The IMPORTED ENGLISH Orpington Thread

[danceswithronin]

Here's the little GLO chick. Just a bit shy of 4 weeks.

The good news is that it still looks & acts female. Not so good news is the lacing. I'm impatient and want to know what it's going to look like. I wish mine looked as nice as @danceswithronin 's chick, Gun.

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She is still adorable though! Hopefully the patchiness in the lacing will molt out, I swear at this age they look different every single day. But even if it doesn't she's a gorgeous girl.

 

[Faraday40]

She is still adorable though! Hopefully the patchiness in the lacing will molt out, I swear at this age they look different every single day. But even if it doesn't she's a gorgeous girl.

Thanks. I went back & looked at baby chick pics of "Blizzard." Boy was she awkward! ....But, she grew into a beautiful adult. So there's always hope!

 

[ColtHandorf]

Well Duchess is back outside as of last night with her saddle and both eyes open. She was enjoying the grass and was super chatty yesterday evening while I finished mowing the back yard.

 

[Honora]

Hi chicken people! I moved to Ireland last August and have been settling in to my new place. I just ordered an incubator and I am getting some English Orpington eggs! Haven't decided if I will get black or blue yet, but I am looking forward to getting chickens again after 8 months chicken-free.

 

[Faraday40]

Hi chicken people! I moved to Ireland last August and have been settling in to my new place. I just ordered an incubator and I am getting some English Orpington eggs! Haven't decided if I will get black or blue yet, but I am looking forward to getting chickens again after 8 months chicken-free.

Welcome. Did you have bantam orps in the past?

Can't go wrong with either color, so I vote for getting some of BOTH!

 

[Faraday40]

Well Duchess is back outside as of last night with her saddle and both eyes open. She was enjoying the grass and was super chatty yesterday evening while I finished mowing the back yard.

Great to hear.

 

[CatWhisperer]

Horrible, horrible weekend at my place. I have apparently become an incubus of viral plague. I was in bed sick all day Sunday and when the roommate took the dogs out Anna, the female poodle, managed to squeeze through the gate from the smaller yard into the larger one to chase the birds I’d let out to free range. She caught two but didn’t seem to hurt them. The roommate brought one to me in bed while crying. I looked her over as best I could and decided it was a sprain and she’d be fine. Of course she went into shock and died that night. And when the roommate went out to lock the goose and chickens up the young rooster I was so looking forward to using for breeding was dead in the gateway to the pen. Only his head had blood on it but he was completely whole. No punctures or open wounds. Just like his head had been crushed. I suspected the male goose and while he did have a little blood up on his forehead that could have been from him beaking the dead bird. I have no idea. So now I’m down to the pair, two pullets from another bloodline, and the chicks from my pair.

Fast forward to this morning when I find this surprise in the incubator. What in the world is going on with this chick?

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Siamese twins?!

 

[ColtHandorf]

"Siamese twins?!"

Oh no, that's two different chicks. One apparently is Gold-laced rather than Silver-laced like its parents and the sibling in my hand.

 

[danceswithronin]

Some update photos of SLEO Guin and her lavender Orp/???? cross flockmate, Drogon.

And Drogon. I tried for half an hour to catch the blue and purple and green iridescence (mostly purple) in her feathers. She is unbelievably beautiful to me for a "plain black chicken." No idea who the mom was, just know the dad was a lavender English Orp roo and the broody was an Easter Egger. Kind of hoping she has EE blood for the colored eggs!

 

[Honora]

Welcome. Did you have bantam orps in the past?

Can't go wrong with either color, so I vote for getting some of BOTH!

Looks like that's what my source has available right now, so I will be getting both.

I used to have BBS bantam Orps that I LOVED. They were beautiful, friendly & great moms, too. I will be getting bantams again in the future but right now I have a dog who likes to chase birds, so I am hoping if I get the large fowl that she'll be less likely to see them as prey. Her dad is an actual hunting hound, so I don't know how she will will do with chickens, but we'll see. (Also it's easier to get rid of the extra roosters if they are large).