Promoting my new Orpington FB page. Please take a visit, give me a "Like" and let me know what you think. I will keep you posted as we add to our breeding flock of Bantams.
www.facebook.com/TurnedLuckOrps
www.facebook.com/TurnedLuckOrps
The BANTAM ORPINGTON Thread
- Thread starter HenThymes
- Start date
- May 19, 2014
- 57
- 4
- 41
Hi,
I'm a new chicken-keeper and am super-impressed with the chocolate bantam orpington we have - she has continued to lay larger than I expected (1.7-2 oz) eggs nearly every day even with highs in the single digits and teens here in Vermont and no supplemental lighting. She's not really a looker anymore - she was attacked by a hawk and her comb and wattles never really fully recovered. She also seems a bit smaller than some pics that I see online, but she is incredibly gentle with my toddler and a pretty awesome pet. She also goes broody (stubbornly) very easily. I'm wondering if the other colors are as broody? I'd like to give her a chance to hatch out some eggs in the spring and was thinking about possibly trying more bantam orps since I'm so happy with her. I'm also curious if that type of egg size is expected for bantam orps. They look nearly as big as large store-bought eggs.
I'm a new chicken-keeper and am super-impressed with the chocolate bantam orpington we have - she has continued to lay larger than I expected (1.7-2 oz) eggs nearly every day even with highs in the single digits and teens here in Vermont and no supplemental lighting. She's not really a looker anymore - she was attacked by a hawk and her comb and wattles never really fully recovered. She also seems a bit smaller than some pics that I see online, but she is incredibly gentle with my toddler and a pretty awesome pet. She also goes broody (stubbornly) very easily. I'm wondering if the other colors are as broody? I'd like to give her a chance to hatch out some eggs in the spring and was thinking about possibly trying more bantam orps since I'm so happy with her. I'm also curious if that type of egg size is expected for bantam orps. They look nearly as big as large store-bought eggs.
Your description sounds like Cookie, my bantam Black English Orpington. She started laying almost an egg/day at 5 months. At 6.5 months during the 1st snow, she went broody which I broke after 4-5 days. Then a minor molt & back to laying an egg a day. (No supplemental heat or light added.) She's pleasant most of the time but yells at anyone disturbing her while making an egg. I feel Cookie would go broody very easily, so I make sure she's on the roost every night & never leave an egg in her nest. (She prefers to only use HER nest & will kick the big hens out if she feels the need.) She's our only bantam & quite feisty. Cookie's nickname: The Bantam Menace. Because she's little, the rest of the flock allows her to get away with all kinds of things. She's also a little faster than the full sized chickens.
Most of our hens are full sized orps who lay very big eggs (2.5 to 3oz). Cookie's eggs look small, but she eats & poops less than the others. Her eggs = 1.43 to 1.69oz. She's still a pullet so the size may increase a bit. She's my 1st & only bantam.
Mine has a good temperament like you described. Even when she "yells" from the nest box she does not peck at fingers. Unlike our Orps who love to cuddle & constantly get underfoot, Cookie prefers to fly up to a shoulder or jump onto the arm of a chair for her share of the treats. She adds a little personality & a lot of cute factor to our flock.
Here's a pic of the girls (Cookie in front) when I opened the door & they saw all the snow.
"Does she seriously expect us to walk through snow to get our treats?"
Below: Cookie playing Barbies with my daughter.
Most of our hens are full sized orps who lay very big eggs (2.5 to 3oz). Cookie's eggs look small, but she eats & poops less than the others. Her eggs = 1.43 to 1.69oz. She's still a pullet so the size may increase a bit. She's my 1st & only bantam.
Mine has a good temperament like you described. Even when she "yells" from the nest box she does not peck at fingers. Unlike our Orps who love to cuddle & constantly get underfoot, Cookie prefers to fly up to a shoulder or jump onto the arm of a chair for her share of the treats. She adds a little personality & a lot of cute factor to our flock.
Here's a pic of the girls (Cookie in front) when I opened the door & they saw all the snow.
"Does she seriously expect us to walk through snow to get our treats?"
Below: Cookie playing Barbies with my daughter.
Your description sounds like Cookie, my bantam Black English Orpington. She started laying almost an egg/day at 5 months. At 6.5 months during the 1st snow, she went broody which I broke after 4-5 days. Then a minor molt & back to laying an egg a day. (No supplemental heat or light added.) She's pleasant most of the time but yells at anyone disturbing her while making an egg. I feel Cookie would go broody very easily, so I make sure she's on the roost every night & never leave an egg in her nest. (She prefers to only use HER nest & will kick the big hens out if she feels the need.) She's our only bantam & quite feisty. Cookie's nickname: The Bantam Menace. Because she's little, the rest of the flock allows her to get away with all kinds of things. She's also a little faster than the full sized chickens.
Most of our hens are full sized orps who lay very big eggs (2.5 to 3oz). Cookie's eggs look small, but she eats & poops less than the others. Her eggs = 1.43 to 1.69oz. She's still a pullet so the size may increase a bit. She's my 1st & only bantam.
Mine has a good temperament like you described. Even when she "yells" from the nest box she does not peck at fingers. Unlike our Orps who love to cuddle & constantly get underfoot, Cookie prefers to fly up to a shoulder or jump onto the arm of a chair for her share of the treats. She adds a little personality & a lot of cute factor to our flock.
Here's a pic of the girls (Cookie in front) when I opened the door & they saw all the snow.
"Does she seriously expect us to walk through snow to get our treats?"
Below: Cookie playing Barbies with my daughter.
I just love it when you post pics of Cookie! Cookie in the convertible is hilarious!
LOL! ALL my bantams are known as the "bantam menace!"
I posted a few weeks ago...Does anyone have bantam orpington hatching eggs available now? If so, please let me know. I'm interested in buying some asap. Thanks!
Sorry. Although Cookie's eggs are fertile, they wouldn't be purebred.
- May 19, 2014
- 57
- 4
- 41
The picture with Barbie is priceless! How cute.
It's the bantam's cuteness factor that keeps her around.LOL! ALL my bantams are known as the "bantam menace!"
We started with a "Princess Lay-a" =white hen
Then we got a black orpington hen = Darth Layer seemed appropriate.
Only one bantam egg hatched. I didn't think we'd be able to keep her in our the flock (without a buddy), but they all grew up together & she never realized she was different. She's literally in the middle of it all. Even when they sleep. In the winter, she sleeps under the rooster. Not on a lower roost. I've seen her wiggle through the crowd to crawl under him. Sometimes the poor guy must sleep standing up because of her. In the summer, she sleeps above the rooster. She's the only one small enough to fit in the window sill. As the chicken with the highest roost, Cookie believes she's queen of the coop. For this & more, she's earned the nickname Bantam Menace.
Adding a Mauve pair, & a Blue pullet to my little bantam flock next week.
Similar threads
New posts New threads Active threads
-
Latest threads
-
-
-
One hen dead, others missing feathers
- Started by coloradochickies
- Replies: 2
-
-
-
-
Threads with more replies in the last 15 days
-
-
-
-
Open Contest BYC's 4th of July Star Spangled Hatch-Along—Stars, Stripes, & Feathers, a Text-to-Image Contest- Started by Debbie292d
- Replies: 108
-
-
