The IMPORTED ENGLISH Orpington Thread

[Honora]

My chicks are 3-4 weeks old now, the buffs are a bit older than the black one. They are looking like 2 boys and 1 girl to me.
Here are some pics!
Buttercup (boy?):

Dandelion (girl?):

Nightshade (boy?):

All 3 chicks together:

 

[ColtHandorf]

Looks like two boys and a girl at this point to me also.

 

[Faraday40]

How about guessing these 2:
Hatch date = June 6th. 5wks when pics taken

I'm pretty sure this white is a female.

I've been thinking since hatch that the laced is male. The large size & slow feather growth says male. The head looks a touch more rounded (when compared to "his" sisters) which is also a sign for male. Yet, I see no face/comb/wattle growth nor color.

Here are some from this morning (5.5 weeks):
The slow feather & stumpy tail still say male, but I'd expect to see some wattles by now.

and here's the sis again:

 

[ColtHandorf]

She's got a baleful little stare doesn't she? lol I'd agree with you and say that the white is a pullet and the laced a cockerel. I need to post pictures of mine again. I keep waffling on whether they are male or female.

 

[ColtHandorf]

Ughh. It has been sooo hot down here the last week. Absolutely miserable. The coyotes kept me and the geese up half the night. The Orpingtons just slept through all the racket.

The Lavender babies are getting big. I'm enjoying them but I'll be glad to get them off wire and down on the ground. I'm still trying to decide the best way to do that so I don't have to worry about snakes getting them. Or the geese.

 

[ColtHandorf]

Is anyone still hatching chicks out? I'm debating setting one more time and calling it quits until the fall unless I have someone contact me for chicks.

 

[Faraday40]

Is anyone still hatching chicks out? I'm debating setting one more time and calling it quits until the fall unless I have someone contact me for chicks.

I'm having that same hatching debate with myself.

My "last hatch" ended on Tues & it was pitiful. 12 out of 18 eggs were fertile, and 10 made it to lockdown. Not sure what happened, but only 4 orps & 1 serama hatched. The 3 unhatched serama eggs and 1 unhatched orp egg had fully developed embryos with the yolk sacs absorbed..... but never externally pipped. Another orp egg pipped & 1/2 zipped but never hatched. I saw a large bloody area in the membrane when I dissected it today.

My blue laced orp Blizzard is broody, so I slipped one of the laced chicks under her. It's her 1st time, so I checked on it an hour later & found it smooshed. Now I'm down to 4 chicks under a "mama heating pad." Bliz is still broody but I'm nervous about sacrificing another.

The whole purpose of this hatch was to add another unrelated line of blue silver laced orps. I set 6 of those pullet eggs, 2 were fertile, and only one hatched. So, should I be happy with my one (and hope for a female), or should I try again while I'm still in possession of the pullet? (I promised to sell her to someone, but asked to use her for some breeding before she leaves.)

Meanwhile my biggest hen, a blk/lav split (whom I thought I'd have to process), started laying again. I know my lav boy is mating her, sooooo I may want to get some eggs before she stops again.



The heatwave is moving up here now. We'll be in the upper 90's & very humid tomorrow & over 100'F on Fri. No relief until Sat night. I have fans in the coop but not much other than shade to help them stay cool when in the yard.

 

[ColtHandorf]

I haven't had any broodies yet, for which I am thankful. I'd have to move them up into a cage to make sure the snakes didn't get the eggs or chicks once they hatched. But I am looking forward to having some hens raise some babies. Maybe they will go in the fall. That's when my Faverolles used to go broody.

At 8 o'clock this morning it was already 83 degrees. So today is going to be miserable I'm sure.

If I had the possession of an unrelated bird I'd be sure to get half a dozen chicks or so from her before I sold her.

I just realized yesterday that the one SLO of my own breeding left from the snake massacre has a crooked beak. And not crossed, but the whole beak turns to the left. *rolls eyes* So go figure the one chick left out of the birds I hatched has a defect. I won't be breeding her. I'll just sell her as a laying hen.

 

[Faraday40]

Be careful what you wish for. I have TOO MANY BROODIES!

1. Broody Blizzard refused the chicks (pecked at them) again, so I put her in a wire cage. There's no point keeping her broody if she won't care for the chicks. I'm afraid she's going to kill herself by staying inside the stuffy coop, so she's in a wire cage.

2. Meanwhile, my little broody sebright is doing well with her 16 chicks. I added the 2 day olds to her batch & she was fine. I pulled them out for now to make sure they fill their tummies but plan to let them spend the night in the garage brooder. I think they'll be better off mixed in with the 2 wk olds than all by themselves in the house. The only concern is the serama chick. It slipped right through the holes of the play yard that we're using during the day. (The pen provides some safe, hawk-free grass time but they return to the garage at night.)


BTW- Here's the little chick I've been waiting for:
A probably blue silver laced orp. Sadly the toes are a little funny. I'm going to have to tape them (chick orthodic booties).

3. My broody silkie has three 6 wk old chicks left ..... plus an 11 wk old Leghorn that preferred to hang with them rather than her own hatch-mates. I let them out this afternoon for some real free ranging.

Cute family photo below
The Leghorn is laying down and the little male serama is standing next to her face. The female white Orp is in back and the SLO is laying down in front. I still have no confirmation that he's a male (other than the slower feathering.)

4. The broody who cared for DS's chicks (from his science experiment hatched May 1st) finally left them and just started laying eggs again. We're keeping 1 male lav orp to grow out. (If he turns out nice, we'll keep him if not, he can go to freezer camp.) Most were sold but DS decided he's going to keep the Leghorn above and 1 serama. I actually had a couple people here buying seramas.... but he started begging me NOT to sell this particular pullet. Guess who's got another "useless chicken" ?!!

5. There's another broody to add: "PR." She sat on rocks for 6 weeks & only got a few chicks due to an incubator issue. We sold off some chicks quickly but let her keep a serama & a CCL. She's still mothering the two 8 wk old pullets. They've been in the big coop all along, so I often forget about them. They're WILD & crazy little chicks but at least I know they're very predator savvy.

 

[ColtHandorf]

I wouldn't mind a broody. lol I've got plenty of space to put one, just not a cage I'd enjoy stuffing her in. Frustrating that Blizzard isn't being cooperative. I wonder if she just hasn't been setting long enough to accept the chicks?

I'm not sure what's cuter, that little Blue SLO chick or your son giving his Serama a kiss. She looks very...tolerant. lol The started birds are looking good. I've debated getting Silkies specifically for brooding purposes, but I'm scared the Orpingtons would bully them. And Silkies are like little aliens...lol I think I'd feel weird even eating their eggs. Which is ridiculous. But they lay white eggs where Cochins wold lay brown. :/

I'm going to do some pen and house cleaning this weekend so I'll get some pictures. I think I'm going to let the kids play in the trampoline play pen. I just need to move it again first. Every time I went out to move it last weekend it started raining.