Fairy Tail Farms English Orpingtons

[5 Points Wingfeather]

@ColtHandorf , how do your English Orps hold up in the summer? I’m in Mississippi and have some heavy breeds and they do fine but I don’t have anything as fluffy as your English orps.

 

[kurby22]

I love the cuckoos!! Your birds are beautiful

 

[ColtHandorf]

I cannot wait until next spring. I really want to order chicks from you! I love the way your birds are so fluffy and round!

Hopefully, by the spring, I'll be able to get everyone sorted and be able to offer most of the varieties at the same time. Right now, I can't do all the colors or breeds at the same time.

Do you ship to uk

I'm sure I could smuggle some eggs over if I flew in person. lol I need to visit the UK at some point in my life anyway.

Shop til you drop!

Such pretty birds!!!

Thank you! I do have some really nice-looking birds. But then I've got some that need work, like the Bantam Orps.

@ColtHandorf, you have very nice birds and hope your not doing this on your own. Looks like a lot of work.

Thank you! And I'm

.
Nobody helps me with them. I just do what I can and build what I'm able as I can afford it to keep offering quality birds to interested parties.

Everyone loves a fat bottom. Even the Leghorn lovers like @Chookwagn.

@Overo Mare, if you get you know who to take some pictures, I can make a catalog for him too.

 

[ShrekDawg]

They’re so pretty

 

[ColtHandorf]

Man I would love to buy some of your white and your red Orpingtons.

The Reds aren't quite ready for breeding yet. I have a male (Rupert) that's old enough, but he's been waiting almost a year for his child brides to come of age. I've got a four-month-old pullet and a bunch of two-month-olds. So he's got a little longer to wait. Currently, he's chilling with my Black/Mottled/Lavender male (Richard) and the Buff male (Phillip) in the heterosexual life partner pen. Otherwise called the Bachelor Pad. They all get along and are such big sweet boys. The Whites are hit and miss because they are recessive. I had a big group, but I was down to one hen between the 2020 winter (SNOVID) and the local bobcat. My Silver-laced carry White, so I've been breeding her back to that male in hopes he carries the gene. It appears he does, as I've hatched a few White chicks. I also managed to obtain an unrelated Recessive White male who is lovely, but such a weenie. All the girls pick on him. I'm hoping once he's old enough, I can move him and the White girls, and he'll get with the program.

@ColtHandorf , how do your English Orps hold up in the summer? I’m in Mississippi and have some heavy breeds and they do fine but I don’t have anything as fluffy as your English orps.

Interestingly enough, I haven't lost any adults this year to the heat. I've lost some younger birds, a Serama hen and one of the Araucana males. They all decided to go broody when we started hitting a hundred degrees, and I broke them all up. There's no sense in that at all. Fat girls shoved in a nest box, only drinking once a day. No, thank you. I did let the two Buttercup hens set, and they are hatching (but not mothering) their babies.

Most of the Orpingtons are in a barn with a concrete slab on the back half. I've been hosing that down when I water and turning the sprinkler on their yards in the evening for thirty minutes to make the dirt cool for them to get down in. They seem to really like it.

 

[Everose]

Shop til you drop!

I'm so excited to have some fatties, they're gorgeous
I'm loving your splash, laced, red and mottled ones
The calls and geese are tempting as well

Infrastructure first tho

 

[JacinLarkwell]

Most of the Orpingtons are in a barn with a concrete slab on the back half. I've been hosing that down when I water and turning the sprinkler on their yards in the evening for thirty minutes to make the dirt cool for them to get down in. They seem to really like it.

That's a great idea. I might steal that for my next build

 

[ColtHandorf]

That's a great idea. I might steal that for my next build

Here's the build thread for the barn.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/barn-conversion-ideas-for-this-project.1335569/

 

[ColtHandorf]

I'm so excited to have some fatties, they're gorgeous
I'm loving your splash, laced, red and mottled ones
The calls and geese are tempting as well

Infrastructure first tho

Yep. Gotta build the pens before you get the birds. I definitely bought birds before we even officially moved to the house.

 

[Tonyroo]

@ColtHandorf ,

Can orps handle themselves in a aggressive flock that are different breeds? Just curious.