The IMPORTED ENGLISH Orpington Thread

[Faraday40]

Very sad news to report....
Amid all the craziness this weekend, Mr Wonderful suddenly died. I am beside myself with grief. He was not just a pretty rooster, but our pet. He was fine in the morning. In the afternoon I found him in the nest box. Odd but sometimes my roosters do that to show the new pullets where to lay an egg. (It's very strange, but yes, I've witnessed them doing it frequently and even singing the egg song when they hop out.) I pulled Mr Wonderful out of the nest and the silly rooster strutted away out of the coop.

When I returned after dark to put the roosters to bed in the garage, I found him dead on the ground under the roost in the tall run. No blood or obvious injuries. One wing was out like he may have been using it to push himself upright. His comb was dark purple. I saved some of his pretty feathers and we buried him in the backyard.

RIP Mr Wonderful.
2017-2020

Wonderful as a chick on left. (He always had that calm masculine presence.)
He did go through an awkward phase.

He grew into the most handsome rooster I had ever seen, and his personality remained sweet and gentle.
My fav pic (American Gothic) chicken style

Tidbitting for the hens

Even on cloudy days, he brought a little light and beauty wherever he went.

Even when molting and tail-less he was "Wonderful."

 

[Faraday40]

Thankfully we have Mr Wonderful's son "Awesome" and of course Taji at @homeschoolin momma 's.

I am very grateful to have these "back up"s but still very sad over the loss.
Awesome shows no interest in crowing or breeding. (only 6 months old) Mr Wonderful was over 12 months old before any of his hens had fertile eggs. I guess I won't be able to hatch any laced orps this summer.... unless we plan a visit with Taji.

 

[ColtHandorf]

I'm so sorry to hear that he passed away.

 

[Faraday40]

Happy St. Patrick's Day! I decided to take advantage of the sunshine and take some pics.
chick pics today. My gardens are a mess but pretty much the only place where I could find a bit of green for the pics.

The odd family (MaiMai, silkie mama, her 5.5 week old orp chick, and 4.5 month old adopted serama pullet, named Solo)

and my loving little Solo who still likes to run up to my shoulder/neck to snuggle

Xansie, the silkie mama, and her 4 week old serama - still looks like a girl.

Sesame, the mama serama, and her 9 day old orpington chicks.
The black looks girl-ish and the lav gives me male vibes.... so far all have been female, so it's about time I get a male. I won't really know gender for another 3-4 weeks.

 

[ColtHandorf]

Absolutely adorable!

 

[ColtHandorf]

Well I set some more eggs last night: 10 Silver-laced, 4 White, and a handful of eggs from the mixed pen with Caspian to check fertility. Hopefully I see some development. These and Georgia's eggs have been included in the Easter Hatch-a-Long Thread.

 

[Faraday40]

Well I set some more eggs last night: 10 Silver-laced, 4 White, and a handful of eggs from the mixed pen with Caspian to check fertility. Hopefully I see some development. These and Georgia's eggs have been included in the Easter Hatch-a-Long Thread.

I'm very interested to see if any from your "white" pen will turn out laced.

I had a recessive white (named Oopsie) who should have been a mauve. When bred, none of her offspring were white - just blue, black and chocolate. I loved Oopsie but the poor hen was too passive and would allow all the roosters to breed her. She had a bare back, looked pitiful, but was so sweet. I ended up selling her as a pet. I did keep one of her beautiful chicks = our beloved Jewel. From Jewel I have occasionally had recessive white chicks if bred with an appropriate roo. Currently I may not have any roosters with the recessive white gene, so who knows if we'll get any whites this year.

 

[ColtHandorf]

I'm very interested to see if any from your "white" pen will turn out laced.

I'm hoping that breeding white to white will throw more white. Especially from the sibling pairing (Derek x Odette). Although I doubt any of her eggs will hatch. She has not figured out the nest box thing at all. She's been laying her eggs in standing water or mud. I'm not sure what Anne, the other white hen, will throw. Her legs are a slate color, versus the white the other Orpingtons have. She is an aunt to Victoria and sister to Duchess II. So she came from Silver-laced breeding also.

 

[ColtHandorf]

Well I couldn't stand it and candled the chicken eggs last night. I was definitely able to see some heartbeats in some and what looked like possible development in some others. I'll wait another week to candle again before tossing any that aren't developing. The "Yard Art Pen", Silver-laced (Caspian) x Blue, Black, Chocolate, and Lavender pullets have the largest number of developing eggs. I saw at least one heart beat in one of the White Orpington eggs and there are a few in the Silver-laced eggs. I'm not upset about the low fertility in the White eggs because Derek is young. Caspian didn't have much experience because he was penned with his father so he's still learning the ropes. Hollywood I am a bit miffed with. He's been hit and miss on breeding so I may let him cover the hens for one more setting before rotating him out. I know Sterling II was breeding well before I had to separate them. I also notice Hollywood limping yesterday after sparring with Caspian through the wire the last couple of days. His right foot is swollen but he was still successfully breeding them yesterday afternoon. I love all my boys, but I do need to find a pet home (or breeding home) for one of them.

I'm also seriously debating selling the Blue Slate Turkey trio. Me and the tom had a serious altercation yesterday that ended in both of us being covered in mud. I've never had a tom behave like this towards me and quite frankly, I'm over it.

 

[Faraday40]

@homeschoolin momma
This is the "guy" I mentioned on the serama thread. (Thought it better to post an orp pic on the orp thread.)

Hatched March 8, so not quite 3 weeks yet. I've been thinking male because so far, I've hatched 7 females & no males since October. Gotta have one male right?

"He" was freaked out and peeping for mama, so that explains the tall stance.

The color is a very nice smokey lavender or very light blue. (See how it fades but is darker on edges - like a blue orp?) I wondering if it is a mauve.....

The face shape and slight yellow hue in chick down reminds me of the SLOs (Mr Wonderful to be precise.)

I am wondering if this chick is the offspring of "Big Blue." (her parents = Jewel x Mr Wonderful) The eggs were set around the time she was sold. The father could be either Mr Wonderful (making it a blue or mauve) or Mr Potential (blue, mauve, or lav.... Jewel may have a lav gene)

So what do you guys predict as the gender?.... and color?