Gold Laced Orpington- For Learning and Sharing

[thedragonlady]

Well, you're biased. Truth be told, they are what they are because of you. Can you believe they're almost one?

Nah, I'm just his fairy godmother who wears a forked tail, and makes suggestions in his mom's ear. I can't tell you how much fun I've had watching these guys grow. Now for the next gereration............

 

[deek]

and makes suggestions in his mom's ear.

suggestions...

I just do what I'm TOLD.

 

[delisha]

Quote:

 

[delisha]

Dee.what do they weigh?

 

[deek]

Dee.what do they weigh?

I haven't weighed them in a while. I was going to in May on their hatch day. I can tell you that Max's back is almost as wide as a 5 gal bucket. I'll see if I can find that picture.

 

[deek]

This is in March. He'd lost some weight after being with the girls. He gained it back though. To think I worried about it

 

[delisha]

He is stunning!!!


Speaking of wide loads..(we were talking about birds and NOT me)




I have very large birds. My birds were larger than these birds when they arrived and about 4 days older.

 

[deek]

Vicki, your GL pair is very nice. They are going to be a nice caramel color. Their lacing is super.

Speaking of size...

When the Gold Laced were first imported, at least when I started looking into them, some of the first US breeders mentioned that they weren't as large as their other Orps. I've never had anything but Gold Laced so I didn't know how to compare their size. I thought I had read somewhere on the Greenfire site where they boasted about their Gold Laced cock bird weighing 8 lbs. Even my smaller cockerel outweighed that in a hurry.

I am now watching Nellie's blacks and my GL and they are the same size. So, the fallacy of the GL being smaller is out the window.

My personal preference is for the cock bird not to be exceedingly big unless I had girls that were also. I am waiting to see if my arranged marriages will produce a bigger pullet. So far, Butterball is as big as most of her brothers. She will, in theory, produce bigger chicks and therefore I can work on the pullet's size in time.

I have a juvenile, Marvin, that is going to be bigger than Max. I don't think I will breed him. That's too big. When I've grown them out, I'll let Vickie decide

Someone will want an super sized Gold Laced cockerel.

I'd like to someday show my birds as an effort to promote the variety. I don't want them to exceed the SOP weight. But, there's so much else I need to work on that weight isn't a big concern.

 

[aveca]

I had heard all of those thingss too Dee..this kind is bigger than that kind ect..My standard black is same size as english blue import..I would have to say the biggest bird on this lot is Vickies big buff cockeral..he is a horse...and everyone told me how small those were supposed to be..there is nothing small about that bird..he completly covers a 5 gallon bucket..it dissappears when hes in front of it..Might need 2 buckets

 

[jeremy]

My personal preference is for the cock bird not to be exceedingly big unless I had girls that were also. I am waiting to see if my arranged marriages will produce a bigger pullet. So far, Butterball is as big as most of her brothers. She will, in theory, produce bigger chicks and therefore I can work on the pullet's size in time.

I have a juvenile, Marvin, that is going to be bigger than Max. I don't think I will breed him. That's too big. When I've grown them out, I'll let Vickie decide

Someone will want an super sized Gold Laced cockerel.

I'd like to someday show my birds as an effort to promote the variety. I don't want them to exceed the SOP weight. But, there's so much else I need to work on that weight isn't a big concern.

Why not hold on to him and breed him to Butterball? If she's as large as your males now and Marvin is going to be bigger than your current males why not breed the two together in hopes of pullets as big, if not bigger than Butterball in the future?

I've always been told that size is one of the hardest things to breed- if you have it, don't loose it. It might be good to keep Marvin in the wings so to speak to add some girth to your pullets. Maybe then when you've got pullets with the size you're happy with breed them back to your original males that you like the size of? As far as the SOP weight is concerned I'd rather be a few pounds over rather than under.

Just my two-cents...