Orpington pen set up

[ZooPro]

Hello. I need help creating pens for next year. Right now I have a bunch of grow out and a chocolate pair that throw white chicks. This is what I have:

Jubilees (many Roos and hens)
Mottled lavender (one roo and three hens I think)
Lavender (coming soon from hatching eggs)
Mottled black (just one roo and one hen)
Black (several Roos and hens)
Blue (several Roos and hens)
One splash hen
White from the chocolates (all hens I think)
A mature chocolate pair that throws white and a light brown beige color and regular chocolate
Dark chcolate hens

How would you break up these birds into breeding groups? I have four pens.

 

[casportpony]

How large are your pens?

 

[ZooPro]

How large are your pens?

Big enough for a roo and four to five hens

 

[LadiesAndJane]

Hello. I need help creating pens for next year. Right now I have a bunch of grow out and a chocolate pair that throw white chicks. This is what I have:

Jubilees (many Roos and hens)
Mottled lavender (one roo and three hens I think)
Lavender (coming soon from hatching eggs)
Mottled black (just one roo and one hen)
Black (several Roos and hens)
Blue (several Roos and hens)
One splash hen
White from the chocolates (all hens I think)
A mature chocolate pair that throws white and a light brown beige color and regular chocolate
Dark chcolate hens

How would you break up these birds into breeding groups? I have four pens.

If these are English Orps, then I would ask the BYC members who frequent the English Orpington thread. They all work with many different colors.
@ColtHandorf
@Faraday40
@homeschoolin momma

 

[Demonwolf37]

What are your goals with breeding them? Because that'll determine how to group them.

 

[Faraday40]

What are your goals with breeding them? Because that'll determine how to group them.

x2

 

[Faraday40]

Your blacks could be split between a lav pen and a Blue/Black/Splash pen. Lavs NEED the blacks to be bred back into them. I've never worked with jubilee or any mottled.

I had some recessive whites. They all could be traced back to a chocolate. Those recessive whites were also always female. I never tried to purposely breed whites. It was just a fun accident. I couldn't keep all the fun colors that Orpingtons offer, so I sold all my recessive whites, chocolates, cuckoo, mauve, and blues (except Jewel) The chocolates/mauves were pretty fun, though.

I kept breeding lavenders because lav & blacks were the 1st types of orps I owned. Plus, there's something irresistible about lavender chicks. My silver laced and cuckoo went through a terrible awkward stage (from 1.5 weeks to fully feathered). They look gorgeous as adults. Yet, even when I had sex-linked females, more people preferred to buy the unsexed lavenders. Black feathers are so pretty in the sunlight, but again (as chicks) more people will prefer the lavs.

Of course, temperament is always most important. Never bother breeding birds that are aggressive - especially roosters.