The IMPORTED ENGLISH Orpington Thread

[ColtHandorf]

@Faraday40 - You're a god parent! lol I hatched three little fluffy butts over the weekend and have three more due to hatch in the next day or so and then three more in a couple of weeks. Plus I picked up a quad of started birds from a lovely breeder and a gorgeous pair a couple of hours away. I'm just tickled pink. I'll have to post some pictures from the phone in a bit. I'm on the computer currently.

 

[Faraday40]

@ColtHandorf Are your new birds all orps? Can't wait to see them.

Also please post some pics of your newly hatched chicks.

My current test hatch is underway. So far:
6 out of 6 Spitzhaubens are out
2 out of 2 Seramas hatched

Only 7 (out of 16 orp eggs set) went to lockdown. Most were not fertile. Like I mentioned, my laced orp roo is having difficulty fertilizing his hens.
The orps are starting to pip today.... day 21.


I moved the early chicks who hatched yesterday into the brooder.
Seramas



Spitzhaubens




Last week we set about 16+ eggs in 4 school incubators around town. For me, it's the annual incubation & embryology classes. I arranged to have 4 schools start at the same time, so if tragedy strikes in one classroom, we can swap chicks. For our son, he's doing a 4H project comparing incubators. We're using a Brinsea, Hovabator, Incuview, and home made cooler-bator. We sorted the eggs so that each incubator gets the same number & types of eggs. (6 Leghorn, 3 Spitzhauben, 3 lav orps, etc.) DS's experimental eggs are numbered 1-16. Some classes wanted 2 doz eggs, so the extras will not be included in DS's hatch results. Although I'm excited to see how his experiment goes, I admit I'm a little worried about hatching too many chicks.

 

[ColtHandorf]

All Silver-laced Orpingtons. I just happened to see the chicks advertised on Craigslist of all places and emailed the seller. She let me pick them up Saturday for $5.00 each! I got a quad and my friend got a pair. They are all siblings, but once I get another three or four bloodlines I should be able to start working on my own “line”.

I’ll have to take pictures of the started birds, but here are their parents. The rooster is still under a year but looks pretty awesome to me. His name was Lester. I’ll be curious to see if he gets more lacing on his breast. He’s got a great head though. And the hen has an almost chocolate color to her? One of the pullets does also so I’m anxious to see how she feathers out compared to her sisters.

 

[ColtHandorf]

And here are a couple of terrible pictures of the chicks with the red light on the first night. The third baby hadn’t hatched yet. I intend on taking some nice photos after work today of them. I wish I still had my photo box. I’d use that.

 

[ColtHandorf]

@Faraday40 - Here are the four chicks I got from a breeder. Their parents are pictured above.

Forgive the bad photos. Golly and Georgia the geese were being utterly obnoxious and Duchess my SLO hen hasn’t been overly fond of being in close quarters with them. Her saddle should be here tomorrow which means she can go back with Sterling.

I’ve got four chicks in the brooder now. One chick is currently hatching. I think the fourth egg (in the laying timeline) must have died because it hasn’t hatched yet and number five is working out now. Six already hatched.

I’ve got three more in the incubator that are developing. So 100% fertility isn’t too shabby.

Hopefully the new chicks are a quad. I’m not super sure about the littlest one. It’s a couple of weeks behind the larger three. But a friend also got a pair so really there’s two back up roosters now plus the pullet she got.

 

[Faraday40]

100% fertility is outstanding! Your roo is awesome! You may be overrun with SLOs soon! (A good problem to have.)

I like that new little one. Lacing is so hard to judge when young because it changes so much as they develop. At a glance, I think the one with the head up (most white on the head) is a male. It's stance says male, its tail is shorter, & the face has a touch of pink.

We do not have any leaves on the trees, so the flock is still locked up. Had a fox stop by Sat night and Sunday late afternoon and a hawk is just camping out in our big pine tree. Poor birds are going stir crazy, so that could be part of the fertility problem. As much as I want to let the chickens out, I don't want to feed the predators. We're in a more urban area, so there's not a lot we can do to get rid of predators. I'm working with our new dog and hopefully he'll be a good predator deterrent. It will be a while before he can be trusted alone with chickens.

My test hatch:
2 laced, 2 blue, 3 lav orps
6 spitzhaubens
2 seramas

Good news that 100% fertility & hatch with the spitz & seramas.
Lower fertility on the orps, but every egg that went into lockdown hatched.

My puppy wanted to help.

One of the silver laced orp lines has some gold/brown when chicks. Every time I keep thinking I'll have a GLO, but they feather in SLO.

 

[ColtHandorf]

Yes, the little bird standing up that is pink in the face is definitely a cockerel. The other two large birds are pullets or I’ve lost my touch. The littlest one though was the most feathered of the ones it’s size but the other ones appeared to be really slow feathering. Which I find I usually a trait of roosters. So I’ll just have to wait and see. And I’m excited to see how they color out. I’ve worked with laced birds before and they certainly change a lot before they are adults.

 

[ColtHandorf]

So...

First batch of six eggs - 100% fertility with all chicks developing to the point of hatching. Five out of six eggs hatched (with one assist due to a double membrane?) and one internally pipping but dying in shell.

Second batch of three eggs - 100% fertility and developing normally.

I've got to get the turner going again when I get home. I'd stopped it for the hatch obviously. These tiny settings are going to drive me nuts...lol I can't wait until the new girls are old enough to lay. I'd still like to get some older or point of lay pullets to augment the one hen. Her saddle should be here today (fingers crossed) so that she can go back in the breeding pen provided the geese don't make her miserable. That's kind of their thing. I'd turn the started birds out with them also because Sterling has scratched and shown them good stuff on his side of the wire and I'd like to get the cockerel in with him sooner rather than later in order to make that addition to the flock as smooth as possible. I find adding another male that young means he grows up with a benevolent overlord rather than an evil dictator he feels like should be overthrown. At least in the past anyway. And then should I decide to phase Sterling out of the breeding pen *cough* side sprigs and not great leg color *cough* the younger rooster can assume the position of Senior Roo with little to no upset.

Also your puppy is adorable! My dachshunds don't seem to care about them at all...the poodles are another story...

 

[ColtHandorf]

See...

 

[Faraday40]

Also your puppy is adorable! My dachshunds don't seem to care about them at all...the poodles are another story...

Our puppy is adorable, but that's not really the 1st word that comes to mind when we think of him.....
Dumpster diving

Mud Puppy

Home Decorator

He's a German Shepherd x Hound. A very smart and beautiful combo...... but he's into everything! I really miss our lovable, dumb, willing to please mutts. We could close a door or put up a gate to keep them out of an area; this dog can open 4 diff types of doors/latches. No where is safe. Training is a MUST!

Thankfully, he doesn't have a strong prey drive, so I'm hoping that someday he'll make a good predator deterrent when outside.