The Imported English Jubilee Orpington Thread

[kittydoc]

So what is the average breeding age of cockerels for the jubilee?
Just wondering how big they have to be in order to cover these big girls .
I know standards have boys somewhat successful and 4-5 months

I had 3 Jubilee boys for a long time. Mine started giving breeding an occasional go at around 6 months, and they have been diligent and definitely fertile since about 8 months of age. My lavender Orpingtons, which are American lines, were very precocious. One was actively breeding at 3 months (he started crowing at 3 months and 1 day old!) and the other at 4 months. I am not positive when the lavs became fertile--I separated them for a bit because I didn't have any girls old enough for them to breed just then. It seemed like it took my lav pullets, which were from the same hatch/breeder, a little longer to develop and they look more English than their "brothers" do. I'm happy about that because my goal is to "Anglicize" them more with my English blacks and black/lav splits. My English black/lav split cockerel was breeding and fertile at 4 months, but his sisters aren't laying yet and they are now 5 months old. Individuals vary, that's for sure. With the exception of my Jubilees, I would say that the cockerels were behaviorally breeding about 1-2 months before the pullets were laying and allowing themselves to be mounted. With the Jubilees, my cockerels and pullets developed at about the same age. That might just be my lines or my particular individuals.

 

[Sunshine0235]

Do jubilee orpington eggs not do as well as others in the mail? I'm on my 4th attempt on shipped eggs, all from different breeders, and it looks like all 20 don't have development. I've only had one egg from those first 3 attempts develop and hatch, and that one died a few days after(it got stuck in shell and I helped it hatch after 48 hours of the zipping stopped). I do fine with other eggs, just had 5/6 polish eggs hatch, the last one zipped a bit and then died. So is it the jubilee's in general, or am I just destined not to have some?

 

[kittydoc]

Do jubilee orpington eggs not do as well as others in the mail? I'm on my 4th attempt on shipped eggs, all from different breeders, and it looks like all 20 don't have development. I've only had one egg from those first 3 attempts develop and hatch, and that one died a few days after(it got stuck in shell and I helped it hatch after 48 hours of the zipping stopped). I do fine with other eggs, just had 5/6 polish eggs hatch, the last one zipped a bit and then died. So is it the jubilee's in general, or am I just destined not to have some?

I ordered and received 8 Jubilee eggs, most of which were poopy, from a breeder in Michigan last year. Only two embryos developed. I dropped and broke one candling it, but the other died in the shell, fully developed. I examined it for problems, and found none apparent. Every other fertile egg I ever put into that incubator hatched.

I was looking for some on eBay another time, for grins, and looked at the reports on one who sold an awful lot of eggs. While eBay only allows a person to really comment on the packaging, the few who waited for hatch indicated they had zero hatches. Does that mean Jubilees are more fragile in shipment? I don't know. It could also mean that because they are still pricey that there are more unscrupulous breeders. A person could get away with selling unfertilized eggs on eBay and not suffer for it as long as they were packed and shipped nicely. If I ever had to buy hatching eggs via mail again, I would do it from no further than one state away, and honestly, I'd probably still just go get them (unless the state was California, Texas, New York, or some giant state where "next to" could still be very far away).

That said, I plan to offer my Jubilee eggs for sale and hope that the buyers have better experiences than I did myself. I won't ship when it is below freezing, or when the buyer can't be sure someone will be home to get them right away (or send them to their workplace). I do know people who have successfully hatched English Orps of different colors from hatching eggs, though. You also have to rely on the integrity of the breeders to check fertility. Jubilees have a bad rap for poor fertility--not mine! Since I gave everybody a trim so they are more like American Orps in terms of plumage in the rear, fertility has gone up from 75% to nearly 100%, even in this bitter cold.

 

[Sunshine0235]

Alright thanks. The jubilee were going to be for a project pen, for speckled brahmas, but since they dont seem to like me here, Im going to try speckled sussex, and see if those do better.

I just candled between messages, all 20 jubilees are clears. I also put gold laced brahmas in at the same time, also shipped, they are 7/14 growing, and Swedish Flower eggs also shipped went in, 12/18 growing. So I think I am not meant to have jubilees I guess.

 

[EastNashChick]

Alright thanks. The jubilee were going to be for a project pen, for speckled brahmas, but since they dont seem to like me here, Im going to try speckled sussex, and see if those do better.

I just candled between messages, all 20 jubilees are clears. I also put gold laced brahmas in at the same time, also shipped, they are 7/14 growing, and Swedish Flower eggs also shipped went in, 12/18 growing. So I think I am not meant to have jubilees I guess.

Can you try Craigslist in your area and pick up somewhere close? As there are so few in the US if you see photos of type you can be pretty sure you are getting something similar. Worth a try. You can always sell them if you don't get what you want. We took a risk on Craigslist and got the most beautiful hen. I figured with multiple photos of good type we couldn't go to wrong and we were right. Ours is 2nd generation Marc Sacre and we couldn't be more pleased. Hopefully we'll get a roo in a year or two...

 

[Sunshine0235]

Can you try Craigslist in your area and pick up somewhere close? As there are so few in the US if you see photos of type you can be pretty sure you are getting something similar. Worth a try. You can always sell them if you don't get what you want. We took a risk on Craigslist and got the most beautiful hen. I figured with multiple photos of good type we couldn't go to wrong and we were right. Ours is 2nd generation Marc Sacre and we couldn't be more pleased. Hopefully we'll get a roo in a year or two...

Thats what i did originally, got a 7 month old cockerel. Then had to cull my flock due to MG, he was a carrier, but showed no symptoms. Im only going with eggs from now on, easier to watch babies for symptoms since they are under a lamp for weeks.

 

[Ashley Stroud]

Any Jubilee folks here in Western Washington?
Snohomish County or nearby?

 

[EastNashChick]

Thats what i did originally, got a 7 month old cockerel. Then had to cull my flock due to MG, he was a carrier, but showed no symptoms. Im only going with eggs from now on, easier to watch babies for symptoms since they are under a lamp for weeks.

Oh my, I'm so sorry.

 

[EastNashChick]

Any info on when these girls normally lay? Mine was 8 months at Halloween when the days shortened and hasn't laid yet at 10 and my Dominiques just started laying again.

Any thoughts?

 

[kittydoc]

@EastNashChick They could start any time now. Mine started laying at 7 months (also about October) and continued to lay through the winter. After that first year, they will need artificial light to lay during the darker months. However, I have read that a lot of people who had birds old enough to lay by October either didn't start, or started then abruptly quit. Maybe it was the severe cold (again). In any case, by the end of February, most pullets and hens should resume laying from the longer days.