Orpington colours?

[Earthdale]

Hi, I have been keeping and breeding buff Orpingtons and am now looking to add new colours, does any one know of and do's and don'ts in terms of colours?

 

[pekin queen]

Hi, I have been keeping and breeding buff Orpingtons and am now looking to add new colours, does any one know of and do's and don'ts in terms of colours?

do you mean for breeding or buying or something else?

i personally like lavender orpingtons and blue orpingtons

do you breed for any specific reason? example: show, colour, just for fun, etc

 

[nicalandia]

Hi, I have been keeping and breeding buff Orpingtons and am now looking to add new colours, does any one know of and do's and don'ts in terms of colours?

What type of Orpingtons? British or American type?

 

[Auntiejessi3]

@ColtHandorf your expertise is requested

 

[ColtHandorf]

@ColtHandorf your expertise is requested

I've been summoned?

Hi, I have been keeping and breeding buff Orpingtons and am now looking to add new colours, does any one know of and do's and don'ts in terms of colours?

You'll have to be a bit more specific in what you're asking. Are you wanting to know what colors you can keep together without getting non-standard varieties? Or specific things to look for when breeding for a certain variety?

 

[Earthdale]

Yes I meant without getting non standard varieties. I prefer British and am able to get British father stock but there are never any hens available, so I will have to breed up.

 

[ColtHandorf]

Yes I meant without getting non standard varieties. I prefer British and am able to get British father stock but there are never any hens available, so I will have to breed up.

Okay, so English Orpingtons, you have more varieties than us in the US. *cries in patriot (or whatever)* What varieties other than Buff are you interested in?

 

[Earthdale]

Pretty much anything other than lavender and white, the cockerel I might be able to get is a cuckoo isabel. But there are also other colours available now and again.

 

[ColtHandorf]

Pretty much anything other than lavender and white, the cockerel I might be able to get is a cuckoo isabel. But there are also other colours available now and again.

For the most part, the varieties should be separate from one another so you'll know what you are producing. There are a few exceptions of course.

Almost all of the patterned varieties should be kept apart such as Silver-laced, Gold-laced, Jubilee, Cuckoo, Crele, etc. Certain varieties of patterns can be kept together such as Cuckoo (Black) and Lavender (Self-blue) Cuckoo. Technically you could add Chocolate Cuckoo to the pen as well and you'd only ever get those three colors. It gets confusing down the line when you breed though. For example, a friend of mine is hatching Lavender Cuckoo out of a pen of Chocolate Cuckoo birds. She had no idea that they carried the Lavender gene.

Blue, Black, and Splash can all go together. Technically you could put Chocolate and Lavender with them and get all five of those colors plus Mauve. But again, you have no idea who carries what genes when you start hatching. I usually keep them apart.

Buff and Red should be separate. If you have BBS in the laced varieties you could keep all three colors of each variety together. Silver and Gold-laced also come in a Chocolate and Isabel/Lavender variety. Crele is also available in Isabel. Those could be in the same pen.

 

[Earthdale]

Thanks! This all makes way more sense now. If you were to mix colour pens would you get mixed colours? I know with my Dutch Bantams I just put all the colours in together and I get a rainbow of colours.