Lavender Orpington Thread

[jhhess]

Pretty chickens and such a cute coop!

 

[microchick]

Just when I thought my rooster balancing act was over I was out in the coop today and was watching our 18 week old Lavender Orpington pullet.....no, wait a minute.....no, those can't be.....pause while I gallop about after the bird in question and finally catch it in the coop where it promptly poops on me while I run my fingers through....oh, darn, my eyes weren't deceiving me, those ARE long saddle feathers! When did those grow in? And the hackle feathers.....crap crap crap... too long. And pointy! WHEN DID THEY GET POINTY! And it has't grown into those ginormous feet yet. Hmmmmm little spurs and that wattle and comb have doubled in size in the last week. In fact, the whole bird is huge.

Okay, here we go again......it's probably a rooster. Lily is likely a Larry.

No crowing yet but the roosters are not interested in mounting it and he/she isn't showing interest in the nest boxes. Nor is it showing any interest in the hens. I just rehomed two roosters, Buff O's due to agression. One of our Welsummer boys has bad legs and I feel, probably a short life span because of it so no problem keeping Larry/Lily.

I'm gonna try and get a pic to put up but I don't know whether to laugh or cry at the moment.

 

[WVduckchick]

Just when I thought my rooster balancing act was over I was out in the coop today and was watching our 18 week old Lavender Orpington pullet.....no, wait a minute.....no, those can't be.....pause while I gallop about after the bird in question and finally catch it in the coop where it promptly poops on me while I run my fingers through....oh, darn, my eyes weren't deceiving me, those ARE long saddle feathers! When did those grow in? And the hackle feathers.....crap crap crap... too long.  And pointy! WHEN DID THEY GET POINTY! And it has't grown into those ginormous feet yet. Hmmmmm little spurs and that wattle and comb have doubled in size in the last week. In fact, the whole bird is huge.

Okay, here we go again......it's probably a rooster. Lily is likely a Larry.

No crowing yet but the roosters are not interested in mounting it and he/she isn't showing interest in the nest boxes.  Nor is it showing any interest in the hens.  I just rehomed two roosters, Buff O's due to agression. One of our Welsummer boys has bad legs and I feel, probably a short life span because of it so no problem keeping Larry/Lily.

I'm gonna try and get a pic to put up but I don't know whether to laugh or cry at the moment.

18 weeks? Holy moly! Do you only have the 1 LO? Mine are 21 weeks, and I'm thinking the boys were obvious much more than 3-4 weeks ago, but I have 9 (just got rid of 1 male 2 weeks ago) so I'm sure that makes it easier to tell them apart.

that she's still Lily.

 

[microchick]

Man from your lips to God's ears but I'm not holding my breath. Our two Welsummer roos and one Buff O roo are 24 weeks. Crowed at 16 and the Buff O hens started laying at 19-20 weeks. Lily/Larry was supposed to be a pullet but I have to admit that the last few weeks have been up in the air as he/she has been going through a light molt. I started noticing the saddle feathers on kind of a glance by telling myself 'hmmmm' But today was the first time I really got close enough to check them out. This bird is our shyist and most skittish of our flock, never gets too close to us unless we are handing out treats and even then, not too close, just snatch and run sort of socializing. We got her/him when the main flock was about 12 weeks old and she was about 8. Always had humongus feet and legs but everyone who looked at her/him, said that she/he was just a 'big girl'. Now keep in mind that my batting average in getting sexed birds that are the 'right' gender is pretty sorry right now.

Here is our girl....er....boy....we think.

 

[microchick]

Sorry, I forgot to answer your question about this being our only LO.

He (we think it is a he now) is our only LO. We have a Buff O cockerel (who kept us guessing till he crowed also) and 7 Buff O hens. The LO hackle and saddle feathers matches the feathering on our Buff rooster exactly.

I wanted a LO chicken to add to our flock. I wanted a hen but oh well. At least we have a LO. This bird has the most amazing looking blue feet and legs. They are almost reptillian looking and very vivid coloring. I love to draw and paint. I'm dying to use this bird's feet as the subject of a piece of art.

 

[robgray]

18 weeks? Holy moly! Do you only have the 1 LO? Mine are 21 weeks, and I'm thinking the boys were obvious much more than 3-4 weeks ago, but I have 9 (just got rid of 1 male 2 weeks ago) so I'm sure that makes it easier to tell them apart.

that she's still Lily.

Ouch! I hate it when that happens! He does have nice slate legs and feathering color

 

[microchick]

So I'm trying to get my head wrapped around this lavender gene thing.

If our boy mates with (hope he can charm a few of the girls away from his Buff counterpart) our Buff girls and hopefully one goes broody for us next spring, the chicks he sires will be black or a split with some black and others black/buff?

Is there anything that I can read that will define the genetics of the Lavenders? I found genetics a favorite subject of mine in my nursing school days.

Unfortunately, none of it had to do with chickens.

 

[WVduckchick]

So I'm trying to get my head wrapped around this lavender gene thing.

If our boy mates with (hope he can charm a few of the girls away from his Buff counterpart) our Buff girls and hopefully one goes broody for us next spring, the chicks he sires will be black or a split with some black and others black/buff?

Is there anything that I can read that will define the genetics of the Lavenders? I found genetics a favorite subject of mine in my nursing school days.

Unfortunately, none of it had to do with chickens.

I see what you mean with the pointy feathers... yep, he's looking like a boy. Very pretty though! Nice coloring. And I've thought the same thing about their legs! The reptile look is awesome on these birds.
I'm of the scientific brain, but chicken genetics is soooooo confusing. I understand the lavender color, but mixing is confusing to me. If you search for color genetics, or punnet squares, you can find tons of threads about colors, and other genes. There are even apps for what you get with crosses. So hopefully someone can answer your question, or you can find it somewhere else here.

 

[Faraday40]

So I'm trying to get my head wrapped around this lavender gene thing.

If our boy mates with (hope he can charm a few of the girls away from his Buff counterpart) our Buff girls and hopefully one goes broody for us next spring, the chicks he sires will be black or a split with some black and others black/buff?

Is there anything that I can read that will define the genetics of the Lavenders? I found genetics a favorite subject of mine in my nursing school days.

Unfortunately, none of it had to do with chickens.

Our LO roo mated with the whole flock. We donated some eggs to schools & got pics of what hatched. Our daughter also hatched some for her science project. Here's what we saw.


LO Roo
+ lav orp hen = lav chicks
+ Coro sussex hen = lav chicks
+ other breeds = mostly black chicks (sometimes a little brown, yellow, or white depending on the hen)
+ barred hen = sexlinked black chicks. Males had white dots on heads

The lav only shows up if both parents carry the genes. Offspring must get 2 copies in order to show lav. Otherwise they'll look black & carry the recessive lav gene.

 

[microchick]

Thanks. I'll do a search and see what I can come up with. This boy had HUGE legs and feet from the start but the feathering was pullet like until his recent molt. Our dominate Buff O rooster was the same as he grew up. He feathered out with the pullets, grew in a pullet like tail but he had these large, thick legs and feet that kept us guessing until his saddle feathers, comb and wattles developed like the LO's has done. That cockerel was supposed to be a pullet also. The two BO that were sexed as males as day olds, feathered out as males, except they were rumpless at 22 weeks when I rehomed them due to one showing signs of human aggression and the other aggression towards the other roos to the point that they ganged up on one of the Welsummers and damaged his hock on one leg. At 24 weeks the remaining BO is the flock master and in general a wonderful boy to have around. I'm hoping the LO developes and matures the same way.