Pictures of my Orpingtons

[skeeter9]

Well, no wonder our babies look so much alike - I got my little hatch from Jim Cox, too!! Of course, Orps should look like Orps, so I guess no matter where we get them they should look like they are related!!! LOL If I'm not mistaken, Speckledhen hatched one of her hens from Jim's eggs as well!!! Small world, huh??

 

[KKluckers]

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I think Skye is from Jim Cox Line which he originally got his birds from Sandhill Preservation. Most of the birds I've seen from Sandhill have been pretty typey. Im going to work on trying to find other bloodlines because most everyone's birds seem to be related.

Miss Sue what a cute hen, is she your only one? Are you breeding her back to blue or maybe a splash roo? I want to work on a Splash line. I have eggs in the bator now from Bama hen due to hatch Wednesday and Im hoping to get some Splashes that are typey. Her Splash hen is gorgeous.

 

[speckledhen]

I think Skye is from Jim Cox Line which he originally got his birds from Sandhill Preservation

You're right! Skye is from Jim Cox and Suede and Velvet came from Julie's (BamaChicken) birds. At the time, she had two Blue Orp roosters. Not sure what happened to Charcoal, though-that was the other one's name, I think.

Since not that many people have Blue Orpingtons, lots of them got their start from Sandhill. Now we have others from Catalpa Grove Farms, some of which I should be hatching in a couple of months to mix up my gene pool. But when you have these rare breeds, it's inevitable that somewhere along the line, you'll have birds related to each other, although it may be distant. Just the nature of the beast, I suppose.​

 

[halo]

Can't you add genetics by breeding blues to black orps? Tho Im finding them hard to find.

 

[speckledhen]

Not sure what you mean by add genetics, Kathy. Blacks can come from the blues, just like my recent hatch where I hatched from Suede and Velvet three blacks along with the blues and the splash. If you bred one of the black daughters back to her father, the gene pool is still a bit tight, although they are different colors. I will keep two black pullets to linebreed with Suede, but I do plan to hatch the Catalpa lines eggs soon as well.

 

[skeeter9]

Yeah, I was looking at Catalpa's line as well to add diversity to my own. Their birds seem pretty typey.

 

[halo]

I understand that, Cyn, but it seems that black orps can be purchased from breeders who arent necessarily blue breeders, and that would be a good way to add genetics from an outside source without compromising color.

 

[speckledhen]

Yeah, if you can find them, LOL! SO hard to find those, Kathy, as you can imagine. We have been pretty much stuck with getting blacks from our blues, I think.

 

[KKluckers]

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Im beginning to think the people who have Orpingtons outside this group have there own secret society lol. They never want to give up information. If you start traveling to shows, that is a good way to meet people who can help you out. Some breeders dont advertise and seem reluctant to sell any birds, egg, etc. That is why we are so lucky with the gals in this forum, they are always willing to share when they have the eggs

. You are right though about not a lot of blacks. I was looked at strange when I tell people I breed standard Orps. I always ask why and most people respond to they are not that popular of a breed. I plan to help change that at least in my area.

 

[speckledhen]

BTW, my splash baby.... is a COCKEREL!

Well, what would you say to a 4 week old Orp with bright pink wattles? I think I have two black pullets and that may be all the girls I get from this hatch. Anyone want a beautiful splash Orpington cockerel? And maybe a blue one, for good measure?