Orp chick

[Faraday40]

WOW! "Miles" grew into a nice looking roo. Is his temperament gentle? Is he good to the hens? (Those things are actually more important than appearance.)




I have some lav males now & trying to decide who stays & who goes. It's hard when they all follow me around and rarely crow.

"Mr Nice Guy" stuck around because I simply thought he was "nice". He's not wonderful, or super, or gorgeous - just nice. So far no problems. Once he was BIG enough to offer some flock protection, I got rid of my former lav. (The former guy was extra tall ... up to my hip when standing tall ... but looked too thin. I like the round look.)

A friend gave me one of her lav English orp cockerels to add some genetic diversity to my flock. That boy has a good-looking, rounded shape, but sadly a "wonky" comb. He's here for now as a back up- just in case Wonky's comb improves a little.

Lastly, a few hens went broody, so there's a lav cockerel from my Aug 10th hatch and another ? gender lav from my Sept 10th hatch. Both are still with their mommy's, so I can't tell much about their personalities yet.

Mr Nice Guy

Wonky (his good side)

And these pics show why he's named "Wonky"..... but don't you just love how he follows me around. I love it when he cocks his head to the side like he's trying to understand my words.



Here's Mr August (Still just a baby really) He'll be 10 wks on Sat. The chicks are way bigger than their bantam orp mama, but she still mothers them. Perhaps these chicks will stay with her and help her incubate her next hatch. LOL

September Hatch: Two black and one lav are an obvious females. The other ? lav might be a slow-maturing male.

So now it's my turn to ask for gender predictions:
5 weeks + 2 days old now

The ? lav has small colorless comb/wattles. I would normally think female, but there's also slower feather growth and a round muscular body. 3 siblings all look female, so this is the only one that has a chance of being male. If it's a big female, then all 4 chicks are female.

lav in back is ?

? lav is in back on right

Again ? lav is on right. Notice how the other 3 also have more tail. There's a definite difference on how their developing which is really my only reason for thinking it may be male.

 

[leighks]

WOW! "Miles" grew into a nice looking roo. Is his temperament gentle? Is he good to the hens? (Those things are actually more important than appearance.)




I have some lav males now & trying to decide who stays & who goes. It's hard when they all follow me around and rarely crow.

"Mr Nice Guy" stuck around because I simply thought he was "nice". He's not wonderful, or super, or gorgeous - just nice. So far no problems. Once he was BIG enough to offer some flock protection, I got rid of my former lav. (The former guy was extra tall ... up to my hip when standing tall ... but looked too thin. I like the round look.)

A friend gave me one of her lav English orp cockerels to add some genetic diversity to my flock. That boy has a good-looking, rounded shape, but sadly a "wonky" comb. He's here for now as a back up- just in case Wonky's comb improves a little.

Lastly, a few hens went broody, so there's a lav cockerel from my Aug 10th hatch and another ? gender lav from my Sept 10th hatch. Both are still with their mommy's, so I can't tell much about their personalities yet.

Mr Nice Guy
View attachment 1937300

Wonky (his good side)
View attachment 1937301
And these pics show why he's named "Wonky"..... but don't you just love how he follows me around. I love it when he cocks his head to the side like he's trying to understand my words.
View attachment 1937340 View attachment 1937452 View attachment 1937453


Here's Mr August (Still just a baby really) He'll be 10 wks on Sat. The chicks are way bigger than their bantam orp mama, but she still mothers them. Perhaps these chicks will stay with her and help her incubate her next hatch. LOL
View attachment 1937456 View attachment 1937455 View attachment 1937454


September Hatch: Two black and one lav are an obvious females. The other ? lav might be a slow-maturing male.

So now it's my turn to ask for gender predictions:
5 weeks + 2 days old now

The ? lav has small colorless comb/wattles. I would normally think female, but there's also slower feather growth and a round muscular body. 3 siblings all look female, so this is the only one that has a chance of being male. If it's a big female, then all 4 chicks are female.
View attachment 1937484 lav in back is ?
View attachment 1937486
? lav is in back on rightView attachment 1937487

Again ? lav is on right. Notice how the other 3 also have more tail. There's a definite difference on how their developing which is really my only reason for thinking it may be male.
View attachment 1937485

I’m by no means an expert but yeah the ? looks different then the other 3...
Nice looking birds though!

 

[gunslinger33]

Faraday you have some very nice looking birds

Miles is cooped with my CCO roo , so he gets what he can get when "Bubba's" not paying attention. In general I see no current signs of aggression. His comb is actually about half laid over but the picture doesn't really reflect it. You can see that he doesn't have spurs yet and not much of a tail yet. I'll get some pictures this weekend when I let them out. We have had some dogs visit us daily , so I have kept them in the coop.

Hip height? Wow that is a tall Orp. My two might make it to my knee.

Far be it from me to give advise on the sex. Heck I was still optimistic with Miles at 4 - 5 months. I say cockerel on the Lav. What is it's leg size like? Similar to it's siblings or noticeably heavier? Miles did not have "heavy" legs as a small chick but he was a heavy bid as a chick.

 

[Faraday40]

Faraday you have some very nice looking birds

Miles is cooped with my CCO roo , so he gets what he can get when "Bubba's" not paying attention. In general I see no current signs of aggression. His comb is actually about half laid over but the picture doesn't really reflect it. You can see that he doesn't have spurs yet and not much of a tail yet. I'll get some pictures this weekend when I let them out. We have had some dogs visit us daily , so I have kept them in the coop.

Hip height? Wow that is a tall Orp. My two might make it to my knee.

Far be it from me to give advise on the sex. Heck I was still optimistic with Miles at 4 - 5 months. I say cockerel on the Lav. What is it's leg size like? Similar to it's siblings or noticeably heavier? Miles did not have "heavy" legs as a small chick but he was a heavy bid as a chick.

Thank you. Yes, my orps are pretty big. In fact I had a female heritage turkey who was smaller than the big lav orp. The roo was able to fertilize some of her eggs (bull's eyes) but nothing ever developed when incubated. The tall guy was a little over my knee when standing regularly and up to my hip when reaching up or crowing.

My fav roo was this guy who had the size AND a nice shape. He stayed around as a sweet pet long after his days as our breeding rooster.


As far as ?lav's leg size, it's not any different. The females have very thick legs too.
Many 100% English bloodlines has very short combs, and both genders can have small wattles at 4 wks. For them I have to compare color hues side by side.

My lavs are mostly English now but I started out with some 50% American Orp to improve comb and lav color.

I also had a very large, extra fluffy female orp. She's built solid (10+ lbs easy) and had very large red wattles as a 4 wk old chick. By 8 weeks, her comb still said female but her wattles screamed male. I'm often wrong when trying to sex any chicks related to her, but as adults, her offspring are just stunning. That's why I kept her.

 

[ButtonquailGirl14]

Thank you. Yes, my orps are pretty big. In fact I had a female heritage turkey who was smaller than the big lav orp. The roo was able to fertilize some of her eggs (bull's eyes) but nothing ever developed when incubated. The tall guy was a little over my knee when standing regularly and up to my hip when reaching up or crowing.

My fav roo was this guy who had the size AND a nice shape. He stayed around as a sweet pet long after his days as our breeding rooster.
View attachment 1937890

As far as ?lav's leg size, it's not any different. The females have very thick legs too.
Many 100% English bloodlines has very short combs, and both genders can have small wattles at 4 wks. For them I have to compare color hues side by side.

My lavs are mostly English now but I started out with some 50% American Orp to improve comb and lav color.

I also had a very large, extra fluffy female orp. She's built solid (10+ lbs easy) and had very large red wattles as a 4 wk old chick. By 8 weeks, her comb still said female but her wattles screamed male. I'm often wrong when trying to sex any chicks related to her, but as adults, her offspring are just stunning. That's why I kept her.

that’s one huge roo!

 

[gunslinger33]

IMO black is one of the most dynamic colors. Some might see it as bland but the purples and greens are amazing.

yes that is a big boy

 

[Faraday40]

IMO black is one of the most dynamic colors. Some might see it as bland but the purples and greens are amazing.

yes that is a big boy

I agree. Black is my fav but more people want to buy lavender. I always have a few blk/lav splits around.

 

[gunslinger33]

If you weren’t so far away I would take a couple of black pullets off your hands

 

[Faraday40]

If you weren’t so far away I would take a couple of black pullets off your hands

You can always keep me in mind if you're ever travelling by the Chicago area. I've actually had several people arrange to buy chicks on their drive home from vacation or a business trip.

(I've also been on the other side and picked up some hatching eggs as souvenirs. )

 

[gunslinger33]

I normally attend a couple of shows at McCormick annually. One typically being in November. I decided to pass this Fall but if I’m in the area and in the market I’ll reach out to you.

Thank you
C