*Buff Orpington Thread!*

[mcclucker]

Interested to see if the light helps you. My two buffs lay almost every day since they started (early December). My EE definitely are more random. At first they laid 4-5 a week, now they are down to 2 a week. I do light the coop 6am-5pm.

 

[mcclucker]

Oh and I am a knitter - making a hat for my buffs. One (my favorite!) got a little frostbite during our sub zero spell a few weeks ago. My husband thinks I'm nuts but I'm really attached to this chicken

 

[kaiser]

my BO's and most of my birds slowed down, almost stopped as it got colder as well.
but other stressors were involved, new coop in November, adopted 5 older hens in December.
I just added light to the coop a couple of weeks ago, 6am to 8pm.
production is slowly starting to rise.

 

[robyn8]

I have my first flock. 4 BO pullets 1 silkie cockerel. My favorite pullet, who's also recovering from an injury in the hospital cage in the coop, was the first to lay Monday. They are 5.5 months. She's laid every day for 4 days now. Is this typical? I though BOs laid only 4 a week and that it would be sporadic at first.

Don't get me wrong I'm happy with the egg everyday! Just want to understand more. I'm in Michigan and do light the coop an extra 2 hours after dusk cause they are afraid to go in the dark coop after dusk, lol.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Wyorp Rock - I put a light in the coop to turn on at 5am to give them a 12 hour day, we'll see if that helps anything. The days are officially going to start getting longer now, since the winter solstice has passed! Hopefully their production increases soon, as I use the sale of the eggs to feed them! I also realize that with all the "fixes" I'm doing, I need to give them some time to work it all out.

There is reason to celebrate anyway, I have officially found an EE rooster and a BO rooster that get along and treat my ladies nice! All is right with the world!

Let us know how it works. A lot of people do use supplemental lighting in winter, so hopefully this will get them on track.

I have my first flock. 4 BO pullets 1 silkie cockerel. My favorite pullet, who's also recovering from an injury in the hospital cage in the coop, was the first to lay Monday. They are 5.5 months. She's laid every day for 4 days now. Is this typical? I though BOs laid only 4 a week and that it would be sporadic at first.

Don't get me wrong I'm happy with the egg everyday! Just want to understand more. I'm in Michigan and do light the coop an extra 2 hours after dusk cause they are afraid to go in the dark coop after dusk, lol.

Congrats on the first egg!

She may lay everyday for a while and then get into her "pattern". 4 a week is just an average, this can vary greatly. One of my BO's lays an average of 3 a week, while the other lays and average of 5 a week.

 

[BruceBanner]

This is my first batch of chickens! Out of 18 eggs I had 9 chickens--2 of which are roos! One of my rooster is a Lemon Cuckoo Orpington and the rest are just buffs...this is a pic of him this summer at a smaller size...

When will they start laying??? My girls are 6 months old and no eggs...

 

[robyn8]

Mine were hatched July 10. One started laying last Monday and has laid everyday since even in spite of an injury. A second just started laying today! We're in MI so it's been pretty cold. We do use supplemental light in the coop for 2 hours after dusk. Hope yours lay soon!

 

[henmania]

This is my first batch of chickens! Out of 18 eggs I had 9 chickens--2 of which are roos! One of my rooster is a Lemon Cuckoo Orpington and the rest are just buffs...this is a pic of him this summer at a smaller size... When will they start laying??? My girls are 6 months old and no eggs...

they look great . Mine are way over 6-8 months and still not one egg. The lack of sun in London combined with freezing weather makes for no eggs Provided you have a lot of sun and sufficient diet I guess they'll lay when they need to.

 

[Foristers]

"

Adam went out this morning to give the hens a bowl of corn and cranberries."

Ha! I give my BO's cranberries also! They love them.

 

[Foristers]

I had a big "weigh-in" for my flock on Saturday (New Year's Eve) and I think that some of my hens are a little puny.
Tell me what you think. Again these were all hatched at the same time - week of July 18th so they are now 23.5 weeks old at
weigh-in. Listed in decreasing order by weight.

Rooster 1 - (Aragorn) - 6lbs. 1oz.
Rooster 2 - 5lbs. 1oz.
Hen 1 - (Arwen) - 4 lbs. 0oz.
Hen 2 - 3 lbs. 9 oz.
Hen 3 - (Agnus) = 3 lbs. 6 oz.
Hen 4 - (Acorn) - 3 lbs. 4 oz.
Hen 5 - 3 lbs. 4 oz.
Hen 6 - 3 lbs. 2 oz.
Hen 7 - 2 lbs. 9 oz.

The males seem about as I expected them to be but the females are a bit smaller than I expected - even at this age. I need some seed back if any one else has weighed their chickens.
Thanks