Orpington Thread

[informative]

I would love to hear observations on possible differing temperaments in the different colors. I have 1 blue & 1 Lavender, both 2 months old, & a black 4 week old. I gave away her buff brooder buddy & totally regret splitting up my orp rainbow pack, as I adore all of my orps & really wanted 1 if each color I could get my hands on. But my nieces wanted laying hens, & I'm a way bigger sucker for those adorable girls than chickens, so I parted with the buff thinking my nieces would get the best of the chicken world with her. At any rate, mine are all too young to make ny true temperament observations. All 3 are sweet as the day is long to humans & flockmates so far. I'm very curious to see if any aggression differences show up as they age.

I've noticed red chickens like everything from Red Stars to New Hampshires to Rhode Island Reds to even Buff Orpingtons have a "feral" potential. This goes from a willingness to go off alone and solo free range to being mean to other chickens - when I witness extra mean behavior toward another chicken I put a green leg band on them to indicate "mean green" and all of the green leg banded chickens are Red ones in one way or other.

I see aggression in the other color chickens but it is more justified like roosters being roosters or food related competitive pecking not just mean for the sake of mean behavior. I've seen that almost exclusively with my red breed chickens. I also have black chickens (BA and BL) and white chickens (WJG) but see very little of this behavior and much less of it from the buff orpingtons who are more yellow but I currently have two buff pullets tagged as mean greens. great with people but mean to the other chickens

 

[3b blu]

Little off topic but in general true heritage breed oriphingtons are suppose to be docile... I have never noticed more aggression by color but by breed.... Meanest rooster I ever had was a leghorn hatchery stock I could never turn my back while I was at the barn or even walking back to house he would attack me. One thing I have been told about hatchery stock is heritages were bred with leghorns and other good egg layers and re created the breeds then bred back to what they call true breeds for better production. I have personally saw more aggression in hatchery stock then heritage breeds in general.

 

[FoxholeFarm]

Little off topic but in general true heritage breed oriphingtons are suppose to be docile... I have never noticed more aggression by color but by breed.... Meanest rooster I ever had was a leghorn hatchery stock I could never turn my back while I was at the barn or even walking back to house he would attack me. One thing I have been told about hatchery stock is heritages were bred with leghorns and other good egg layers and re created the breeds then bred back to what they call true breeds for better production. I have personally saw more aggression in hatchery stock then heritage breeds in general.

My Orpington who is aggressive towards small birds is from a breeder, not a hatchery. I went to this breeder because I had heard good things about her orps and how docile they are. I bought only one orp along with three birds of other breeds and I wonder if that's part of the problem. Her temperament is so different from any other hen I have and the only one she had a bond with died of salpingitis without any symptoms. I think she would be happier in a flock of orpingtons so I'm looking to sell or trade her to someone who doesn't have bantams or could keep her in a flock separate from their bantams. If anyone is interested, pm me. I'm in the San Francisco Bay, California.

 

[WendyF]

Here are my sweet girls, Leia & Calisto at 5 weeks old:

 

[3b blu]

Ok so my chickens are 28 weeks old 75 percent english orps Bowing to Roos and mating... I have two and miraculously each hen has chosen a rooster not normal but good all hatched together anyway... One has been in box off and on for a few days now I have heard egg song off and on for two weeks... I'm pulling my hair out waiting on an egg? Anybody have any idea how much longer could be? Do orps display these signs much longer than others before they lay? Anyone had experience with this? They have been mating for bout 2 weeks maybe 3?

 

[informative]

Little off topic but in general true heritage breed oriphingtons are suppose to be docile... I have never noticed more aggression by color but by breed.... Meanest rooster I ever had was a leghorn hatchery stock I could never turn my back while I was at the barn or even walking back to house he would attack me. One thing I have been told about hatchery stock is heritages were bred with leghorns and other good egg layers and re created the breeds then bred back to what they call true breeds for better production. I have personally saw more aggression in hatchery stock then heritage breeds in general.

I know what you are talking about. There are a few of my buffs that are absolute angels even after being in with all the other chickens (I have 50 something in one huge 65,000 sq ft outdoor pen with hen houses/brooders/roosts etc). These buffs are the only ones like this and are prone to loner behavior where they go off and act fearless while free ranging. They also tend to get picked on in multiple ways like roosters lower on the pecking order seem to want to breed them more often and other hens tend to pick on them and "turn them broody" where they start out hiding and sulking in the nest boxes and then go broody.

From a human pet owners perspective I will say they could and would certainly be wonderful pets - as chickens go unless I really need a broody chicken badly they are far from socially ideal in a mixed production chicken pen. I spend more time worrying if they are eating (when brooding) and searching for my blue cote because they get picked on too much and don't fight for themselves because of this docile gene.

 

[3b blu]

after all my griping I did yesterday I think both hens layed this am first eggs? Woohoo... One in box one on ground one rubber one not... Checked last night nothing was in there... There getting good food and oyster shell so soft egg prob just a first one 28 weeks! Not too bad glad waiting is over

 

[3b blu]

after all my griping I did yesterday I think both hens layed this am first eggs? Woohoo... One in box one on ground one rubber one not... Checked last night nothing was in there... There getting good food and oyster shell so soft egg prob just a first one 28 weeks! Not too bad glad waiting is over

Btw caught rooster pecking the one hope that doesn't continue...

 

[Kyzmette]

I have some English (maybe) orps that should be reaching pullet-hood soon. What's the best way to determine if these are pullets or roos? None of them have crowed yet, and they're about the size of my other LF chickens now.

 

[hennible]

Saddle feathers... General size.... Comb size and colour...

Roo

Pullet
If that helps... Buff Orpington's at about 2 months old.