I can't speak from experience as I am now raising our 1st flock, but I'm in the part of the northwest with pretty harsh winters & chose 4 orpingtons in our mixed flock for what I've read about their cold hardiness & being so affectionate & great with kids. I have seen tons of pics of kids holding orpingtons online. We have 3 at 8 weeks old, & 1 at 3 weeks old, and so far they are just as sweet & affectionate as can be.
In our chicks, hatch date 4/7/2014, I ordered 1 Blue Orp, now named Sephira (paid a pretty penny for her too, I might add), but she has turned out to be black with a green sheen. No matter. She is absolutely beautiful, IMO. As for her growth, she was one of the smaller chicks until around 7-8 weeks and then she just seemed to grow and grow and is now the largest hen in the chicken yard. As for her disposition, she was always terrified of us but has mellowed somewhat. She will let me hold her without any fuss....if I can catch her. BUT she is next to the last on the bottom of the pecking order which seems strange to me since we have 4 regular size chickens and 4 bantam chickens. She lets the Mottled Cochin bantam boss her around and she is terrified of our Buff Brahma bantam and she is twice their size and still maturing. Funny to watch considering their size differences. She is one of my favorites in the coop though. She 'talks' to me and I listen intently. Our bottom of the order is a Sultan (our 'mystery chick') who could care less about anything anyway. LOL I have sometimes wondered if I got the Blue Orp I paid for or if she was substituted with another breed. We wondered about that with a couple of them but the others turned out just as they should have. She is the only exception and the chance we took with her breed as a Blue Orp. She has not begun to lay yet as of this writing while a few of the others have begun squatting when petted. Eggs are coming soon! Yippee!
when i ordered our blue orpington the hatchery website said that blue is an unstable gene so i may recieve a blue, a black, or a splash. I was really hoping for splash, Lol! But she is now a beautiful blue at 8 weeks old, so i paid the same pretty penny to get her a little black sister. If i remember correctly the chances of your blue turning out black are 25%. I can't wait til our black gets the green colored sheen ~ right now she's an icky mess of pin feathers & tired old baby fluff, LOL.
So pretty! I hope someone knowledgeable here can help you with setting your price. Me, I'm just droolingI'm selling my pair of cuckoo orps but have absolutely no clue what's a reasonable asking price, can anyone help me out?
So pretty! I hope someone knowledgeable here can help you with setting your price. Me, I'm just drooling
