The IMPORTED ENGLISH Orpington Thread

[ColtHandorf]

How did everyone's weekend go? My birds seemed less than enthused with the time change. I now I was. I was ready for bed at like 6:15 last night...lol

My two little eggs are still developing well. Fingers crossed both of them are pullets. The older two outside are looking nice. I'm hoping when we've got some good weather for a bit that I'll be able to get them on the ground. But I'm ok with them staying up on wire for right now while it's been wet.

I'm thinking this morning that both the Silver-laced (Sterling Jr. and sibling) are going to be cockerels. The second one still had a pale comb until this morning where it seems to be getting quite red. Still not sure on the whites. I'm thinking a pair. But I'll grab some photos when it's sunny and see what you all think.

The older birds are doing well. Dahlia is laying almost every other day. Which has been nice. I'm not saving them for hatching, but it means I've had eggs for baking. Mel and Sue are finishing up their molts. Victoria is still a grumpy POL pullet. I wish she'd start up. Suede is molting his hackles. I'm holding my breath to see how much red comes in. :/ The Weird Sisters are still weird. lol But at least they've got bed time down.

 

[ColtHandorf]

Rain, rain go away... I spent hours after dark yesterday getting more wood chips down in preparation for the 100% chance of rain today. It was lightning and thundering as I worked. I also repaired a couple of sections of gutter so I wouldn't get the massive puddles where I shouldn't. The birds were less than enthused with the amount of rain this morning. They looked wretched.

Dahlia is regularly laying while the two older SLO hens haven't contributed to the egg basket in a long while. Her eggs are definitely very round. You can discern the pointed end from the end with the air cell so I'm not anticipating any issues with hatching them. Have any of you experienced issues with eggs that are not the traditional shape?

My two Sterling hopefuls are still developing and should be hatching soon. I'll have to check the calendar to double-check the hatch date. I can't remember off the top of my head. It should be the beginning of next week though.

All the younger birds seem to be doing well. I switched them from regular grower/starter to the broiler feed as it's higher in protein. I'm hoping that helps the older gals and Hollywood who are molting and the younger birds to fill out and stay warm for the winter. We are supposed to be 20 degrees on Monday.

 

[Faraday40]

We're already getting nights in the 20s. Daytime highs below 32'F. We had a nice day in the 50s, so I was able to blow out the hoses & put up the remaining storm windows on the run. On Sat & Sun we may see temps in the low 40s, but otherwise it will be below freezing for a long time. Winter's here. (Still need to rake up all those wet, frozen leaves. )

BTW- This was DS Trick-or-Treating on Halloween. The snow has since melted but he insisted on getting out there to collect candy.

The coop with the windows added

My youngest chicks are 9 wks & seem to be cold but OK. They're still with their mommy(s) so that's helping keep them warm. Although the same age, my lav orp chicks are so much bigger than the laced orps.

I'm slowly getting the flock numbers down. I need to lighten my load due to some family matters that require more of my attention. I wish more people on this thread lived closer so I could spread them out. I prefer selling or giving them to other BYC friends so that I can see them grow up via posted pics. When i sell them via Craigslist, some get wonderful homes & I receive email. Others I never see again & wonder how they're doing.


My choc orp is molting. Poor gal is naked & lost all her butt fluff. She looks so skinny compared to her normal self.

Cupcake continues to look better.

Cupcake one month ago

@ColtHandorf I'm glad you're getting some eggs and hope Sterling's offspring hatch for you. Yes, I can usually identify which egg came from which hen. One lav has a narrow, bullet pink egg. The other lav has slight spots. One orp doesn't have as much pink wash, so hers look more tan. My blue gives eggs so symmetrical that I cannot guess the wide / narrow end. My laced lay very round eggs. The size diff & slight color diff is the only way I can tell those apart. But when separated into breeding groups, I at least know they'll all be laced orp eggs.

@ColtHandorf Did you keep any of your gold laced orps? If yes, could you post some pics. Mine is looking good and debating whether to keep or sell her. (I'll try to take & post a pic of her soon.) Her blind bantam mama passed away, so I moved her in with the reg flock. She misses her bantam buddies, but she is just too big for their little coop.

 

[ColtHandorf]

Did you keep any of your gold laced orps?

All of mine as they continued to feather out lost all the gold and are Silver. It's quite baffling. I'd keep her just because she's unique and beautiful.

I'm glad to know mine aren't the only rough looking girls. Sue looks down right wretched at the moment. And Hollywood isn't far behind. He's molted all his tail feathers and looks slope-backed when he's standing. I just want everyone to be round and beautiful again and to see the kids all grown up and gorgeous.

I'll have to post some pics from Halloween. We dressed up at the office and had a Homecoming Door/Hallway decorating contest the week before.

 

[ColtHandorf]

Here are the hallway decorations for Homecoming where we got second place for Most Creative and part of the PMO team that dressed up as M&M’s for Halloween. Plus a bonus image of little me as the same thing. I guess repeating a costume isn’t so bad. Lol

 

[ColtHandorf]

I'm slowly getting the flock numbers down. I need to lighten my load due to some family matters that require more of my attention. I wish more people on this thread lived closer so I could spread them out. I prefer selling or giving them to other BYC friends so that I can see them grow up via posted pics. When i sell them via Craigslist, some get wonderful homes & I receive email. Others I never see again & wonder how they're doing.

Well if I'm ever up that way or you're down this way I'd love to get some from you. Of course I'd settle for eggs too...lol

 

[Faraday40]

@ColtHandorf Were you the green both times?

Here's Glow, my golden girl:

If you remember her chick pics, she was one ugly, awkward bird. Her lacing is not crisp and some areas are more spangled than laced. However, I actually wanted some gold laced orps and she's a sweety. (Don't let the grumpy orp face fool you! She's a cuddler.)

 

[ColtHandorf]

Such a grump face! lol And yes, I was the green both times. lol

 

[flgardengirl]

Glow is so pretty. I like her black ruffly petticoat lol.

 

[flgardengirl]

My Orp babies will be three weeks tomorrow. I will have to get some new pics this weekend.