Lavender Orpington project ....

[HallFamilyFarm]

Currently, there is no such thing as a show quality Lavender Orpington. They are still a project bird. Ours are Splits and are producing some very good quality Self Blue chicks. PM me if we can help your son. (We are a sucker for kids).

If the chicks look buff, then they are most likely a cross with buffs. Several on eBay have been listing this. Though we do list on eBay, it is always best to buy from a breeder you know and trust. Our chicks hatch out Black, Black split to Self Blue, and Self Blue. If they sold you "Lavender" then they should be hatching out 100% Self Blue.

 

[cukooformarans]

If the lavender line carries the mottled gene they could be mottled though. You should know for sure soon (when they start feathering out and after about 3 weeks when they should have their true leg color.

 

[cukooformarans]

Do you mind me asking where you are?

Also, in my personal experience, the marans chicks do seem to be hardier. I have attributed it to the fact that the marans are bigger. I am sure others would disagree with me but that is based on my personal experience with both. I still really enjoy the lavenders, though.

 

[HallFamilyFarm]

Do you mind me asking where you are?

Also, in my personal experience, the marans chicks do seem to be hardier. I have attributed it to the fact that the marans are bigger. I am sure others would disagree with me but that is based on my personal experience with both. I still really enjoy the lavenders, though.

Our Orpingtons are larger than any Marans I have seen.

 

[cukooformarans]

I have seen pictures of your birds and so I don't doubt your statement. However, I have had 2 different lines of lavenders, a blue and some blacks that I ordered from a very reputable breeder and all of them were smaller as chicks and grew more slowly than my wheaten marans. I am sure a lot of it has to do with line, but again the blacks I had were from a very reputable breeder and my lavs originate from 5th generation hinkjc lines. (I purchased eggs from someone who bought their eggs directly from their farm.) They have caught up with, and possibly surpassed the marans now, but they started smaller. I think you have exceptional birds... and that is meant as a compliment...

And since we are on this subject, what is the average weight of you grown blacks and lavenders??

They are on my wish list... especially since the possum got all of my blacks ...

 

[clucking cuties]

As a follow-up to my post, here is the response I received from the ebay seller today:

“When they 1st hatch they have some yellow but turn grey as they begin to feather out, My birds are kept seperate so there is no chance of cross breeding. Unless when the kids collected them the got some mixed. I will be glad to ship you another order at my cost if you like."

Here is the second response today, so I don’t know if the birds really are going to get more lavender color or not at this point?

“I do not have any mottled birds. The picture on the auction are my birds. You see we have 3 foster girs and this is a project I started with them. I keep telling them to make sure they keep the eggs from the different breeds seperate. But every once in a while I get an email from a customer that got a few wrong eggs. I appoligize. I sold all my buffs this week so the only chickens I have left are the Lavenders so there will not be anymore mix ups.”

I am guessing from the second response that the seller thinks it is possible that they are really buffs? Oh well, like I said before, I knew that these were “project birds” and may not breed true, but the seller’s description did make it seem more likely.

The seller did send me eggs, some did hatch, and I do understand that chicken genetics can be somewhat of a less-than-exact science, so I am not really complaining, just trying to figure out if these chicks will express the lavender phenotype or not. My guess at this point is that they will not.

On the plus side, I had a wonderful offer for my son to hatch some stellar Self Blue/Split eggs

and buff Orpington eggs from HallFamilyFarm, a great genetics lesson, and a lesson in how wonderful BYC forum can be.

Just thought I’d mention that there are sure some wonderful people here.

Thanks again, HallFamilyFarm!

 

[HallFamilyFarm]

I have seen pictures of your birds and so I don't doubt your statement. However, I have had 2 different lines of lavenders, a blue and some blacks that I ordered from a very reputable breeder and all of them were smaller as chicks and grew more slowly than my wheaten marans. I am sure a lot of it has to do with line, but again the blacks I had were from a very reputable breeder and my lavs originate from 5th generation hinkjc lines. (I purchased eggs from someone who bought their eggs directly from their farm.) They have caught up with, and possibly surpassed the marans now, but they started smaller. I think you have exceptional birds... and that is meant as a compliment...

And since we are on this subject, what is the average weight of you grown blacks and lavenders??

They are on my wish list... especially since the possum got all of my blacks ...

We have not weighed our birds, but most guess them at 12+ on our males.

Our Self Blues were mated to our pure Cecil Moore Black Orpington hens. Thus our Splits are 50% top line Black Orpingtons. We plan on taking the Lavender/SB this season back to a pure Black Orp male. In the end we are hoping for a 75% Cecil Moore Self Blue Orpington. So far we are happy with the type and size on ours.

As a follow-up to my post, here is the response I received from the ebay seller today:

“When they 1st hatch they have some yellow but turn grey as they begin to feather out, My birds are kept seperate so there is no chance of cross breeding. Unless when the kids collected them the got some mixed. I will be glad to ship you another order at my cost if you like."

Here is the second response today, so I don’t know if the birds really are going to get more lavender color or not at this point?

“I do not have any mottled birds. The picture on the auction are my birds. You see we have 3 foster girs and this is a project I started with them. I keep telling them to make sure they keep the eggs from the different breeds seperate. But every once in a while I get an email from a customer that got a few wrong eggs. I appoligize. I sold all my buffs this week so the only chickens I have left are the Lavenders so there will not be anymore mix ups.”

I am guessing from the second response that the seller thinks it is possible that they are really buffs? Oh well, like I said before, I knew that these were “project birds” and may not breed true, but the seller’s description did make it seem more likely.

The seller did send me eggs, some did hatch, and I do understand that chicken genetics can be somewhat of a less-than-exact science, so I am not really complaining, just trying to figure out if these chicks will express the lavender phenotype or not. My guess at this point is that they will not.

On the plus side, I had a wonderful offer for my son to hatch some stellar Self Blue/Split eggs

and buff Orpington eggs from HallFamilyFarm, a great genetics lesson, and a lesson in how wonderful BYC forum can be.

Just thought I’d mention that there are sure some wonderful people here.

Thanks again, HallFamilyFarm!

You are welcome!

 

[clucking cuties]

Hi cukooformarans,

No, I don't mind you asking my location

I am in Cheyenne Wyoming, the elevation is 6200 feet.

So far we have hatched a few Orphingtons, a few Ameraucanas, and both black and blue copper Marans. Right now (in the bators) I have Orphingtons (blue black and ??lavender??), and some silver Ameraucanas. I am certainly not what anyone would consider experienced in hatching eggs, but in my limited experience so far anyway, the Marans have not only had the best hatch rate at my altitude, but have been the most vigorous, and toughest of any of the chicks thus far. Some literally seem to pop out of the shells and scamper away. They also seem to get on their feet quickly, eat and drink quickly.

I also (today) received some nice Black Copper Marans from Cedar Creek hatchery that the post office took nearly 72 hours to get to me in Wyoming. (When I ordered them I didn’t know if I would be able to hatch any, so now have lots…

) I thought they might all be dead,

but not a single one was dead, they ran around and acted like nothing happened

.

We are super excited about the Orpingtons, though

.

 

[Fancy Feathers]

So glad I found this thread

I took some pictures of some of my chicks today, they're about 8 weeks old.

 

[cukooformarans]

Nice birds there!