she was confused about what had just happened.

Doesn't 19 weeks (or probably more  like 20 if she's a week out from laying) seem awfully young for a BO to come into lay?

She does have the reddest comb of the 4 of them.  But she still seems so little and seems like she still has so much growing to do.

Thoughts?

20 weeks seems right to me.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Well, it's simply lovely. And your hens are beautiful. I love seeing your photos of happy, healthy hens doing their chicken thing. I hope you are not offended but I'm totally in love w/ Bella. So much so that I named one of my babies Bella. She's a Partridge Cochin and we call her Ciao Bella because I think her feathers are simply stunning. She's only 14 weeks old in this photo and has a lot of filling out to do.

Look at all those pretty feathers. She's a beauty!

Wow, seems like lots of us have a 'Bella'! Lovely bird, by the way! We got our 4 buff orpington chicks last April at one month old. I had picked out 3 names, and hubby came up with BELLA for the 4th, and ours is a sweetie too!



A few weeks ago our Bella was limping a bit, probably from a jump from a perch. She is right as rain now, but she spent one day wearing a chicken apron, and sitting in an old 'poop proof' chair from the attic. One of our yorkies, Sasha, stayed by her side for hours.

Awww...that's sweet!

 

[gimmie birdies]

Adopted this BO along with a LO, and a leghorn, and a speckled sussex, and GLW. They are getting tossed in with 2 silky-mixed chicks the same age.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Adopted this BO along with a LO, and a leghorn, and a speckled sussex, and GLW. They are getting tossed in with 2 silky-mixed chicks the same age.

Cute Chick!!

 

[countryladyNH]

My BO's will be 19 weeks old this weekend. One of them just squatted for me last night. Full on squatted and I gave her a big scratch on the back and she got up and growled and shook herself several times. Like she was confused about what had just happened.

Doesn't 19 weeks (or probably more like 20 if she's a week out from laying) seem awfully young for a BO to come into lay?

She does have the reddest comb of the 4 of them. But she still seems so little and seems like she still has so much growing to do.

Thoughts?

We just got our first 2 eggs last week from 2 of our buff orpington girls. The one who laid the first egg was the LAST one we had expected it to be! Maisie, while perfectly formed and with bright red wattles and comb was always quite a bit smaller than the rest and was lowest on the pecking order, missing out on treats unless I could approach her and get her to take a grape, etc.
Well, last week, it was neck and neck with Prissy, the largest, and the dominant hen. Little Maisie laid the first egg and withing 5 MINUTES, PRISSY LAID HERS RIGHT INTO MY HAND! (She was in a nest box, and I thought Maisie's egg was hers, and when I went to pick her up, she dropped hers into my palm. I believe our BO's were all close or at 20 weeks. Now the third one has just started the 'squatting'. I would say you should have an egg from your little girl within a week or so---maybe sooner, maybe just a few days over that. IT'S COMING!!
Bella is our hen who just started the squatting. Hannah is the last. She is just a bit behind, and maybe she will have her first squats in a few weeks...

LOL, when I pet my layers now and the squat, I always give them the back-butt rub, which they love.

 

[elaineinspain]

you lucky thing! My BOs are 23 weeks old and no sign of squatting or laying...

 

[gimmie birdies]

My lavender orpingtons took for ever to lay.

here is a group pic of all my current chicks.it is hard to get them to all face the camera.

fun colors.

 

[TheSpiceGirls]

We just got our first 2 eggs last week from 2 of our buff orpington girls. The one who laid the first egg was the LAST one we had expected it to be! Maisie, while perfectly formed and with bright red wattles and comb was always quite a bit smaller than the rest and was lowest on the pecking order, missing out on treats unless I could approach her and get her to take a grape, etc.
Well, last week, it was neck and neck with Prissy, the largest, and the dominant hen. Little Maisie laid the first egg and withing 5 MINUTES, PRISSY LAID HERS RIGHT INTO MY HAND! (She was in a nest box, and I thought Maisie's egg was hers, and when I went to pick her up, she dropped hers into my palm. I believe our BO's were all close or at 20 weeks. Now the third one has just started the 'squatting'. I would say you should have an egg from your little girl within a week or so---maybe sooner, maybe just a few days over that. IT'S COMING!!
Bella is our hen who just started the squatting. Hannah is the last. She is just a bit behind, and maybe she will have her first squats in a few weeks...

LOL, when I pet my layers now and the squat, I always give them the back-butt rub, which they love.

Thank you for this. Maybe I'm closer to getting an egg than I realized.

I have my hens out in one very large run. In there are two coops. A big coop where the adult hens sleep and lay. And then a little coop where the babies grew up and this was fenced off from the big girls until last week.

I came home yesterday and the babies (I know it was them because they still make baby sized turds) went into the big girls coop and absolutely trashed it. The scratched all the shavings into one corner more out the pop door of the coop. They destroyed every nest box kicking out eggs and shavings. Took me 20 minutes to clean up that mess. I can only assume they were in there investigating where they may want to lay an egg some day.