Calling All Orpington Gurus!!

[CrazyClucks]

Thanks for the invite to the debate. My vote is Orpington all the way! Cochins are cute but I don't care for furry feet. My orps are round like big basketballs with a head & feet. I got @homeschoolin momma addicted to them as well.

I also have one bantam version. My little Cookie is the best mama. When broody, she will adopt everything that peeps. She has raised most of my very large orps, many misc bantams, turkeys, ducks, and even some quail from time to time. She once went broody about 5 days before my incubator was due. I slipped one egg under her and then slipped new chicks under her as they hatched. I think there were about 25 chicks in this pic. Cookie thought she was 'SuperHen' 1 egg + 5 days = 25 chicks. Thankfully she can't count.
View attachment 2405712
As far as color patterns..... Have you thought about laced or penciled? (Just 'cause I think they're pretty.) This is Crystal and Mr. Wonderful.
View attachment 2405702

BUT
For more practical reasons, I would suggest adding a double barred rooster so you could make a wide variety of new color combos. If you saved some of his barred females, you could breed them to a solid roo for sexlinked chicks.





I agree!
@ColtHandorf has some lav laced.....

oh my lortttt. You have some GORGEOUS Orps!! And I love your little cookie LOL!! I have bantam calico Cochins that I am VERY proud of! They are my sweet little angels (minus the fact that the littlest roo found his “crow” the other day so now he’s learning to nip and mount so my poor knuckle fell prey to his test run on nipping and mounting ) but I am super interested is laced orps!! I’ve been battling for the longest whether to get silver laced or gold laced! I’m thinking now that the silver laced would work best for what I’m trying to achieve

https://share.icloud.com/photos/0Mjft7j5B1mIxCH2XEEAYGOFA#Home

excuse the sassy silkie she’s having a bad hair day obviously

 

[Faraday40]

My orps are normally very round. BUT When a big 10lb hen goes broody - LOOK OUT!

This is Jewel. She's a good mama AFTER the chicks have hatched. Because of her size, she may accidently break some eggs. We solved the problem by letting her sit on rocks then give her some 1-2 days old chicks when they're ready.

Normal Jewel:


Broody Jewel: (looks like she swallowed a helium balloon)



Our roosters are also BIG. Here was our beloved boy. He was cuddly for the kids, never bothered by pets, always alert for predators, and gentle with his hens. He never ate treats for himself. It all went to his hens.


Here's a pullet.


Blizzard: Blue silver laced project.

 

[CrazyClucks]

My orps are normally very round. BUT When a big 10lb hen goes broody - LOOK OUT!

This is Jewel. She's a good mama AFTER the chicks have hatched. Because of her size, she may accidently break some eggs. We solved the problem by letting her sit on rocks then give her some 1-2 days old chicks when they're ready.

Normal Jewel:
View attachment 2405789

Broody Jewel: (looks like she swallowed a helium balloon)
View attachment 2405787


Our roosters are also BIG. Here was our beloved boy. He was cuddly for the kids, never bothered by pets, always alert for predators, and gentle with his hens. He never ate treats for himself. It all went to his hens.
View attachment 2405840

Here's a pullet.
View attachment 2405841

Blizzard: Blue silver laced project.
View attachment 2405843

I LOVE BLIZZARD!! Goooorgeous!! I’d love to be able to semi reach that!! Good job on all of your orps!! They are so full and well rounded!! Makes my poor blues that are going through a hard molt look like buzzards

 

[Painted Calls]

@The Moonshiner used to have some amazing English Orps. He needs to have some again.

Calico Bantam Cochins are the best.

 

[CrazyClucks]

Your splits from the breeding of Blue, & lavender will be Black, & Blue.
View attachment 2405735Here's what you'll get with your second crossing one lavender split, plus silver laced.View attachment 2405749Some of them will be lavender splits.

Yay!! So maybe my master plan WILL work tehehe (don’t tell my fiancé )

 

[LadiesAndJane]

My orps are normally very round. BUT When a big 10lb hen goes broody - LOOK OUT!

This is Jewel. She's a good mama AFTER the chicks have hatched. Because of her size, she may accidently break some eggs. We solved the problem by letting her sit on rocks then give her some 1-2 days old chicks when they're ready.

Normal Jewel:
View attachment 2405789

Broody Jewel: (looks like she swallowed a helium balloon)
View attachment 2405787


Our roosters are also BIG. Here was our beloved boy. He was cuddly for the kids, never bothered by pets, always alert for predators, and gentle with his hens. He never ate treats for himself. It all went to his hens.
View attachment 2405840

Here's a pullet.
View attachment 2405841

Blizzard: Blue silver laced project.
View attachment 2405843

I love broody Jewel. She looks amazing all puffed up like that!

 

[Faraday40]

oh my lortttt. You have some GORGEOUS Orps!! And I love your little cookie LOL!! I have bantam calico Cochins that I am VERY proud of! They are my sweet little angels (minus the fact that the littlest roo found his “crow” the other day so now he’s learning to nip and mount so my poor knuckle fell prey to his test run on nipping and mounting ) but I am super interested is laced orps!! I’ve been battling for the longest whether to get silver laced or gold laced! I’m thinking now that the silver laced would work best for what I’m trying to achieve

https://share.icloud.com/photos/0Mjft7j5B1mIxCH2XEEAYGOFA#Home

excuse the sassy silkie she’s having a bad hair day obviously

Your silkie is so funny! She's just making sure she gets her fair share of treats!

Cookie is actually a bantam orp from English bloodlines. She was the only one that hatched and at the time I was told not to mix bantams and LF. Well, Cookie's nickname was the "Bantam Menace" because she could run under & between the legs of the big girls, steal the best treats and retreat before the slow moving orps could do anything. She didn't seem to realize that her size was different. THEN she went broody. Her nickname when broody = "Cookie Monster." No other chicken, including the rooster, will get in Cookie's way. In the last 6 years, she has hatched most of my current flock, so she has earned the place of flock matriarch. She looks sort of big due to the loose feathering. When picked up, you can feel just how light she is.

 

[CrazyClucks]

Your silkie is so funny! She's just making sure she gets her fair share of treats!

Cookie is actually a bantam orp from English bloodlines. She was the only one that hatched and at the time I was told not to mix bantams and LF. Well, Cookie's nickname was the "Bantam Menace" because she could run under & between the legs of the big girls, steal the best treats and retreat before the slow moving orps could do anything. She didn't seem to realize that her size was different. THEN she went broody. Her nickname when broody = "Cookie Monster." No other chicken, including the rooster, will get in Cookie's way. In the last 6 years, she has hatched most of my current flock, so she has earned the place of flock matriarch. She looks sort of big due to the loose feathering. When picked up, you can feel just how light she is.
View attachment 2405857View attachment 2405858
View attachment 2405859

She is a precious little thing her eyes are stunning as well as her feathers! I love that tealy blue sheen that the feathers shine! Weird question and TOTALLY off topic but I’ve noticed that one of my blue hens has the exact same eye color as Cookie but all my other blues have dark brown or even almost totally black look to the whole eye! I’ve always wondered if there is a standard to eye color when breeding them or if the darker eyes are more/less wanted in them? I’ve asked several people I know about eye coloring and haven’t found a reasoning! I’m sure it’s mostly due to genetics and the breeding background but I didn’t know if one was ranked higher or lower in the quality of breeding scale lol if that makes ANY sense at all lol! Do you have an idea?

 

[The Happster]

Happy is definitely an orp guru. I don't know how much experience (he? HAPPY WHY WON"T YOU TELL ME YOUR PRONOUNS) has with the fancy breeding though. there's kinda a thing going on where a bunch of us think that cochins are superior and a bunch think that orps are superior so we're having a friendly debate.

Friendly debate? Friendly?

I have no experience with breeding. My birds are all pets, and if I was to breed I would probably have to deal with the cockerels. Which I'm not willing to do.

@homeschoolin momma I'm looking at (and drooling over) your orps... and they seem to have black feet? I thought orps had white?

Slate shanks...should still have white skin.

@The Moonshiner used to have some amazing English Orps. He needs to have some again.

Calico Bantam Cochins are the best.

I was about to love that comment until I saw the second part.

 

[The Happster]

My first and best Orpington cockerel was pretty puffy. I got him roughly eight years ago.

He was a nice boy. The expression on his face indicated that he was perpetually drunk on peach juice.