Here are some updated pictures of my Orloffs from Ideal...they are 3 weeks old now.
Unfortunately one has a crossed beak and I am going to have to cull it very soon But the others are doing very well.
This guy is so tall!! I think he will have a lot of white though...
They are pretty! I still need to get some photos of my babies on here. Only two so far, but lots more in the incubator! My last one wiped out several clutches of Orloff eggs, so I just got a new one and it's fantastic. I hope to be selling them soon!
Do you have any photos of the crossed beak chick? I've never seen that before...
I didn't notice the crossed beak at first but once it was about a week old I noticed it was starting to cross, and it's been getting steadily worse. It is starting to have a hard time eating. I don't have the heart to cull it myself but will ask my husband to do it tonight before it starts to suffer
Hey guys... I'm in a bit of a panic. My first ever Orloff hatched last night. It's got the right coloring (yellowish/orangish) with faint chipmunk lines and it looks good.... Except for the feathered legs! Ahhh! Why does this chick have feathered legs?? Does this mean that somehow my hens or too isn't pure? My hens are from Ideal and my roo is from a breeder in Georgia. I'm hoping that, like my BLRW that has a single comb, this can happen every once in awhile with Orloffs but I've never seen or heard of it. Any suggestions?
I have had one hatch with feathered shanks and I also have a hen with feathers between her toes. As I understand it, this is something that happens on occasion but we want to breed away from it. If this is the norm for your hatches from this cross then I would suggest getting different birds and do some test crosses to see who is throwing the feathered legs so you can get them out of your breeding program. Unfortunately we don't have a large gene pool to choose from here in the US. Good luck.
I'm not sure how active this thread is right now, but just thought I'd let you all know I've posted breeding groups of Orloffs (Standards) for sale. They are beautiful birds, but I can't keep as many as I have for my breeding pen. They will be laying in a couple of months and one of the cockerels just started to crow yesterday. You can see the ad here https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/669041/spangled-russian-orloffs-black-blue-copper-marans-blrw