*Buff Orpington Thread!*

[Wyorp Rock]

Everyone suddenly started squawking, so I ran outside to see what was up.....and there it was, golden lights shining and choir singing (imagined, of course).

 

[csaylorchickens]

My buffs just started laying. Out of the 4 three are laying. One hen has only laid 2 eggs a week but ALL she lays so far has been double yokers! I wonder if it will change abd go to more eggs per week. I'm happy either way just interesting to me. Poor vent

 

[MesMama]

Great to see all of these BO photos! I have a question for those of you who may have experience with this specific determination. I have heard this about a different breed and would like to know if it holds true for Buff Orpingtons. It was suggested that young birds 1-3 weeks old, that you could tell the sexes apart by by looking at the development of tail feathers and wing feathers. It was suggested that tail and wing feathers would develop earlier on females than on males. Does anyone know if this is true? Not only for chickens but for buff orpingtons specifically? Take a look at these photos below: Can you see the difference? I have 7 chicks here. I bought 1 male and 6 females - or so I thought. If the above information is true - and I have no idea - then what I have is 2 males and 5 females. Can you see the difference? All of these chicks are 2.5 weeks old - hatched at the same time. Five of them have developed wing feathers that reach their tails and tail feathers that stick up quite noticeably. Two of them are developing quite differently: they have no tail feathers and their wing feathers are not quite as long. In this next photo I have circled the two that are different. If you are able to help I thank you.

In my experience buff orp males develop feathers more slowly and so the two you have circled are either both males or just randomly slow to develop which can happen too. But if you made me guess I would say they're both male

 

[MesMama]

One of my girls laid her first egg today Her name is Hope and she was squawking up a STORM! My word. It was funny! And my young Wellie roo was copying her LOL
The top 3 eggs are my young girls', top 2 are from a speckled Sussex really quite large for their first eggs! And then Hope laid the little tiny one lol! The other eggs are from my adult buffs.

 

[Foristers]

In my experience buff orp males develop feathers more slowly and so the two you have circled are either both males or just randomly slow to develop which can happen too. But if you made me guess I would say they're both male

Thank you MesMama for letting me know! This had been my intuition as well as something that I had read about another breed - but now I cannot find that source.
These same chickens are now 3.5 weeks old and there are certainly other factors that assist in causing me to believe that I have 2 males - behavior. Even at this early age these two show quite different behavior than the other 5.

But ultimately time will tell and I will be happy to post my findings once the sex has been determined irrefutably.

It would be great to have a way to determine the sex with a fairly high level of accuracy at one week of age - especially for those who are either not good at vent sexing or get a little squeamish doing so.

 

[MesMama]

Thank you MesMama for letting me know! This had been my intuition as well as something that I had read about another breed - but now I cannot find that source.
These same chickens are now 3.5 weeks old and there are certainly other factors that assist in causing me to believe that I have 2 males - behavior. Even at this early age these two show quite different behavior than the other 5.

But ultimately time will tell and I will be happy to post my findings once the sex has been determined irrefutably.

It would be great to have a way to determine the sex with a fairly high level of accuracy  at one week of age - especially for those who are either not good at vent sexing or get a little squeamish doing so.

Sexing can be so difficult. I will say that I saw a video about sexing them early like at a few days old by their wings and I accurately sexed my mom's buff Orps at a couple days old that way. Males have only one row of wind feathers and females have two.

 

[collie1470]

Our 2 girls feathered much faster than the 5 boys.

 

[21lnenne]

. I have four like this and they have white skin. Does it happen or are they crossed

 

[21lnenne]

I have four like this and they have white skin does it happen or could it be a cross

 

[21lnenne]

Four of my buff Orpingtons have black speckling on their necks and have white skin, does this happen or are the crosses