The IMPORTED ENGLISH Orpington Thread

[Faraday40]

I'm pretty sure SLOs are still considered a "project color" in the US. There's a very limited number of imported laced orps, so in order to continue breeding, new blood must be introduced. (I would guess other color orps.) On top of that the lacing genes are very complex.

When I ended up getting my gold-ish laced chick, I was told that there are genes that inhibit the gold making it white. Perhaps that has something to do with it. This summer I also hatched out 3 white orp chicks like yours, but I know that at least 2 of my hens carry it (and perhaps my lav roo). I thought those chicks came from my 2 confirmed carriers, and figured my lav roo must also be a carrier of the recessive white. Perhaps I was wrong and the white chicks came from my laced orps. I have no idea how you got that cinnamon chick. Going to be interesting to see how they feather out.

 

[ColtHandorf]

I'm very intrigued. I may have ninja-posted you as it looks like we replied within a minute of one another. I just can't begin to wrap my head around the variation showing up in nine chicks. All I can think is that somehow Sterling over Mel and Sue are producing the weird colors. Because Sterling x Duchess didn't. And Hollywood & No Name x Mel & Sue didn't at their old home.

I found a killer deal on a prefab chicken coop with an eight foot run extension ($75) that I'm picking up this weekend for the Lavenders and the one SLO from the four Orps to grow up in until they can be turned out with the rest of them. After that, I may pair the hens up one at a time with the roosters and hatch chicks through the fall and winter and test breed to see who is throwing the weird colors.

 

[CountryFlock]

The absence of the Melanotic gene in silver laced orps will produce a mostly white chicken resembling a Delaware.

 

[ColtHandorf]

That explains Columbian colored Orpingtons popping up in Silver-laced lines I suppose. Absence of the melatonic gene, but expression of the Columbian pattern? Interestingly enough the owner of CrazyEweFarms posted on BYC actually that Silver-laced birds would produce Columbian Orpingtons. Essentially the more chicks were hatched the larger the probability would be.

 

[ColtHandorf]

Duchess didn’t make it through the night. I medicated her this evening after work after cleaning her up. She seemed to feel a bit better after a dose. She perked up and moved around. She still had labored breathing but took interest in preening herself. Which I think affected her poorly as she started gasping again. I cleaned her back up and put her inside despite her interest in going back in with the other birds.

I just went to check on her before bed and she was dead after vomiting up a lot of feed. It looks like she asphyxiated on it. It was thick like oatmeal. I hope that it came up after she passed and it was peaceful for her. She’s always been a problem child but I was sad to see her like that.

 

[homeschoolin momma]

Duchess didn’t make it through the night. I medicated her this evening after work after cleaning her up. She seemed to feel a bit better after a dose. She perked up and moved around. She still had labored breathing but took interest in preening herself. Which I think affected her poorly as she started gasping again. I cleaned her back up and put her inside despite her interest in going back in with the other birds.

I just went to check on her before bed and she was dead after vomiting up a lot of feed. It looks like she asphyxiated on it. It was thick like oatmeal. I hope that it came up after she passed and it was peaceful for her. She’s always been a problem child but I was sad to see her like that.

I'm so sorry!

 

[ColtHandorf]

Thank you. It's honestly probably a bit of a blessing, because while she has always been very sweet, she's never been quite the same after the trauma she experienced from Sterling slicing her open and rearranging her insides while breeding, followed closely by Golly attacking her which resulted in her being blind for nearly three weeks. After that she's always carried herself differently and been "dull"? I'm not sure if that's a descriptor that accurately portrays what I mean. But even though she was laying and chasing bugs she always had an air of being tired, or exhausted. Like life exhausted her. If she pulled through this I was going to retire her to live in the coop/run I'm picking up on Sunday with the young kids and just be a mentor to the little ones so she'd have life easier. I knew it wasn't looking good when I got home from work. I had the medicine and went to get her and she was under the cage the Lavenders are in. I reached for her to shoo her out and realized that when she didn't move it was because she couldn't see me. Furthermore she was literally covered in feces from the kids pooping on her for who knows how long. Thankfully most of it was on her saddle. I got her undressed and cleaned her face and got some of the VetRX down her. I was a little more optimistic when after catching her breath for ten or fifteen minutes she wanted off the patio table and wandered over to the fence to stand by the others out in the larger part of the yard. I had no intention of letting her go back in with them. Her doormat personality means the roosters were compounding the issue. I brought her inside and put her in a large tub with food and water in the air conditioned mud room. I felt like the 100 degree temp and 90+% humidity was making breathing hard for her. Maybe that was wrong of me. I'd intended on letting her into the small yard during the day with food and water so she could stretch her legs and enjoy some solitude. She actually flapped and struggled a bit when I brought her through the door so she seemed like she had more energy. I've thought about it and I think that may have been what caused her to choke if that's what happened. The flapping got her coughing and then she started regurgitating. With her nostrils not clear and that thick stuff in her beak and throat I think she just couldn't breathe. :/ At least I have a chance of a full daughter from her and Sterling. I know it's silly to want a daughter who will be yellow-legged, but with 24 chicks hatched/ing in the next two weeks maybe there will be one or two.

So there hasn't been much of any general consensus in the snooty Orpington group on Facebook I'm in...lol but, we do know that one of the hens and one of the roosters has to be carrying recessive white. That explains the yellow chicks. Although they say that Silver-based, White birds should hatch with a grey cast to their down. *shrugs* It's possible that they could be Columbian too? Someone else thinks it is obvious that the parents are carrying Blue, Chocolate, or Mauve. They believe it is possible that Sterling and Duchess (same breeder) may have been splits produced in projects; although, I don't know why hatching out over twenty chicks from them never resulted in anything but Silver-laced (and those odd gold ones that come in Silver) and in this one batch it looks like I threw every Orpington variety in one pen to see what happened. lol

Is anyone familiar with either of these breeder's names, Jamie Waters and Joel Ballard? One of the white skinned roosters came from Jamie and the Mel (the hen with a legband) came from Joel (and they paid $250 for her!). I wouldn't mind reaching out to see if they recognize any of the colors or if they were working on any projects.

I'm sure @The Moonshiner can recognize the down patterns on those fluff butts. lol

 

[Faraday40]

@ColtHandorf
I'm so sorry for the loss of sweet Duchess. (From your stories, l felt like I actually knew her.) She was a good hen and at least you know she's not suffering.

I had a great little hen named "Oopsie" who was much like your Duchess. She was pretty, gentle, a great mama, and a lap chicken. Unfortunately, she was too submissive to the boys and constantly bald-backed. I ended up selling my pet hen to a backyard flock - without roosters, because I knew she'd have a better life there.

A far as the chicks, the cinnamon chick does look like a mauve, but you won't know much until they feather out. I personally like the variety. Around here, people only buy pullets and since they're limited on the number, they want "pretty" ones that they can easily tell apart.

 

[ColtHandorf]

Thanks. She was a sweet girl.

And I do like the variety, but it sure makes it hard to sell Silver-laced Orpingtons when you get five colors out of the eggs...lol I've actually had more people contact me for hatching eggs now than I did when I was just selling pure Silver-laced. Which to me is crazy. And of course they want a discount, which I don't mind because I can't tell them what they are going to get, but goodness. lol

 

[ColtHandorf]

Here are the little sprouts figuring out their food.