Russian Orloffs

[RussianChickens]

RussianChickens the black & white one is a mottled RO I hatched from 9 eggs I bought, 7 of which where Mottled. Unfortunately it was the only one that hatched. I saw a few pics of some Pavlovskaja a few weeks ago from someone in Russia who has them, really nice looking bird.

Can you PM me where you bought the mottled? I have one inexplicably mottled roo and no hens to breed him too. He is white with black and brown feathers mixed in. They are black or brown from shaft to tip. Like they describe mottled. Idk where brown comes in there. No tri colored feathers like my spangled ROs.
I was told by some people to cull him but i love his color and he has great type and personality, he is by far the friendliest to humans and birds alike. He also does a cute gallop that resembles the gangnam style dance when ever i come out with food scraps.

If i could find a matching hen i would start breeding this black and brown mottled color, if not a black and white mottled will do.

 

[ashandvine]

Ash, I was told Eli is an F2 mottled, unfortunately I know nothing of genetics. Your thought might be a possibility though. By the way I'm gonna be up in your neck of the woods this weekend.

OKAY... THESE ARE THE ONES I JUST LOOOOVE, BEARDS ARE STRONG, POSTURE IS PRETTY GOOD IN MOST OF THESE although this first hen on right is obviously too light and these legs are clearly white not yellow...

This is Roo #2. I'm not sure what "duck foot" is???

Roo #2 and a hen.

Some hens...and Roo #1
THIS HEN RIGHT HERE IS REALLY NICE COLOR AND POSTURE, BEARDS TOO. LOVE EVERYONES EYEBROWS- NICE AND STRONG, ESPECIALLY BELOW ON THE UPPER LEFT- NICE EYEBROW

NOTE RIGHT HERE. lOOK AT THIS ROOSTERS' FEET. SEE HOW THE THIRD TOE LOOKS LIKE IT IS UNDER THE SPUR ON THE INSIDE OF THE FOOT?? THAT WOULD BE DUCK FOOT.
Roo #1
OOH AND A SUMATRA TOO...


Hen
COLOR IS RELALY TOO LIGHT HERE BUT TYPE AND HEAD CONFORMATION ARE SO NICE... AND SHE KNOWS A NICE COCK WHEN SHE SEES ONE... SHE IS LOOKING AT THAT SUMATRA! LOL [can I write that?]

GOOD RICH COLOR HERE. LOVELY. CAN YOU FIND A YELLOW LEGS??

I want this one.

Duck foot is where the third, rear most toe is on the side or even to the front of the foot instead of like Y this its a V... I tried to point it out where i thought I saw it above.
Please don't by shy with pics. Your birds have a good variety of strengths and points to work on that they are so great to show to everyone for visual reference. And bragging has its own worth

Ash, I was told Eli is an F2 mottled, unfortunately I know nothing of genetics. Your thought might be a possibility though. By the way I'm gonna be up in your neck of the woods this weekend.

Are you bringing birds? Fair? Attending the Highland games?

Thank you! Mine would probably benefit from some time wandering and less feed--BUT we just have too many predators around here for that. I do let them out when I'm home and can be outside with them...but that's far and few between these days...

Well if you do let them out give them a good map to my house

 

[Rare Feathers Farm]

Interesting about "duck foot." I just thought he needed what toenails he has left trimmed, LOL Most of his toes are missing the very ends (frostbite damage)...

It's funny...all of my Orloffs have yellow legs. I think the other pictures just have to do with the time of year, their production, etc?

They get pale(r) when they're peaking in production. My Wyandottes do this too.

Same hens in the winter:

 

[desertmarcy]

Heather, thanks for taking the time to post photos. I am feeling somewhat frustrated by the Orloffs I hatched this year. A couple of things are bothering me. First is, a lot if not all the cockerels have cotton tail (that fluff of white at the base of their tail). How do you go about ridding your stock of that if they all have it? Secondly, even though the two founding hens I used this year, that most of my chicks came from, have beautiful pure white beards, I am not seeing that in the offspring. Here are the two hens I speak of:
Hen #22


Hen #25:


Here is the cock I bred to them (#12)


Now here are this year's cockerels. Only 2 of these (2 smaller, hatched later) are NOT from the above pairings:









Notice how brown this one's beard is. He is from a different pairing:


A couple of group shots:

 

[desertmarcy]

Here are some of this year's pullets: I don't see any with pure white beards. I like the deep rich color on most of them.















And look at this one. Weird color and solid brownish beard. She is from the other breeding. No chance of repeating that, the sire didn't make it through our hottest June on record.


Her again:

 

[Alaskan]

but then again, since there is no official SOP, there isn't anything really wrong with a brown beard or fluff at the base of the tail. Is there?

Or maybe I should ask, what SOP did you choose to follow?

Maybe, since you have been breeding them so long, you could vote that "fluff at base of tail" goes into the SOP

I think that it is very interesting how completely different the birds look with white beards verses brown ones.

 

[Rare Feathers Farm]

Personally, I have been modeling what I'm going for off of the ABA SOP. I also breed the bantam variety.

 

[Rare Feathers Farm]

Obviously not for size but color, legs, comb, etc.

Interestingly, I have two hens that are now larger than my roosters. LOL So I'll have to figure out a good size and stick to that. I believe they should be pretty large birds without being heavy--if that makes sense?

 

[Rare Feathers Farm]

Here are some of this year's pullets: I don't see any with pure white beards. I like the deep rich color on most of them.




I like the one in front.




She is not bad...






And look at this one. Weird color and solid brownish beard. She is from the other breeding. No chance of repeating that, the sire didn't make it through our hottest June on record.


Her again:

What lines are the brown-bearded birds?

 

[Rare Feathers Farm]

Heather, thanks for taking the time to post photos. I am feeling somewhat frustrated by the Orloffs I hatched this year. A couple of things are bothering me. First is, a lot if not all the cockerels have cotton tail (that fluff of white at the base of their tail). How do you go about ridding your stock of that if they all have it? Secondly, even though the two founding hens I used this year, that most of my chicks came from, have beautiful pure white beards, I am not seeing that in the offspring. Here are the two hens I speak of:
Hen #22


Hen #25:


Here is the cock I bred to them (#12)


Now here are this year's cockerels. Only 2 of these (2 smaller, hatched later) are NOT from the above pairings:


I like this one...

Too dark...

I like the one on the left...


Notice how brown this one's beard is. He is from a different pairing:


A couple of group shots:

Just remember--you have to build the barn before you paint it.

Focus body structure, leg color, stance, beards and just HOPE that you end up with nice color. LOL

Once you get somewhat close to what you want--start working more on color. I cull obvious faults (too dark, too white) right away but if a bird is otherwise very nice but maybe has too dark of a beard or too much white in the primaries, I don't worry too much about it. I am not an expert by any means, but I do have a picture in my mind of what I want the end result to be. I haven't been working on these very long (in the grand scheme of things). However, I am planning to stick with these for a while. They're very fun...I just hope we can get them back into the SOP and get them some more help. It would be nice for someone to import some at some point to introduce some outside lines. I'm afraid we'll start seeing congenital defects if we don't deepen that gene pool.