*Buff Orpington Thread!*

[ButchGood]

I can testify; the Buff Orpington is a fantastic breed by my experience. My hatchery hens are impervious to weather, don't fly, eat ANYTHING, great foragers, gentle (unless they think they can eat it of course) and have proven to be phenomenal egg layers. I had 14 when they started laying at six months old in December. 47 eggs. January; 274. In March a Fisher cat ate one leaving 13, and I had a change of roosters which threw them for a bit, I still got 288. Then 5 of them went broody. The others are giving me 6 or 8 eggs a day. Right now I have one broody sitting on 7 eggs. She sits tight! So far so great. My current rooster is a dark Cornish so I am growing those out for the table. I plan to set my other 4 on eggs in the next week or two, either my own for meat or my friend's multitude - her incubators are stuffed full of a bunch of birds.

But... the Orpington is supposed to be a dual purpose bird. I want my breeding to be working (back) towards this. The issue I have with my hatchery birds is they have no meat on their frames, and only like 3 of them have good bones. But these 3 also have good color (and are now broody). My friend gave me 7 chicks from some hatching eggs she got from show lines (forget from where, need to check my email...). I will try to post some pics of them, EXCELLENT little frames on like 5 of them, absolutely huge feet and legs. Their little hard feathers have good color. Super calm, inquisitive temperment also. And 1 is a little cockerel! So... Using him, my 3 best hatchery hens and hopefully in the next batch of hatching eggs to arrive a cockerel and some pullets from a line being bred with the focus on meat... I'm hoping to wind up (someday...) with some very nice, truly dual purpose, excellent backyard chickens, that also meet the standard for the lovely Buff Orpington.

Right now I have all hatchery birds. At 9 weeks, maybe 10 weeks they seem pretty meaty to me. All but 2 or 3 birds are big with big feet and legs. I also am going to cull and breed to eventually have some very nice dual purpose birds.Right now It looks like I got pretty lucky and am off to a good start.

 

[ladyjey]

Good luck! I started with hatchery birds also, only 3 or 4 of them have good structure (1 is really great looking SOP wise) but still not much meat, the rest are super skinny yet excellent layers. But a friend of mine has gifted me with Orpington hatching eggs for my birthday. I now have 5 pullets and a cockerel hatched out from supposedly show lines and they do look fantastic; from the time they were little chicks they had great bodies and nice sturdy legs, we shall see how they grow out... She said she is getting more eggs from someone who has been breeding specifically for meat production. I am hoping between the 3 lines I can wind up with some superior birds. I do like it that 5 ofImy hatchery hens went broody, my current roo is a dark cornish (JERK!) and I've been using the hens to hatch out crosses for the table. interesting that the Orp genes seem to be dominant (so far). Can't wait till my little Orp roo grows up though! (and so I can get rid of that nasty Cornish!)

My little Orp boy:


And with some of his sisters:


Just for curiosity, here are Dark Cornish/Orp cross chicks:

 

[ladyjey]

I have read that you should never cull hens due to black speckling in the tail. The ideal color is supposedly "the same shade of gold as a polished gold watch". And those with the freckles are carrying genes for that great deep golden color. Not sure about roos but I've read that about the hens...

 

[SilverDuck284]

I have some questions about my buff orpingtons on this thread: https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/666628/2-week-old-bos-can-they-be-feather-sexed#post_9002231

I don't mean to be a pest, but I was hoping some of the BO fans here could help me out.

These are my first chickens. So far I am loving them. They're so friendly and have warmed up to me very quickly!

 

[Rock Home Isle]

Some of my buffs

They will be a year old next month.

This is one of the coolest photos of a Buff Orpington Rooster that I have ever seen.

 

[NormansGal44]

Hi, I've been wanting a Buff Orph for a year now (since I bought my other chickens) for their calm dispositions (I have small kids). I picked one up from a breeder last week and was wondering if anyone could help me figure out if it's a he or a she. It is almost completely feathered out but I do not know its age. I already have a roo and sadly cannot keep another one (sigh). Can anyone give me advice? https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/671683/buff-orphington-who-am-i

Thanks! I LOVE seeing all the pics of your chickens. I never realized they were so pretty until I held our chick and appreciated the richness of its coloring!

 

[Rock Home Isle]

I looked at your photos and it could very well be a Roo.

Here's my Roo when he just feathered out...




....and here he is just last week.

 

[PetesMom]

I LOVE my buff orp! I think she is a hen lol Her name is Penny.





Stop taking pictures....let's go for a ride

 

[JillS]

Penny is very nice. She seems to want to learn to drive.If you do decide to let her drive she needs the driver's safty class. Otherwise I bet your insurance rates will go up.

 

[PetesMom]

Penny is very nice. She seems to want to learn to drive.If you do decide to let her drive she needs the driver's safty class. Otherwise I bet your insurance rates will go up.

Here are some more pics

Kisses for the poochy






As you can tell she's quite the social bug! I've never in my life had a chicken as friendly as she is. They all normally run away lol I can just walk right up to her and pick her up, no fuss! She's about 3 months old. Will she get bigger then what she is?