Gold Laced Orpington- For Learning and Sharing

[melina90]

Just looked through this thread, and MY GOD what a beautiful collection of birds you guys have! I don't think there's a single GLO here in Norway so for now I'll just have to admire them through your posts

 

[aveca]

Welcome to BYC!

They really are beautiful birds, a living artwork

 

[deek]

Welcome! I hope you will find this thread a place to enjoy pictures from breeders all across our country.

 

[delisha]

Deek,
You can pack up those bottom three chicks and send them here...please..

 

[deek]

Deek,
You can pack up those bottom three chicks and send them here...please..

I'm afraid those three are probably all cockerels! The bottom left is the one that spent time in my shirt! Looks like I'll have plenty from which to choose. Hopefully I'll be the only one hatching all the boys and when you get yours you'll get too many girls! Would be a nice problem.

Not sure if everyone realizes that at about 2-3 weeks of age their eyes are an emerald green! I just love their eyes then. Eventually they change once more to the adult color, but I sure love those baby greens.

 

[aveca]

Dee, I know you make mental notes of everything going on, but do you make a journal/ or record book..with entries like cinnamon tend to feather out in this way , the others have this feather trait ect. or record any anomolys ?...This is so interesting to follow

 

[thedragonlady]

Dee, I know you make mental notes of everything going on, but do you make a journal/ or record book..with entries like cinnamon tend to feather out in this way , the others have this feather trait ect. or record any anomolys ?...This is so interesting to follow

Knowing Dee, I think it safe to say that she has a stack of notes thicker than the Manhatten phone directory already !

 

[deek]

Dee, I know you make mental notes of everything going on, but do you make a journal/ or record book..with entries like cinnamon tend to feather out in this way , the others have this feather trait ect. or record any anomolys ?...This is so interesting to follow

I sure do! I weighed the first generation every week to two weeks so that I could have a baseline of weight for future generations. Learned a lot with that information actually. For instance, my four largest chicks at age 4 wks continued to be the largest until breeding age. With the exception- Baby. I can also see that with this generation the chicks are bigger. Not at hatch, but as they are growing. I also have a photographic journal so that I can compare color/lacing/type at different ages. The written journal also has when I wormed, if I tried something new (yogurt, new feed, fresh mealworms) - what and when. What I did to keep them hydrated during our horrible summer... blah, blah, blah.

What I'm trying to learn with this generation is what, if anything, does down coloring indicate. With the cinnamon chicks I have no data since the first generation I had just gold heads. So it will be interesting. I think I will see less shafting with the cinnamon chicks. Time will tell.

I didn't know anything about the first generation's parent stock. When I had narrowed down to the top three male breeders (I only had four females so no culling there) I took one to an Avian Vet and had her run all the general tests so that I could get an idea of overall health. The CBC showed me that my feeding regimen was A-OK because they were absolutely healthy. Another words no deficiencies in absorbing what they needed from their food. And the feed that I had chosen was also a good choice. She ran a fecal, which I now run myself since I've purchased a microscope, and they had an amazingly low worm load. This meant that the sand in their run was doing what I wanted and the worming schedule that they were on was all that I needed.

But, I also did something that's probably not all that popular. I sacrificed one, of the ones not being bred of course, and had the NPIP do a complete necropsy. It took several weeks but it led me to more information. After the Vet visit and the necropsy results I exhaled and knew I could continue with my breeding plans. Sounds totally overboard and probably is, I know. But this is the same thing I did when I first started breeding Old English Sheepdogs.

With chickens anyone can claim anything, I guess. I just needed to know what I had in my backyard and devise a breeding plan/ management regimen for the future. Later, if someone has one of my birds they can learn from the history that I've gathered. It's all for fun in my backyard. I love learning. Which leads me to the next challenge. I've signed up for the Biology of Birds class given online at Cornell. I've answered so much of my own questions just by pre-reading the text before the class begins. The Cornell staff will earn their money by the time the course is over!

But, out of all the things that I have done, the most valuable has been following the advice that I continually receive from DragonLady, Nellie, and you Aveca. You can only learn so much from observation and from what you read. An experienced breeder will trump most information.

So here I am. Hoping to get others interested in this beautiful variety. Willing to share anything that I've learned. (My what-not-to-do is the funniest) And, most importantly trying to learn from all of you when you share information.

Long winded answer. It's raining cats and dogs and I can't go out and work on my future heirloom vegetable garden.

 

[deek]

Knowing Dee, I think it safe to say that she has a stack of notes thicker than the Manhatten phone directory already !

You wrote this faster than I could type. Only a few people knew how obsessive I was about my babies. Now everyone knows.

 

[aveca]

I Would think you would need to for reference and at a certian point might need to look back to see what the weights were , ..that cinnamon is interesting..Did they come out of yours? remember you talking about ti a while ago, But I think I was busy at that time. I went back to look it up but couldnt find that info..