The IMPORTED ENGLISH Orpington Thread

[Faraday40]

Of course while taking all these pics, you're bound to get a few weird ones like:

A 4 Legged Chicken

and a centipede chicken

 

[PlainOrpingtons2018]

Here's a color question.

I'm trying to decide who to keep.

This 1st laced girl is came from my blue orp's daughter x my SLO roo. Obviously a laced female.... but does she have blue or black lacing? I have had some pretty dark blues that looked black at hatch but lightened to blue as their feathers grew in.

If she's a blue SLO I'd like to keep her. If black, then I have ones with nicer shiny lacing.

I always thought she had black lacing but now when I look at her butt fluff, I'm beginning to wonder...

View attachment 1922191

Here's a med blue pullet : (aka my bowling ball)
View attachment 1922188
Here are a few of them together. (Yes they are related)

View attachment 1922189 View attachment 1922190




and here's "Peek" a very sweet SLO with black lacing
View attachment 1922192


So my question:

What color is the 1st laced pullet?

Yes, the 1st laced pullet seems to be blue, the only way to be sure is to test breed her once she’s old enough.

Put her in with a blue cock, If you get Splash babies, she’s blue. Or with a splash cock, if you get splash babies than she’s blue

 

[Faraday40]

Yes, the 1st laced pullet seems to be blue, the only way to be sure is to test breed her once she’s old enough.

Put her in with a blue cock, If you get Splash babies, she’s blue. Or with a splash cock, if you get splash babies than she’s blue

I don't have much experience breeding blue orps. (Just the one hen - who's technically mauve - bred to a black or lav rooster)

So is it common to get diff shades of blue? The reg blue pullet in the pics above could be identified as a blue by its down & then feathers. I've also had some blue chicks look like black orps at hatch. Even the first 1-2cm of feather growth looked black, but sometime between 2-6 weeks they changed.


This is the mom. She came from my blue/mauve orp and then bred back to the laced.

This was the resulting chick at hatch. (Also some of the 3wk old laced are her full siblings)

Here she was at 4 weeks (blue orp was 6 wks)

This was 2 weeks ago. The lacing looks black but the butt fluff started to lighten.

 

[ColtHandorf]

She looks like a Blue Silver-laced to me. I'd hang on to her. You can always find her a home as a layer in someone's flock later if it turns out we were wrong.

My Orps all look awful with their molts. Everyone was ready to get turned out on the yard this morning before I left for work including Dahlia, Suede, and all the young ones. I moved my last two to hatch out this weekend. They are a three weeks old or so and my dining room smelled like chickens. lol

Suede was limping this morning, which was really annoying. I was at work late yesterday and stayed in town until after dark, so I didn't see them yesterday except for a few minutes in the morning when he was doing just fine. I'm not sure what to do for him other than move him into the tractor where the juveniles are now. It always sucks when heavy males do something to their legs. I did notice him sleeping on the floor (which isn't unusual) last night, but I'm definitely going to keep an eye on him.

 

[PlainOrpingtons2018]

I don't have much experience breeding blue orps. (Just the one hen - who's technically mauve - bred to a black or lav rooster)

So is it common to get diff shades of blue? The reg blue pullet in the pics above could be identified as a blue by its down & then feathers. I've also had some blue chicks look like black orps at hatch. Even the first 1-2cm of feather growth looked black, but sometime between 2-6 weeks they changed.


This is the mom. She came from my blue/mauve orp and then bred back to the laced.
View attachment 1922454
This was the resulting chick at hatch. (Also some of the 3wk old laced are her full siblings)
View attachment 1922452

Here she was at 4 weeks (blue orp was 6 wks)
View attachment 1922468

This was 2 weeks ago. The lacing looks black but the butt fluff started to lighten.
View attachment 1922473

Blues tend to range in color, they can be so dark that they look black, or so light that they look lavender. Only way to know is to pair them with Splash, and if you get splash babies then you’ll now for sure!

I really do think the silver laced pullet is blue, even next to the blue pullet she doesn’t look black laced

 

[ColtHandorf]

I really do think the silver laced pullet is blue, even next to the blue pullet she doesn’t look black laced

I agree.

Well I have bad news. I got home from work yesterday and Sterling just looked like hammered poop. He obviously didn't do a thing all day but lay there. He was really dehydrated and his comb and wattles were a dark purple-red. Diminished is the first word that came to mind when describing him. I freshened up everyone's water and feed and once everyone was settled down I checked him out. I got him up on his feet and he was putting some weight on his right leg (the one he wouldn't put any on yesterday morning) and limped over to the closest waterer (about five feet away). He stood and drank on and off for a good twenty minutes. I got a little worried when the geese came over because they can sometimes be unnecessarily obnoxious but to my surprise they flanked him on both sides and wouldn't let anyone else come over to push him off the water. They've always been really gentle with him, even when they were breeding and Golly was on a mission to murder all the other chickens. Anyway, I stayed out there with him for a while and he seemed to be perking up as he drank. I popped back out of the house at dark-thirty to make sure he hadn't just laid down in the run and fallen asleep. I found him bedded down in the chicken house near the feeder with a few of the Lavenders that still sleep on the floor. I didn't disturb him, but I'd thought he had probably been eating. So I was hoping he'd be feeling better this morning and be back to his normal self by the weekend. Sadly I found him almost in the same spot this morning when I went out, passed away near the feeder. I know I should count it as a blessing in the breeding department as he wasn't perfect, but I do have two of his and Duchess's sons growing out right now, bright yellow legs and all. I know I shouldn't but I'm hoping that one or both of them are as good looking as their parents so I can get a season's worth of pullets from them over the unrelated hens. I informed them they had some very big shoes to fill this morning.

 

[Faraday40]

@ColtHandorf


RIP dear Sterling.
He was a good boy and will be missed.

 

[ColtHandorf]

Thank you. He was a good boy. I have no idea what would have caused him to go down hill so quickly unless Monday ( I wasn't home so didn't see him) and Tuesday were just too much for him.

 

[Cryss]

I'm so sorry.

 

[ColtHandorf]

Thanks @Cryss. He got a proper send off with a Viking funeral yesterday evening when I got home from work. I felt like I had to cut down half a tree to get enough wood to burn, but the deed was done under the setting sun with much pomp and circumstance.

Hollywood isn't sure what to do with his new promotion. He's enjoying having unfettered access to the ladies, but he certainly isn't a gentleman. Sterling would court them and woo them in before gently breeding them. Hollywood is a run and grab sort of fellow. I think he learned that being the lowest in the hierarchy. I'm hoping as he learns he doesn't have to be worried about another rooster knocking him off he will slow down and be sweet and gentle. I haven't actually seen him successfully breed any of them. Dahlia (the black pullet) wouldn't let any of the roosters near her to breed, bar Suede, and he's much too young to even be thinking about it yet. He hasn't started crowing yet either. Anyway he was chasing her yesterday but she wasn't having any of it. I hadn't been saving eggs to hatch and of course I've got a dozen in the fridge I could have in the incubator, but I wasn't expecting to lose Sterling. So now I'm saving them up for one last hatch. I do think the two youngest chicks (the last hatch) are going to be pullets.

Now that it's drying up and the area in front of the barn has been mowed I'm seriously contemplating turning it into three breeding pens. I meant to grab pictures this morning to see what everyone on here thought, but I'll have to grab them this afternoon after work. It's going to take some work, but I love the idea.