The IMPORTED ENGLISH Orpington Thread

[Ashley Stroud]

Got my first two eggs yesterday! The chooks are a week shy of 6 months. They've been squatting for the cockerel for about a week. Now I just have to get them to use the nest boxes (one laid under the roosts [I know that was Phoebe, my black] and one laid out in the run [unknown, but I suspect Clorinda, my splash]. I left the eggs from yesterday in the boxes to hopefully encourage them to lay there. Today I'll get some false eggs or golf balls for that purpose.

Woohoo! Mine started too and despite locking them in the run for 5 days, I'm still finding them all over. Yesterday I let them out and one laid in the middle of the yard and just kept walking while another dropped one out on the porch among my shoes!

 

[HighStreetCoop]

Quote:
Phoebe at least knew to go up into the coop. Whoever layer two is, not so much, LOL! I'm guessing that first egg must be kinda shocking.

 

[HighStreetCoop]

I'm also happy that Sylvester is FINALLY getting a tail.

 

[jeremy]

@HighStreetCoop I have roosters in Oakland, too. What are you doing to keep your neighbors happy about your boy's crowing?

 

[HighStreetCoop]

@HighStreetCoop I have roosters in Oakland, too. What are you doing to keep your neighbors happy about your boy's crowing?

I got lucky. First, there were already at least 3 roosters on the block, so I was just kind of hoping no one would notice one more (I'd already looked into having him decrowed, but the "keeping him somewhere quiet and dark for several weeks after surgery" was a problem). Neighbor on one side said she never hears anything cause she sleeps like the dead. Neighbor on the other side said, and I quote: "I'm Mexican, I love the sound of a rooster crowing.". Neighbors behind actually took one of my spare cockerels, so they have crowing, too. And the other one whose back fence I straddle is their daughter and has a German Shepard that barks its psychotic head off 24/7 so they're not gonna complain.

Honestly, I've never lived anywhere in Oakland--and I've been here 20 years--that there weren't roosters. And this includes "nice" hoods like Rockridge and more questionable ones like Toller Heights. The only time anyone called the cops (and it was my sister when she lived with me) it was because the guy was keeping fighting cocks 3' from her bedroom widow and fighting them and/or slaughtering them on the weekends. That was too much to deal with.

 

[jeremy]

@HighStreetCoop sounds like you've found a great little niche in your neighborhood!

The demographic on our block has changed a lot since we moved here in 2010. There are many more Latino families than there used to be. Our house sits on a quarter acre, the parcel being a odd triangle shape, with one of the sides bordering a creek that flows through our backyard. We only have one immediate neighbor to our right, and they love our birds. We keep them stocked with eggs, and their kids enjoy feeding them treats. Our neighbors across the creek have come and gone, but I think the natural distance between us and them keeps them pacified.

Just one of the many reasons I love Oakland.

 

[jeremy]

Brought this lovely lady home today... I've resisted Mottleds for a long time, but I couldn't pass her up.

She's in quarantine now, but in a few weeks I'll put her with my bantam Black split Choc male. She's LF, but not too large. She will be the mother of my bantam Black, Choc, & eventually Blue Mottled lines.

 

[EastNashChick]

Mine

Woohoo!
Mine started too and despite locking them in the run for 5 days, I'm still finding them all over. Yesterday I let them out and one laid in the middle of the yard and just kept walking while another dropped one out on the porch among my shoes!

Mine sometimes lays in the middle of the yard or on my deck. We joke that she gets startled, drops one and runs off!

 

[HighStreetCoop]

@HighStreetCoop sounds like you've found a great little niche in your neighborhood!

The demographic on our block has changed a lot since we moved here in 2010. There are many more Latino families than there used to be. Our house sits on a quarter acre, the parcel being a odd triangle shape, with one of the sides bordering a creek that flows through our backyard. We only have one immediate neighbor to our right, and they love our birds. We keep them stocked with eggs, and their kids enjoy feeding them treats. Our neighbors across the creek have come and gone, but I think the natural distance between us and them keeps them pacified.

Just one of the many reasons I love Oakland.

That sounds heavenly. I wish I had a little more space between me and the neighbors (and I'd kill to be along one of the creeks!). I really like the diverse character of my little hood though. My sister bought a place four blocks from my and my BFF bought one three blocks away. And several other friends either rent or bought within a one mile radius. It's so nice to be close.

 

[HighStreetCoop]

Brought this lovely lady home today... I've resisted Mottleds for a long time, but I couldn't pass her up.

She's in quarantine now, but in a few weeks I'll put her with my bantam Black split Choc male. She's LF, but not too large. She will be the mother of my bantam Black, Choc, & eventually Blue Mottled lines.

Did you get her from Lisa? If so, I think that's my mottled bird that I couldn't take after all, LOL! Glad she ended up somewhere nice.