*Buff Orpington Thread!*

[chixmaidservice]

Thanx speckledhen, your pic is very helpful. My chicks looked like the one in front of the water, in the foreground. Just a bit of color on the top of head and mostly white body when they were downy. Now, all white since feathering. The legs do not appear to be a different color from the white rocks--yellowish.

 

[speckledhen]

Thanx speckledhen, your pic is very helpful. My chicks looked like the one in front of the water, in the foreground. Just a bit of color on the top of head and mostly white body when they were downy. Now, all white since feathering. The legs do not appear to be a different color from the white rocks--yellowish.

That tiny chick to the right of the waterer is a porcelain D'Anver. So, with your chicks having yellowish legs and a white body, I'm wondering what you ended up with. A picture would help us help you.

Going WAY, way back to my original two Buff Orp hens from Ideal, both long gone now, may their sweet souls rest in peace, here are Sunny and Ginger as youngsters for reference. They are slightly different shades, as their names imply.

Sunny is lighter, the one on the roost pole in the first photo.






Later, you can see they feathered differently. Ginger in first photo, then Sunny in the next.

 

[thedragonlady]

Thanx speckledhen, your pic is very helpful. My chicks looked like the one in front of the water, in the foreground. Just a bit of color on the top of head and mostly white body when they were downy. Now, all white since feathering. The legs do not appear to be a different color from the white rocks--yellowish.

If those babies have yellow legs, they are probably White Rocks.

 

[speckledhen]

If those babies have yellow legs, they are probably White Rocks.

I would guess that she's right about that. I've seen lots of mislabeled chicks at feed stores.

 

[informative]

The girls were all having a dust bath in the feed shed the other day and daisy pecked Bella so Bella moved into the middle of the other girls near one of the bullies. I was expecting the bully to get Bella but she actually didn't. Instead, Bella decided she would get up and grab a hold of the bully girls comb and give it a good pull. The bully girl sprung into action and flapped at Bella, she then started chasing Bella and she ran away screaming haha

I like the use of angled palettes for roosting bars. Nice idea! I always try to remember to come back with a sander and smooth/round off the square edges on the roost boards for their feet because they tend to spend a LOT of time evenings sitting on those bars.

 

[silas1231]

Just got given this rooster for free at a chicken auction yesterday. He's settled straight in:

 

[speckledhen]

silas1231, next time you get a chicken, never put it straight in with your flock. There should be a 30 day to 6 week quarantine period to see if he's a carrier of a disease. He can appear healthy, yet not really be.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/12751/urgent-reminder-please-quarantine-newly-acquired-birds

 

[hensfortherapy]

I was excited this spring when my local farm store offered BO pullets as one of their chick selections. I had heard about their sweet natures and prodigious laying ability and wanted to add a few to my small flock. So I bought 3, as well as a golden comet pullet and 2 straight run white ply. rocks. Initially, the only way to tell the orps from the white rocks was a dot of cream on the tops of their heads. They were all white puffballs except for the comet. Now they are all 4.5 weeks old, first feathers have replaced down, and all are still white (except the comet)? Easy to distinguish the rocks as they are much taller and heavier, but everyone is white. Did the farm store screw up? I hunted around this thread, but did not read it all as it is long (!) and saw pics of similar aged chicks w/ the gorgeous tawny color mine totally lack. Do some orp chicks stay this light colored, or am I gonna be totally ****** at the farm store clerks?

It happens.
I bought two, what I was told were Gold Lace Wyandotte chicks. I never paid too much attention, I figured eventually they would grow to look like Wyandottes. Like a year later someone on BYC told me they are really Brown Leghorns. Well pooh. They are really great egg layers.

 

[Johnn]

silas1231, next time you get a chicken, never put it straight in with your flock. There should be a 30 day to 6 week quarantine period to see if he's a carrier of a disease. He can appear healthy, yet not really be.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/12751/urgent-reminder-please-quarantine-newly-acquired-birds

I never quarantine mine. I know its bad, but I just don't. I only get them from people I trust usually.

 

[speckledhen]

I never quarantine mine. I know its bad, but I just don't. I only get them from people I trust usually.

Trust has nothing to do with it, really. My birds have never had anything contagious-I have healthy birds and I'm honest and I absolutely would not sell chicks or adults if I knew they were carriers, however, what if they've just been exposed to something and have not shown symptoms yet? They go to a new home and develop symptoms there and suddenly, the other flock is exposed to that new disease and I'm accused of selling sick birds. It's just not worth the risk. Though I recommend everyone quarantine birds, even those they get from me, I know many do not. It's always the prudent thing to do, not 100% guaranteed, but the least you can do to keep disease out of your flock.

The person posting just got a free rooster at some auction and knows nothing about where he came from. This was not an informed sale from someone he/she trusts.