*Buff Orpington Thread!*

[Buckbeak01]

Welcome to the Buff thread Buckbeak01.  Have you gotten your Buffs yet?  It caught my eye that you are in NC because my husband and I are looking for property in Western NC.  We love it up there!

Well it's raining cats and dogs here today, so I'm waiting til Friday to get them. Can't wait though I love living in NC. It's a beautiful state.

 

[Peanutsmomma]

Well it's raining cats and dogs here today, so I'm waiting til Friday to get them. Can't wait though I love living in NC. It's a beautiful state.

There is a lot of that raining cats and dogs thing going around! We have been inundated with heavy rains for the past 4 days and from what the forecast says it will be like this through Sunday. Please post some pics of your Buffs when you get them.

 

[holm25]

Nugget was unanimously voted a cockerel already at 4 weeks, and here he is now at 7 weeks. No crowing yet, but I think it is time to start looking for a new home before the kids and I get anymore attached! He is so sweet and acts nothing like how I have heard roosters described so far. He is always the last to eat treats when they are put out and seems to not mind being held. He has never pecked or bitten any of us. His sweetness makes it really hard to think if saying goodbye
So, I thought I would post a few more pics incase anyone with experience sees anything that says I should give him a little more time to prove he is a rooster.

Could u get him a no crow collar??

 

[Americano Blue]

 

[microchick]

Luckily with 29 acres having roosters around isn't a problem. Actually not having chickens sorta made us the oddballs in our neighborhood. So now we have possibly 4 maybe 5 roos. This one tho has been our surprise. He was supposed to be a she but at 4 weeks a bodacious set of wattles and comb appeared. This has always been a big chick, first to feather, first wattles, etc. One thing for sure, Big Red is gonna be a BIG Buff Orpington whether we get eggs or crows out of him or her.

Now I know why people who have chickens have a LOT of chickens. We're always trying to balance out the hen/rooster ratio and failing.

I love our Buffs, tho and am hoping we have one or two that will go broody for us and even out that ratio a bit for us.

 

[pennypenny]

Could u get him a no crow collar??

I
I have never heard of those....I will look it up, but are they cruel? I would hate to turn him mean out of frustration. We are not even supposed to have chickens at all, so a rooster is a definite no-no!

 

[lily cd re]

Look on My Pet Chicken for no crow collar. I have one on a roo right now, but he actually crows through it. It does reduce the volume somewhat. I don't think it is cruel at all. He is still doing all his roostery behaviors with no problem.

 

[BayBay Peepers]

@Peanutsmomma A while back we discussed Eggness going back outside to rejoin her flock and you asked me to keep you updated. Not long after that she passed away. I didn't know how to come back on here to say it, but I've come to terms with it a bit more. A while back we lost a few hens really quickly. I took one that I was tube feeding to the vet and tried antibiotics, but the only diagnosis they could come up with was some kind of genetic defect in the reproductive system. Eggness was hatched from that line before we knew about this issue so it was too late. She showed all the same symptoms and I thought since I saw it earlier than I had in the others she would be alright. I gave her antibiotics and fed/watered her as often as possible. After a few days she passed. Sadly there is no update on reintroduction. (sorry this got so lengthy)

 

[Peanutsmomma]

Oh no! I am so very sorry to hear that sweet Eggness passed away.

Oddly enough, this morning I was wondering about her and thought I would send you a PM to check on her. So she started displaying the same symptoms as your other hens that passed? Would you mind sharing what those symptoms were? The reason I ask is that I have taken our little bantam chocolate pullet to the vet 2x in the past 5 weeks with stroke like symptoms and both times the vet gave her a steroid shot. He told me today that she may have a genetic abnormality that is triggering these little strokes now that she is getting ready to lay. She is so precious, so like you I am tube feeding her and keeping her inside with me hoping she can recover but I may be hoping in vain. Sad.

Again, I am so sorry that you lost your Eggness. She was just so precious.

 

[BayBay Peepers]

I hope your little pullet pulls through.

She just lost interest in food and water completely. The others did the same. I noticed they just didn't show the same interest in anything. Not even their favorite treats. It was like one day she was mowing down and then next, nothing. I fed her for about a week and the last night she was preening. We both thought it was a good sign and she would pull through. I was about to give her the last meal for the night when her eyes went blank. Within a minute or so she was gone.

Other than the loss of interest in food only her poo looked bad. Which made sense since she wasn't taking in proper nutrition. It started to look a little better after a few days (I also was using an antibiotic) but it just wasn't enough. It was very unexpected especially since she spent the entire winter indoors and seemed to be doing so well.