Lemon cuckoo Orpington questions

[wife2abirdman]

So reading this thread I looked and I apparently have 2 Lemon Cuckoo Orpingtons-1 hen & 1 roo and 2 Buff Orpingtons hens. Now on the two buff hens they are much, much larger and darker than the barred hen, but she also has a much smaller comb so was thinking maybe she was a little younger than the other two. The woman who sold them thought they were hatched in April. What do you think?

I put this on the English Orpington thread.-
I love my chickens and so have a lot of them. I have waaaay too many just for my own families consumption of eggs so I started thinking that I can get them to start to "work" for me. BUT I did not want to just crank out farm mixes, even though they are my pets. I wanted to make sure they were decent lines and decent quality. I really was only going to stick with my three little side flocks I got from a breeder but then I saw a small flock of beautiful lemon cuckoo Orpingtons for sale near me and I fell in love. I figured they had to be decent quality because how many people have those right?! My issue is I have no idea about Orpingtons as I am more into Cochins and I discovered when I went to pick these birds up that two of the hens have missing toenails, and immediately my heart sank. One has one missing toenail and another has two missing (middle toes) toenails and the third has all her toenails, so she is good(on that anyway). Is this a serious issue? Can I breed and then sell the chicks/eggs without feeling like I jipped someone? I read somewhere on another breed it is only points off in a show not a DQ, so what does that mean for me? Is this a non issue? I am not going to show and people that do show will probably not buy from me but still what about quality? I really don't want to put out crappy chicks just for the sake of a buck. My dad always said if your gonna do something, do it right the first time and I believe that applies to animals(and their genetics) as well. I will keep the hens no matter what, but what is the point of keeping the rooster if I can't breed to these hens? I do NOT need this rooster as a lawn ornament as I already have seven other roosters and keeping one more is only an option if it can work for me.



























Left foot

Right foot-she was curling it so it was a hard picture

The lighter one really does have the barring my camera is just not very good.

 

[nicalandia]

So reading this thread I looked and I apparently have 2 Lemon Cuckoo Orpingtons-1 hen & 1 roo and 2 Buff Orpingtons hens. Now on the two buff hens they are much, much larger and darker than the barred hen

the sex link Barring gen will lighten the Lemon buff color to a much pale lemon, compared to none lemon buff birds they will look much lighter..


depending on genetic background sex linked Barring appears to have a statistically significan growth depressant, but this was studied on a spanish background, so this may or may not be the case here..source(Table 8) http://www.genetics.org/content/48/9/1141.full.pdf

 

[chickened]

I have made many sexlinks with barred birds and using dominiques as a foundation stock when pursuing the barring seems to produce a larger bird than say a barred plymouth rock or other breeds that are barred have produced.

I had LC of decent quality and had a few hens with remarkable barring which I was told was not possible but I could not sell one bird here in Oregon so I sold them as meat. I love the color and hope they get more popular someday.

 

[vebyrd36]

Here is a pic of some of mine, not the best pic but will give you an idea of the barring on the hens. VIV

I

 

[chickenbelle]

Beautiful barring on those hens! Sign me up! Viv, I will expect a PM when you're eggs are ready!

 

[wife2abirdman]

the sex link Barring gen will lighten the Lemon buff color to a much pale lemon, compared to none lemon buff birds they will look much lighter..


depending on genetic background sex linked Barring appears to have a statistically significan growth depressant, but this was studied on a spanish background, so this may or may not be the case here..source(Table 8) http://www.genetics.org/content/48/9/1141.full.pdf

So does that mean I have to breed back to much larger hens or roosters to get the size up? I imagine the buff ones are more correct to type and size while the barred one is too small, yes or no??

 

[vebyrd36]

Will I'm stilling working on them. VIVI

 

[chickened]

Those are nice hens and definitely have barring.

Here is a pic of some of mine, not the best pic but will give you an idea of the barring on the hens. VIV

I

 

[chickened]

So does that mean I have to breed back to much larger hens or roosters to get the size up? I imagine the buff ones are more correct to type and size while the barred one is too small, yes or no??

I would breed a barred hen to a large european buff rooster and then use one of the roosters from that cross back to the mother and work on the size. That was my plan when I had mine. All the LC I have seen lack size.

 

[nicalandia]

So does that mean I have to breed back to much larger hens or roosters to get the size up? I imagine the buff ones are more correct to type and size while the barred one is too small, yes or no??

thats correct, use the largest lemon cuckoo rooster over Large buff hens..