Lavender Orpington Breeder/Hatchery Recommendation?

[WVBirdsAndBees]

Hi all!

We're looking add a lavender orpington roo or 2 to our flock to breed with several of our lavender hens. Not necessarily looking to show them but I'm also mindful of orpington standards.

Does anyone have experience getting this breed from a breeder/hatchery that they would share? Or any that they'd recommend?

We've used Meyer and Cackle in the past. Our girls from Meyer are nice for hatchery stock but I'm open to options. We keep a mixed flock of 20-30 hens but this will be our only roo (or 2) so I wanted to ask around.

Thanks in advance!

 

[WVBirdsAndBees]

Thank you both! We've really enjoyed this group. We love our older australorps and leghorns but the variety and personalities in this set have made them special.

With it getting down to 32 tonight, I did end up bringing them in the basement. But they will be out full time in the next few days.

Now to place an order for more orpingtons. Plus those RIBs and a cream legbar friend or 2 for that lone crested pullet (other than our olive egger's cute tiny crest that barely qualifies).

Here are a few more photos for anyone interested, including the crests I regularly get a chuckle out of. Very curious to see how the orpingtons fill out. The buff already dwarfs the other orps, which I guess is somewhat typical for hatchery stock.

 

[joydix]

Hi all!

We're looking add a lavender orpington roo or 2 to our flock to breed with several of our lavender hens. Not necessarily looking to show them but I'm also mindful of orpington standards.

Does anyone have experience getting this breed from a breeder/hatchery that they would share? Or any that they'd recommend?

We've used Meyer and Cackle in the past. Our girls from Meyer are nice for hatchery stock but I'm open to options. We keep a mixed flock of 20-30 hens but this will be our only roo (or 2) so I wanted to ask around.

Thanks in advance!

Pretty sure papas poultry in ca. I had gotten silkies there and super happy with quality. They are small hatchery so I feel like they take good care. Check them out

 

[RobertaD1]

Mt Healthy Hatchery outside Cincy... thats where we got our lavender orps
https://www.mthealthy.com/

 

[RobertaD1]

They are awesome! I get most of my birds from Mt. Healthy. Meyers is 2 hours away, and I'm not much of a "mail me the chicks" kind of a girl.I just live too close to 2 different hatcheries... I can be at Mt Healthy in just under an hour. The staff is awesome and very helpful, and the Birds are good growers! They are worth a try. I've not ever been disappointed.

 

[RobertaD1]

Now... this is my first group of Lavender's mind you.... they are 9 weeks old and look amazing!

 

[RobertaD1]

Have gotten their buff brahmas and orps as well.... nice big healthy birds! Good layers!
They seem to have really good stock! Or at least they have done well for me
We haven't kept many hens until this spring... lots and lots of time on my hands with the lockdown...LOL
Our coop is so big.... that chicken math doesn't even come into play yet! LOL. We branched out this year to get their Barred rocks, Rhode Island Blues, Black Jersey Giants, golden comets, and the lavenders. Going back next week for MORE!!! Barnevelders, Ameraucanas, and silver laced wyandottes.

 

[WVBirdsAndBees]

Heck yea! Great time to expand the flock!

That was our thought too so we just finished building our second coop. We had good luck a few months ago on a Meyer rare assortment with 3 lavender orps, a cream legbar, an olive egger, a welsummer and a couple EEs when all of this quarantine stuff was starting. That was what got the orpington thing going. Before that we got australorps and leghorns, mainly for eggs. But my wife wanted "pretty" and "sweet" chickens. The orpingtons are both.

Sounds like a fun group you have now and good luck with your new additions next week. Definitely appreciate your help. Those rhode island blues are beautiful. Barnevelders look like really great birds too and we ordered a couple Wyandottes from Meyer with our assortment. Our bossy round GLW is head hen and has personality for days.

Looks like we won't be far behind you. We've been looking at options and contemplating the barnevelders and chocolate orpingtons as possible additions to our laying flock, separate from the lavenders we'd like to breed. Decisions, decisions.

 

[RobertaD1]

The Rhode Island Blues are turning into my favorites! Right now they are a bit darker than I thought... but GORGEOUS! My favorite bird is the RIB's that I named Stella, and even now, as young as she is, she lays on my feet, and follows me around. She is a bit spoiled... but totally worth it! I thought I had a picture of her... but I'll get one in the morning... at least a better one.

Those Chocolate Orps are beautiful! I was going to get those, but they didnt sex them.... cant do that right now with my daughter. We had a buff orp rooster that scared her to death. So we thought we should wait until she ages up a bit and becomes less afraid in general. Hopefully, this batch will get her used to being around them more since she's right in there doing the chores.

Mt. Healthy doesn't have as many different varieties at Meyer.... and they are smaller, but have good birds and their prices are great! We ordered 12 with the last batch, and they sent us home with 13! BONUS

 

[RobertaD1]

This is Stella....Lol... hard to get a picture because shes ALWAYS underfoot as well as being very active this morning. They were running from one end of the coop to the other. The "teenagers" have the front half of our open air coop to themselves and they certainly make use of the space. Its 9x20 of racetrack. We are fortunate in that the farms original coop is still here and once upon a time.... they built them BIG!
---The picture didn't look blurry on my phone....LOL.... guess this one is an action shot as well! She just wouldn't stand still... LOL
-----OH YEAH... there goes a lavender now...LOL upper left hand corner! It was like NASCAR this morning!