Post Pics Of Orps/ Orpingtons HERE

[aveca]

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I sorta go for the birds inbetween these UK fluffballs and the old school harder and stiffer feathered Orps. About the best Orps I ever seen were shown in Bloomington this past spring by Doug Akers. They were big with perfect tail that did flop around in the wind. Perfect Buff color. Long backed and very wide. I am very much looking forward to Crossroads where alot of folks will be there with their APA and UK style Orps. And really want to see and compare size. MANY MANY folks think their Orps are massive. And I know better. I have seen MASSIVE been to Doug's farm and know what they have to compete against. I consider Doug and his opinion of who are the best the ones to look out for. Which is Tony Ewert's Buffs. And will be there with my camera popping off alot of pics.

Love the Doug Acres..boy he does have fantastic birds..Like I said I want my orpingtons to look like orps not cochins...so Im kind of with you on that..the ones I have ....have the classic big ol orpington look from head to tail..they just make me happy..at the same time I am working on australorp project, trying to make mine more toward the australian orpington standard . what they did was use cast offs or culls from english orp breeders, orps that were super high quality but too small for thier breeding program...and worked them into australorps, todays birds look almost more like a small version of english orps than australorps of old..at the same time you look at Doug Acres australorps and say..who couldnt appreciate that? Man those are great looking birds and to the standard to the T...curve from nose to tail..they used to be called the great bird of curves, not so much now in australia, they kind of look like a ball with a head..I never going to bully anyone into thinking my way or harass the APA to make them more like australias version, its something that will evolve on its own..but its just a pet project of my own for my own entertainment...i will show according to american standard of aussies...but try to create some to australias standard.


I had arrangements with bama chickens year befor last year to have her do a hatch...classic beautiful big show birds..how could you not appreciate the work shes put it to that..good price for the quality..and what a nice person as well, easy to talk to and isvery knowlagable.....and had some coming from Jody..then husband fell off ladder was in trauma unit and life took a turn for quite a while..but this last year got some from jody, those are just darling in every way..I LOVE them..hoping to get more from her this year and contact bama again to do a hatch for me like she was going to do a while ago.

tried a while ago to get some aussie hatching eggs from Doug but he had at that time such low numbers and people out there grab them right up..hey I show the east coast, it would be to his credit but it takes time to build up that kind of stock..I sure understand that..
the one thing that drives me crazy is when you see this beautiful bird..be it english or american,even aussie and they are just really good from head to tail , but in the tail, there will be a perfectly formed tail except there will be 2 or 3 big feathers poking out of it , looks like somoen stuck a couple of sticks in the tail. dont know why but that just drives me nuts..I just want to plunk thoise out of there.. somehow it makes them look unfinished.

as for the size, Its right in mr cooks book the orpington, he said that the english were so focused on type that they had in thier mind was perfect that they threw a lot of things to the background the americans at that time were breeding little differently, they were breeding smaller but not so small roosters to huge strapping hens and the result was stunning..the english actually came over here and bought back the A version to add more size to thiers and they kept breeding that way they have thier own set of problems they are working out , but not a big deal either way....to me they are all mr cooks babys and Im sure he would be happy today to see all of them on both sides of the pond. the ones I have , just have that classic face that you see in the orp books..

when I was giving bath for show, I couldnt get the cockeral out of the water he was so heavy, husband had to help me..I had all I could do to lift him out of the training cage and had to be caeful with him so not to hurt him hes so big..i could do the pullet with no problem. I thought she might be slightly smaller that others at the show but was suprised that she was actually little bigger than the others there. Even our vet said he was kind of a freak. huge..wide the way through and the tail feathers are neat or as liam calls them...tidy.

well Im already thinking ahead to next year, already ahve jodys on my list, a must have for me..then shopping out a couple more. so we'll see....SO excited you getting geared up for show..PICS PICS PICS!!!still so sad that coboskill was cancelled due to all the flooding they got..too bad, great people, great time!!..oh well.... Next year..

a while ago walt said show him out as a rooster , so going to do that.. I thought he hit his peak but nWalt knows more than me and said he'll show well next year..then he gets to retire out to the orchard and we are fencing in 2 more acrea..as we are getting some polet de bresse and are going to do them to french standard..lots of pasture for all..right now we only have 12 birds all told , so WAY too much pasture at the moment..but thats what they make mowers for..right?
they go around and eat what they like and leave things they dont..makes it easier for the mower, but too few chickens for too big a pasture..hopefully they will change over the next couple years..

 

[lildinkem]

Doug is a good guy. He won't however sell hatching eggs and ship them. IF you want some or even live chicks or birds you have to go to a show he attends and he will bring you some.
I had to visit his farm, which is no big deal, he live 25 mins away. And I was given 6 chicks for free. I would do anything for Doug. He is the best.
He does very well with his Australorps. They have great tails, great type and i have 2 to play with. I hope to get something from them next season.


One of the traits I am trying to work on in my line is to ad the Black toe nails. I most all Blacks the toe nails are white. And are suppose to be Black. And most all if not all judges do not take any points away from the lack of Black toe nails. BUT, I just can let that go without trying to get my line to have em.

SO, I have an okay Black cockerel who has em. And will get his time with some girls to hopefully ad this back into my Black Orp line.

 

[buffbeauty]

Hey Bill. haven't been here on this thread much in quite a while but I'll be at crossroads. Love to chat with you. I'm only bringing a couple of birds.....maybe.... molt monster is in full force!

 

[lildinkem]

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I am looking forward to meeting alot of folks I can only put a name to a handle. Your not the only one with a feathers a flying. That is why I am only showing the young juvies. I entered 12 Orps and 2 of them are my newly made F-1 Brown Reds. I have another Brown Red cockerel which will stay here. He is really the better one of the two boys. He is just younger. This is just incase.

 

[aveca]

yep the feathers they are a flyin over here too..heres an old english treat for you picked up over the pond..its kind of old time thing but they give the young uns setting up for butcher or show ring milk..ice cold milk in the waters...its an old therory..something about the lactic acid when young birds or older show birds are in the shaft growing it makes them very full and nice as well as meat..they change it out every day and add more after washing the waters..havnt tried it but they say it makes the feather quality very nice..and conditioned..so who knows..just something that some of them practice . lots of pasture too of greens..and grits. OH, And they only feed the milk for about 3 weeks befor the show where new feathers are presenting

i like to pick up bits of info here and abroad..take what I can use and disreguard the rest..but thought that was an old time practice and was interesting.

wonder if acres will be at this show? let us know and pics..

tommorrows your day..have a blast and we'll be waiting the pics..

it said in thier judging criteria a while ago something about the keel being too this or that makes for plymoth rock appearance deduct 1 1/2 points..too much on cochin quality deduct 1 1/2 points there was something eles about the body being wrong type back too short more like wyandotte deduct same, so perhaps they are keen also on keeping thier type correct..i didnt get as far as toenails LOL..liam sent me a paper a while ago breeding orpingtons for success and their standard judging criteria ect..had a long title.. the bowl shape is big .and they like to see a shank under the bird not too low...or as they say cobby..in the horse world cobby means common, or too plain, lost elegance.stout and short.. they were correcting some of the birds that wernt showing shank by yanking out a bunch of fluff befor a show from underneath..i dont think many of us have that worry

sometimes you have to fish through a lot of info but some of it has really paid off for me..

 

[lildinkem]

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Doug puts on the Central Indiana Poultry Show so it would be a conflict of interest IF he showed for his own show. He will be attending Crossroads. And should be there with some great Buff Orps.
He does not ship eggs of live birds. Many of the top notch breeders do not want the USPS to taint their reputation and will ONLY sell to those in person. And I do not blame them. When ever I bought hatching eggs 25% was the norm for hatches. And some newbies out there would not like that percentage. Nothing you can do on how the eggs get handled in shipping. One time I did send some eggs. And double boxed with the styrofoam insulation for a stereo equipment inside the inner box and the USPS had to have set something over 50 lbs on the box and crushed a corner. And his eggs are more valueable then mine. Live birds are the way to go.
Good thing to do for large Fowl birds is to not have a perch higher then 2 feet off the floor. The keils on a young bird can get damaged if it is too high. And I have a Lav cock, my ONLY Lav bird who likes to get up way too high to sleep at nite. BUT I will never show him, so I still let him do it.

 

[lildinkem]

Fun things to do for next season. What do you do with a nice Blue pullet in type but lacks the lacing?
You take her to a Cuckoo Blue
The eligiable bachelor who will like an older girl

This is his daddy who is a Lav but now I wonder since he was bred to a Black and is not suppose to have a boy like this.

Ofcourse this is a preplanned marriage and the kids have no choice.
She is from my DOC line. Daughter of Spanky who is DOC's son. Obvious UK influence from DOC. The Cuckoo boy is not related. Offspring should be interesting.

 

[OSUman]

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The blue could be thrown if the Lav had the heterozygous blue gene, also are you going to breed that blue cuckoo to a cuckoo hen?

 

[lildinkem]

Quote:
The blue could be thrown if the Lav had the heterozygous blue gene, also are you going to breed that blue cuckoo to a cuckoo hen?

Jon sounds like a plan to me. I only used one Cuckoo cock with 2 Black hens to make about 10 Cuckoo chicks. And most are pullets. So i can see using one or two with this Cuckoo Blue. and use this Blue pullet too. I only hatched out 5 Blues this year as well. And only really like her. I have 3 Blue cockerels. 2 I like the third is the oldest and he isn't too bad either.

 

[aveca]

Quote:
Doug puts on the Central Indiana Poultry Show so it would be a conflict of interest IF he showed for his own show. He will be attending Crossroads. And should be there with some great Buff Orps.
He does not ship eggs of live birds. Many of the top notch breeders do not want the USPS to taint their reputation and will ONLY sell to those in person. And I do not blame them. When ever I bought hatching eggs 25% was the norm for hatches. And some newbies out there would not like that percentage. Nothing you can do on how the eggs get handled in shipping. One time I did send some eggs. And double boxed with the styrofoam insulation for a stereo equipment inside the inner box and the USPS had to have set something over 50 lbs on the box and crushed a corner. And his eggs are more valueable then mine. Live birds are the way to go.
Good thing to do for large Fowl birds is to not have a perch higher then 2 feet off the floor. The keils on a young bird can get damaged if it is too high. And I have a Lav cock, my ONLY Lav bird who likes to get up way too high to sleep at nite. BUT I will never show him, so I still let him do it.

I sure know about that..you have to handle those differently than handed over..they ride on plane air pressure damages air cells..plus rough handeling..cornell ornthology used yo raise rare endangered parrots and other birds..they had people fly with the eggs in metal case with soft styro holders inside the metal case..like a lot of people in here, they hatch them upright to help heal air cell and sit absolutly still for up to 7 days..couple years ago we had some shipped just about to hatch, husband fell off a ladder wound up in surgery in trauma unit , needless to say I spent couple days at the hospital dead of winter..lost the hatch, temp fell too low while I was gone..you could see your breath when..it was a freak accident on my end, plus it was during a blizzard so power was out for 3 days.which wouldnt have been a big deal as we also heat with wood. I walked into the house..knew it wasnt going to be good..but never blamed the breeder it was all on my end...too nbad too some nice orps would have come out of it....went right back for more and will again..just understanding what is happening helps but I also know a lot of people get really angrey when things dont go well at the breeder but that has never been the case with us..I hatched delawares for a freind about three times from several different places..they popped out like pop corn.....

we sent test eggs all over for aussies, to AZ, LA, PA , AND CA..they got a large percentage to hatch..the eggs sent to LA were actually lost in the mail for a whole week and 1/2..out of 6 4 were fertile and 3 hatched ..told them what cornell did..that was kind of suprising..for me traveling isnt always an option, due to work schedule..I work at a hospital so always being called in.. so I asked an APA freind of mine roland romig to pick me up some while he was out juding as he knows almost everyone out there..but he didt so I learned real quick..your on your own out here...he keeps saying he will but so far its been 5 years and had to do it on my own...we have deep beded pens and very low perches and for a long time while deveolping they sleep in deep beds of sawdust and or hay on the floor to prevent that especially these big birds....a vet freind of ours helped us set that up a long time ago..

we are getting some polet de bresse pretty soon, the europeans used to hold them real close and not let many if any out...they now kind of realise that if there is a bad outbreak of somekind like bird flu, in thier area, and it wipes out thier stock, they will not be able to turn to anyone to retreive them..so thats cool, also very expensive..we plan on doing everything their way with them wich is already for the most part done. they are pasture raised ..but I also have a lot of questions for them so that will take time..