*Buff Orpington Thread!*

[mcclucker]

My buffs were mid-June hatch and laid at 24 and 27 weeks. The BO I thought would be first to lay because her comb grew and reddened before anyone else's (at like 18 weeks) was the last out of 5 pullets of different breeds. 27 weeks, right before Christmas finally. Go figure.

 

[kaiser]

i absolutely love my Buff's. my Roo is also a buff and such a cool bird.
definitely my favorites out of all my birds.

 

[10AcreChick]

Quick question. I have just changed my RIR flock out completely this past summer and now have 8 Buff Orpingtons and 6 Easter Eggers, all of which are about 9 to 10 months old now. They pretty much stopped laying in October, just about six weeks after they started. Barring all other reasons (which I am still looking into, ie., gave them Ivermectin, poultry dust in their dust bathing area, got rid of extra roosters), is it a possibility that I happened to choose two breeds that just don't lay well (are at all) in the wintertime? It seems that the EEs have stopped laying altogether and one egg a day from the Buffs.

I haven't read this thread completely, so perhaps it's been discussed already. Thanks!

 

[oldhen2345]

My BO ( my only one, Alberta) laid an egg a day all winter last year. Most of my girls did. I don't light the coop. I just gave them warm - not hot-oatmeal or rice in the mornings. an old farm lady told me to do this and it worked last year. This year, Alberta is molting or something- no eggs for about 2 months now. Hopefully she will do better in the spring. She was hatched a year ago, this past April, so she should still be good. the other breeds- including the EE, has not laid an egg yet- in spite of being about 30 wks old. Hope the warmer weather in the spring increases the egg production.Please don't blast me for the chicken aprons. A friend paints and she wanted to paint my chickens with colorful aprons on- they came off as soon as she left. No chicken was harmed in the wearing of red tinted aprons.

 

[Foristers]

Old Hen - No blasting from me; I think that the aprons are pretty funny.

10 Acre - Here are some ideas - Did you change their feed in October? Or do they free-range much? If they free ranged, and you got a freeze in October - it may have killed most bugs that they fed on and/or killed some type of vegetation that they fed on (or put some other vegetation in dormancy). If it is the bugs then they probably need some extra protein from some other source. If other vegetation then some other nutrient may have been eliminated.
Also they could be molting.
But most likely they have slowed laying because of the shortened daylight hours.
Buffs are pretty good layers, but are classified most places as a dual-purpose breed, being both good egg layers and good meat producers. They are not egg factories. I know nothing about EE's so.

10 Acre- my question to you - Why did you drop the RIR's in favor of Buff Orpingtons? I have thought they BO's are a superior breed, but I am curious what others think. Thanks.

Kaiser - I love my BO rooster - Aragorn. He's great.

 

[10AcreChick]

Foristers - No change in feed, and there was no hard freeze here in Missouri until at least early December. Mowed grass until Halloween. As far as molting, they are all pullets, so should not molt until next fall. However, I noticed a lot of feathers around, and treated them for scaly leg mites, which had attacked my older Australorp and were starting to move on to the pullets. Also looking into possible poultry lice. Have brought chicks from others' flocks in, so it's a big possibility.

As far as why I switched to BO from RIR, I want to have a flock I can butcher from, and the RIR are just not that big. Thought the BO would be a good choice, supplemented with EE eggs I could tell apart from the BO brown (since they are blue/green usually) so I only incubate the BO for slaughter.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Quick question. I have just changed my RIR flock out completely this past summer and now have 8 Buff Orpingtons and 6 Easter Eggers, all of which are about 9 to 10 months old now. They pretty much stopped laying in October, just about six weeks after they started. Barring all other reasons (which I am still looking into, ie., gave them Ivermectin, poultry dust in their dust bathing area, got rid of extra roosters), is it a possibility that I happened to choose two breeds that just don't lay well (are at all) in the wintertime? It seems that the EEs have stopped laying altogether and one egg a day from the Buffs.

I haven't read this thread completely, so perhaps it's been discussed already. Thanks!

It could be lower light levels causing them to go off laying. I don't have EE's but have heard their production can go way down in winter - not sure if it is true, but....

My BO's began laying in December/January of last year and laid from that point up until recent molting. Give your girls some time to see if they start laying once days start getting a bit longer. Now, I have one girl that lays an average of 3 eggs a week and another that lays 5 eggs a week. They most likely are not the egg producers that you had with the RIR, so you may want to take that into consideration as well.

My BO ( my only one, Alberta) laid an egg a day all winter last year. Most of my girls did. I don't light the coop. I just gave them warm - not hot-oatmeal or rice in the mornings. an old farm lady told me to do this and it worked last year. This year, Alberta is molting or something- no eggs for about 2 months now. Hopefully she will do better in the spring. She was hatched a year ago, this past April, so she should still be good. the other breeds- including the EE, has not laid an egg yet- in spite of being about 30 wks old. Hope the warmer weather in the spring increases the egg production.Please don't blast me for the chicken aprons. A friend paints and she wanted to paint my chickens with colorful aprons on- they came off as soon as she left. No chicken was harmed in the wearing of red tinted aprons.

No blasting for the aprons

My girls wear them all the time. When Charlie was a bit younger.... errr...motivated...he did damage a couple of the girls feathers. I put aprons on all the girls, to help protect the feathers. I know the girls by looking at them, but it makes it easier for my DH to i.d. them if needed. I like the way they look, so will most likely leave them on after everyone has molted.
Here's some new photos of the flock if your interested:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/1146592/byc-member-interview-wyorp-rock#post_17886327

 

[countryladyNH]

"daddy-buff"?!??
Dec. 29, 2016~



Adam went out this morning to give the hens a bowl of corn and cranberries. I looked out the window and immediately started laughing. I grabbed the camera and took a few photos---This was completely unplanned---so random!
---Adam's jacket and red hat made him look like some big old Buff Orpington!


You can see more of our photos here!
http://www.thecountryladyantiques.com

 

[countryladyNH]

LOVE the aprons! I made scarves for our hens for our Christmas gallery photos on our website! One got a little frostbite on her comb during a frigid spell and that was it; we just got 4 knit hats for our 4 buffs for Christmas, and they wear them at night or day and night if it's going to be super-cold!



http://www.thecountryladyantiques.com

 

[10AcreChick]

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!