Lavender Orpington Breeder/Hatchery Recommendation?

[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

 

[WVBirdsAndBees]

Really cool to hear about the RIBs. I saw they're a mix of RIR and australorp. Sounds hard to go wrong there for temperament or egg production, plus they're such good looking birds!

I think the chocolates not being sexed will probably keep us away as well. Wouldn't want them to breed with the lavenders and don't need to take a chance on an extra roo. Tempting though. Sorry to hear about the roo scaring your daughter. I know they say orp roosters are supposed to be more laid back than some breeds but you never know with the individual bird. Makes sense to let her build up her confidence with chicks. We don't have anyone younger than my teenage son around but have still avoided roos. Fingers crossed we get one with a good personality.

The selection at Mt Healthy is smaller but still reasonable. I had my wife looking at the website and she wants a couple welsummers. They were out at Meyer our last couple orders. I want a couple more cream legbars because I love their little crests, blue eggs, and personality. Plus 3 female lavender orps and a roo. So we're up to 8. We'll see if that changes after we sleep on it and I tell her about your sweet RIB Stella. Would love to see a photo. Our sweetest is a splash (or very light lavender) orp named Ivy. When everyone else would run to the opposite end of the brooder or ignore us, she'd run towards us for attention.

 

[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!

 

[RobertaD1]

Here is a picture of my "pigs at the feed trough" ....well, some of them, the rest were pulling my pant legs wonder what I had brought them...... the whole bunch from Mt Healthy .... approx. 7 weeks old

 

[WVBirdsAndBees]

Stella is beautiful! Love the dark blue color. Must be happy and healthy girls to be running around enjoying themselves this morning. After hearing about your RIBs and seeing the photos, my wife said forget the Welsummers and get a couple of those lol So they're on the list now.

Also adding a black orp. Nervous that it won't be sexed but I think I could make either work and I read they're good to include when breeding lavenders.

All of the piglets are adorable. The lavenders look beautiful too. Our youngest group is a week or so younger and moving out to the coop this week. I'll have to get some photos of them exploring their new place.

That's awesome to have such a big coop available. We have an 8x10 converted shed with a 12x18 run for our adult layers and the new teenage coop is an elevated 4x16 with a larger run. My wife is already eyeing places for coop #3. Always an adventure!

 

[RobertaD1]

I cant wait to see pictures! They will tell you if they sex the black orps or not.... good luck

Yes, I am now very partial to the RIB's... and I hope you have great luck with them! I know there will be a few more in my future!

Now that coop is old... and BOY, have we put some work into it... from 100 yrs of wear and tear, insect damage from I think 50 or so yrs ago on top of numerous carpenter bees that we still battle... we have worked every summer on it that we have lived here, but you just cant beat the 18 x 20 ft of oak framing and concrete footer. It is a good sound building. Yes, the newer coops are beautiful, and probably dont take an entire day to clean out... but I'm not going to reinvent the wheel! This summer we wash it down, stain and seal it and it will get a new roof Winter came too early for us last year, so we didnt get it sealed... but no major damage happened and we can do that this summer. Shes not much to look at... but, I wouldnt change a thing My girls have a combined.... coop/run of about 620ish square ft... and they love it!

 

[WVBirdsAndBees]

Whew. Yea, may take some work but definitely hard to beat 18x20 with concrete footer and 620 sq ft. Makes for happy girls I'm sure! We wanted concrete but decided to go elevated with wood floors to increase the run space and save a few bucks. Building from scratch has had its own set of challenges but you get more for your money. Carpenter bees are a battle here too. We have some around our old coop and can't figure out how to get rid of them.

We're looking forward to the RIBs and other chicks. Should be putting in the order in the next couple days for pickup in a few weeks.

I'll definitely get pics of our little ones when they go out in their new coop for the first time. If the weather cooperates, the run will be finished tomorrow and that's the last piece. They're 6 weeks and very ready to explore. The weather has just been wild lately. Fingers crossed for Wednesday or Thursday.

 

[RobertaD1]

Sounds like here... warm and sunny one day... cold rainy windy the next...GOOD LUCK!

 

[WVBirdsAndBees]

Finally got them in their new coop today. With it supposed to get cold tonight, not sure if they'll spend the night out there or not. But they sure seem to love it!

This batch has a couple lavender orps, a blue orp, a blue andalusian, a jersey giant, a couple partridge rocks, an EE, a red sexlink, a couple GLWs, a buff orp, a cream legbar and an olive egger. They're a mess.

 

[LadiesAndJane]

Harrisons Fowl Farm in Texas has Lavender Orpingtons, both day old chicks and eggs if you want to hatch them yourself.