Can you tell me about Brabanters and Orloffs?

[HorseFeathers]

I don't know if this is the right place to post this- if not, mods please feel free to move it- but I was wondering...
We will be letting our broody hatch some eggs this spring. I know another Maine BYCer lives not too far from here and had Brabanter and Russian Orloff eggs. I can't find much on either breed, so could you please tell me about them?
We would like them to lay pretty well, be hardy, and not flighty. I'd like to go into showing (the rest of our birds are hatchery stock) in 4H.

 

[rodriguezpoultry]

I believe fowlafoot is a breeder of Russian Orloffs, but don't take my word on that one...

http://www.freewebs.com/fowlafoot/russianorloffs.htm

That's fowlafoot's website, so I believe it's a safe bet to say she does indeed raise them! lol

 

[fowlafoot]

The Russian Orloffs are critically rare in the United States and I've only found them to exist in the spangled variety, although I've seen other colors in Canada and from friends abroad. The Orloffs are an old breed, they were written about as an established breed in 1774 and called Chlianskaia at the time, later picking up the modern name from Count Orloff-Techesmansky an importer and breeder. Most histories I've read credit the early style chittagong Malay as being one of the primary foundation breeds. They do have a similar overall build and carriage and the chittagong had higher tails than modern Malays. The origin of the softer feathers, muffs and beards are speculated on... I tend to support the idea that they were introduced via the Pavloff a crested, muffled Russian breed with feathered legs. In Genetics of the Fowl a study is mentioned about the recessive feathered legging of the Pavloff which may account for the occassional feather that springs up on Orloff legs even today.
The Orloffs are slow maturing like the Malays. It takes two years for a rooster and 18 months to 2 years for a hen to reach their full size. The pullets begin laying at about 6-8 months old and are generally good layers of medium tinted eggs. They were originally bred to be good winter layers, although they are supposedly good table birds too. They are curious, outgoing and calm making them extremely enjoyable to raise. They have very small combs and their wattles tend to be very small and usually can't be seen through their beards which make them good in cold climates. I've got more history and pictures of my stock here and feel free to ask anything

Orloff Chick

 

[fowlafoot]

I hadn't seen your post before I started this Rodriguezpoultry, thanks for the link... Yes I do indeed raise them, and I've put a lot time into studying and reading about them. Brabanters on the other hand I know that I love the look of but that's as far as my knowledge goes

 

[HorseFeathers]

Oh, thank you for the Orloff Info. That chick is WAY too cute!

 

[fowlafoot]

Yep little fluffballs with big chipmunk cheeks, can't get much cuter

 

[HorseFeathers]

I believe it was banter who had the eggs....

 

[playswithfowl]

I have brabanters also. Love them, one of my girls just started laying consistently laying 2 eggs every three days. However if you are going to get into showing you might want to go with orloffs just because I think they have had more work done with them. Most brabanter breeders in the US have gotten their birds from Ideal originally. But I have got to say I love my brabanters, mine are super friendly.

 

[banter]

Hi everyone!
I hatched my Creme Brabanters from eggs I got from Hand Poultry. Their
stock probably originally came from Ideal, but I am not sure about that.

I hatched my Spangled Russian Orloffs from eggs I got from a couple in Texas. It was a near disaster! I had moved the year before, and Pay Pal had not changed my address by some snafu, and I didn't catch it in time. The eggs were sent to my old address, but luckily I was good friends with our old mailman and he caught the mistake. Twelve days later I got the eggs ALL intact! Four hatched, 2 roos and 2 hens. I gave a roo away and kept a trio. I lost the record of who I bought the eggs from-darn!
I REALLY like their personalities! Very sweet and tame. Not bad to look at either! They are good winter layers.

 

[HorseFeathers]

So banter, which breed do you think would be better for our purposes (showing, eggs, personality)?