The IMPORTED ENGLISH Orpington Thread

[ColtHandorf]

A few pictures of them this morning.

You can see Duchess’s modified saddle in a few of them. Seems to be keeping her safe, but they sure can’t figure out how to breed her.

I happened to pop on Craigslist and there someone selling two year old pairs and trios of Lavender Orpingtons for $35 and $50. *sigh* I’m soooo broke this month and they are only about twenty minutes from me. *sigh again*

The mowers killed one copperhead yesterday in the yard, which was utterly horrifying. I saw a rat snake about fifteen minutes after that maybe. But those were the only two snakes to make an appearance. I’m hoping with the yard nice and short that won’t be a problem any more.

I gave the girls back their nest boxes so we’ll see if there are any eggs when I get home.

 

[Faraday40]

I circled it to make it easier to see, but the third one in as many days...I’m so glad everything is getting mowed this evening...

View attachment 1811023

So glad we don't get those big snakes here!


Your laced orp flock is looking good. You'll be overrun with chicks in no time!

Speaking of chicks, my last hatch is 1 week old.

What do you think, a dark blue or light black?
(This was my late chick. Most hatched on time /Thurs. This one took until Sat & was pretty weak. Didn't get added to the broody until Sunday. It finally is catching up.)

I hatched a bunch of seramas. (11, but I couldn't fit them all in)

Here a serama next to its SLO sibling.

 

[Faraday40]

Here are some of my orps

blue SLO, SLO with thick black lacing, reg SLO

SLOs (Looks like a pair judging by size LOL)

Chick on left came from Jewel (my giant 10lb blue orp hen). Jewel carries a recessive white gene.... and possibly chocolate & lavender. We never know what's going to hatch from her eggs, but they're always big beauties.

The dad could have been our lav or our laced orp.

Jewel's chick is really showing its size here.

 

[ColtHandorf]

Oh so many adorable chicks! My roommate wants Seramas so badly now after meeting some at the breeder's house where the last four Orpingtons came from. They really are adorable. I cannot wait to get some blues and lavenders to start playing with that cross. Every time I see your birds I wish you were close enough for a road trip to get some. lol

 

[Faraday40]

Every time I see your birds I wish you were close enough for a road trip to get some. lol

x2 I love to share because I love to hatch. I just simply cannot keep them all.

The seramas are more "pets"- especially up here. They're fun little birds but can't take our harsh winters. They need heat or to be kept inside Nov-March/April. I really dread this fall when I must rehome most. We can only keep 6-8 birds in a small heated coop over the winter. Our rooster, fav serama hen, & 2 silkies take up 4 of those slots!

 

[ColtHandorf]

Aww. I told her she could keep a few but they'd have to be indoors in the bird room. I don't think they'd handle our winters or our predators very well.

 

[Honora]

So nice to see everyone's beautiful chickens! I am on Day 14 of my first hatch in Ireland & it is not going well. I put 10 eggs in and 7 were infertile. 2 were quitters so I am now left with only one egg developing. Honestly the man who gave me the eggs has the most beautiful big Orps I would be really happy to hatch even one, just sad that I don't have more.

 

[Faraday40]

So nice to see everyone's beautiful chickens! I am on Day 14 of my first hatch in Ireland & it is not going well. I put 10 eggs in and 7 were infertile. 2 were quitters so I am now left with only one egg developing. Honestly the man who gave me the eggs has the most beautiful big Orps I would be really happy to hatch even one, just sad that I don't have more.

Were they shipped eggs? If you tell him about it in a nice way, he may be willing to give you more eggs or help troubleshoot the problem. Most people love hearing happy hatch stories & seeing pics of their baby chicks, so he/she may be willing sell some more at a discount or give a few replacements if you pay for the packing/shipping.

Unless you happen to have a broody hen, one lonely, only chick is a hard thing to have. If that happens, you may end up buying it a friend.

 

[ColtHandorf]

Four snakes! Four this weekend. And do you know how many eggs I got Friday through Sunday? One. One egg. I am beyond frustrated with the situation. And I just happened to have the blinds open yesterday during the thunderstorm we had and what do I spy slinking across the yard? A friggen coyote. I don't think I've ever thrown a blanket off and moved across the room so fast in my life. I watched it watch the birds for a couple of minutes before it grabbed several pieces of what must have been a dead snake from the mower, I've been crushing heads, not dismembering (can you dismember a snake? lol). It was definitely nervous, but too bold at the same time? And of course the chickens didn't care at all. So I tracked through all the windows of the house as I moved towards the door to the backyard. It was already moving away before I got to the mud room to let the dogs out. I thought two poodles might add some umph to the scare. Of course the little ones started screaming the minute I went to let them out so it was long gone without the added incentive of the poodles giving chase behind the fence. And they are all "city" dogs so they didn't have a clue they were smelling a coyote I'm sure. If Anna even paid attention to anything other than the chickens.

I'm sorry to hear your hatch isn't going well @Honora. My next one is going to be a bust I think. I'm using one of the terrible styrofoam incubators with. I candled last night and saw a few blood rings I think, plus a lot without development. I think there were three or four out of 15 eggs that had what looked like veining. Plus I had an egg seeping on day two and the eggs was only a couple or three days old which was odd. It must have had a hairline fracture or something. And of course it's made the incubator stink. *rolls eyes* I just need to get a good one.

And I was talking to my friend about the breeding Lavender Orpingtons that someone was selling on Craigslist. She surprised me by asking me to go on a road trip and picked up 17 chicks from the breeder. She'd sold all her pairs and trios, but needed a buyer on the chicks. She dropped them from $8 to $5 each. They are about ten days old so it's a little early to tell, but I think there's 12 pullets and 5 cockerels. That's not a bad distribution of sex at all. And she has huge breeding pens, so these guys won't be super closely related. They are two different bloodlines, one of which is the hinkjc line, which is kind of cool. I only wanted a few hens, and my friend is going to take seven or eight hens and a rooster or two once I've raised them past the easily snackable stage but I may keep the remainder of the hens and one rooster so I can keep pure Lavender and not just project Silver-laced Lavenders. Now I just desperately need to track down a pure line of Black Orpingtons to put in with the Lavenders and a nice line of Blue, Black, Splash to work on the Silver-laced Blues.

 

[ColtHandorf]

Here are the little cuties sleeping in their box while I set up their brooders. I can’t wait to get them in cages next week.

Also, weirdly, my Golden-laced is molting in Silver. Her down is still brown though. I’m going to band her so I can keep track of her babies. I just don’t get the down color showing something else but molting into Silver-laced feathers.