The BANTAM ORPINGTON Thread

[ladybugmama3]

To Sagtown: Love to hear the "egg song" but I bet they do have trouble in the begining. Poor hard working girls. I hope I can make them happy the rest of the time.

 

[Faraday40]

Here's our bantam orp at 3+ weeks. I'm thinking it's a female b/c of comb size. Do you agree?
Any fun name ideas for our only bantam? (Milli & Micro are possibilities.)


Here are the Lavender Orpington (large breed) hatchmates at the same age. I believe I have one female & one male.
Do you agree or do the bantams take longer to mature?

 

[Sagetown]

With Orpingtons it's hard to tell because the Roos have such small combs too.

However; in this case, you're probably right.

 

[gootziecat]

Do the chocolates feathering tend to be poor, weak, narrow, and/or fluffy-frizzle like? Those that have any of these problems, how are you addressing them?

 

[jeremy]

Do the chocolates feathering tend to be poor, weak, narrow, and/or fluffy-frizzle like? Those that have any of these problems, how are you addressing them?

I haven't seen any of these issues, but if it does does happen outcross to Blacks, and your subsequent offspring should have better feathering. It may take a few generations to correct, like when breeding Lavs, but with patience you'll produce better birds.

 

[gootziecat]

This poor feathering is on month old chicks, just starting to feather in on the bodies. I'm assuming this poor feathering will follow them into adulthood since I've never seen it on chicks before. But then again, I've never had chocolate UK Orp bantams before either. Is my assumption correct or is there a possibility the feathers will be considerably better as mature birds?

 

[jeremy]

Could you post a few pictures?

 

[Sagetown]

This poor feathering is on month old chicks, just starting to feather in on the bodies. I'm assuming this poor feathering will follow them into adulthood since I've never seen it on chicks before. But then again, I've never had chocolate UK Orp bantams before either. Is my assumption correct or is there a possibility the feathers will be considerably better as mature birds?

Are your chicks worse looking than these Buff Orpington and Blacktail White Japs. These were about a month old.

 

[gootziecat]

Sagetown, they don't have nearly as much feathering yet, but I'd say they are worse than the buffs, maybe about the same as the Japs. The Japs look to have smoother feathers on the wings. But then my chicks have little more than wing weathers. Their tails haven't even grown in yet! I got them because I like the Orps and like the size of the UK bantam Orps. Temperament is another subject all together. I'm beginning to think it may have been better to get some buffs from Cackle like you did. I certainly thought about it. Your buffs have such a nice temperament too.

 

[Sagetown]

I wouldn't worry too much about the Orp's tails. They don't have much to show. Hopefully they'll feather out better in a week. I doubt if they have mites, but you could check to make sure. To be safe from mites, you could pour them a pile of sand or wood ash to take dust baths in. That's there natural way of keeping their feathers rid of such vermin.