The IMPORTED ENGLISH Orpington Thread

[ColtHandorf]

First few babies out.

More have joined the party...

Look at them! They are so cute. And I'm thrilled with so many Whites. Maybe I'll get some more pullets to help the hens out.

Except this one. This one is not cute. Everyone meet Fawkes. Fawkes is a jerk. Fawkes picks at all of its siblings eyes. Constantly. Fawkes is now in prison because it was making the other babies bleed. Don't be like Fawkes. lol Her new mom is coming to get her this afternoon to live with some chicks about a week older to hopefully firmly, but gently put her in her place.

 

[ColtHandorf]

So this weekend was busy. I refilled all the incubators, So I've got Turkey eggs in one, and Orpington eggs in two of them. I moved Prudence into a coop with eggs and she's staying on them. However, I don't think she's eating or drinking. So at lunch today i'm going to pull her off the next. Her food hasn't been touched and her face looks pale.

Amanda got a pair of Buff/Blue Silkies, two pairs of Lemon Blue Bantam Cochins, and three pairs of Seramas this weekend. One pair came with their four two-week old chicks. They are absolutely the cutest things ever. I adore them. I set her Silkies up in a tractor and the Cochins are in a small temporary pen. The Seramas are in the bird room, caged indoors for right now. So @Faraday40 tell me all about Seramas! lol

 

[Honora]

First few babies out.

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More have joined the party...

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Look at them! They are so cute. And I'm thrilled with so many Whites. Maybe I'll get some more pullets to help the hens out.

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Except this one. This one is not cute. Everyone meet Fawkes. Fawkes is a jerk. Fawkes picks at all of its siblings eyes. Constantly. Fawkes is now in prison because it was making the other babies bleed. Don't be like Fawkes. lol Her new mom is coming to get her this afternoon to live with some chicks about a week older to hopefully firmly, but gently put her in her place.

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Beautiful chicks! Sorry to hear about the evil one but I’m glad you found her a new home

 

[ColtHandorf]

Well the little ones are enjoying having the whole brooder to themselves without a tub taking up half of it. Little Fawkes went to love with the other babies at a friend's house and is doing just fine. I got everyone watered and fed this afternoon just in time for it to rain this morning. Hopefully it quits by this afternoon and I can let one of the pens out on the grass. I've found if I let them out in the morning, they spend most of their day in the barn. If I wait until after three they'll actually come out and range around.

The older set of babies are picking at each other which is driving me nuts. I want to get them on the ground, but I'm having a hard time figuring out where to put them since the tractor is being used by Amanda's Silkie pair for the time being. I don't think they'd pick at them, but I'm not sure.

 

[Faraday40]

@ColtHandorf
Your chick bin looks good. Glad you found a new home for the little bully.

Even though I think they look weird, you'll love the silkies. I call them my original "Useless chickens." The only goal in a silkie's life is to be cuddled. Seriously! When DD's silkie sees us, she will cry & whine until someone picks her up, then completely mold herself to our arms. (Kind of goes limp & floppy) Silkies will get underfoot & in the way - but's it's so endearing you can't help but love them. They can't see well & can easily fall prey to predators which is their biggest drawback. We have a 2nd silkie who is sweet & also likes to be cuddled..... but she's very dumb. Silkies like to go broody so they can be helpful in addition to being a companion animal. So technically they're not completely useless.

Seramas are my "useless chickens" They lay pretty well when not broody but the eggs are small. They can't take much below freezing, so you'll need to provide some heat or bring them inside for winter. They are fun & friendly but each may have a different personality. Some like chilling on your lap, some like to burrow into your arms, and others can't stand being held (confinement) but will gladly fly up onto your arm when called or follow you everywhere. They make a wide assortment of noises. They LOVE to reproduce. It's hard not to let your numbers get out of control. The roos mate a lot, the hens easily go broody, the chicks mature pretty quickly (and mama may leave them at 4 weeks to begin laying and restart the cycle), and the eggs are so cute you'll want to set some every time you refill your incubator. There's also some variety in appearance so you won't know the chick's color until it hatches.

 

[Faraday40]

Speaking of hatching, I really must post my May 1st chicks for sale. Cookie is a good mama, but I'd prefer a lot less chicks so I can put them out in the coop.

This afternoon I got my 1st 3 chicks in the NR360. (Due tomorrow morning) My laced orp Crystal is sitting on a few eggs & will get whatever hatches. BTW - one chick was the serama egg I slipped at last min. This hatch is lavs & black/lav splits & maybe a blue.

We are also collecting for DS's second trial for his 4H project.

 

[ColtHandorf]

I'll let her know abut your experience with them. The little Silkie cockerel was crowing this morning. He sounds like a toy. So cute. She got her first egg from the Seramas and was very pleased with them.

I think I'll do two more big hatches on Orpingtons for myself and after that sell most everything I set or sell hatching eggs. Out of the older set it looks like the two Blacks out of Caspian x Dahlia are a pair. The Blue out of Caspian x Agatha looks like a pullet. It's hard to be sure, but she looks like she has some lacing going on. I'm hoping to breed her back to one of the Silver-laced Roosters in the fall and see what those chicks look like. The little White looks to be a pullet. Out of the Silver-laced two are for sure cockerels and one is a pullet. The other one I'm up in the air on, but leaning towards a cockerel.

The younger chicks are growing quickly. I'm going to have to graduate them to a larger tub by this weekend I think. I'll probably move them out into the big water trough in the bird room where they'll have more room to spread out. Fawkes (the little one that was picking on eyes) seems to be doing great at her new home and isn't bothering any of her new brooder mates. Which is awesome. My friend asked me how much she owed for her and I just laughed. I'm not charging her for a problem child. I even told her that if it turned out to be a cockerel I'd give her a pullet just for raising it up. She declined though and said she'd buy some babies from me once she knew the sex.

All the big Orpingtons are doing well. The Silver-laced pen is averaging four eggs a day out of five hens which is lovely. Sterling II has integrated nicely in Caspian's old pen for the time being. The girls still aren't super sure about him, but they are laying. The Whites and Blue Slate Turkeys are laying sporadically. The younger turkey hen lays almost every other day. I've candled the eggs of hers that I set and saw a few that are questionably fertile. I'll give them another week before peeking again. Prudence is sitting on her 15-16 eggs quite well. i am pulling her off the nest twice a day for eating and drinking as she doesn't seem to be doing it on her own. I put her on the eggs Saturday night and by Monday morning she was very pale and wasn't opening her eyes. So after this round of being broody I may not let her go again. We'll just have to see. I'm hoping she just wasn't getting off the nest because she was unsure of the new coop and where food and water was. Hopefully moving her off the nest twice a day for the first week will encourage her to get off the nest on her own. If not, I'll have to break her up or keep bringing her to the food and water. It will be nice to see a broody with chicks again though. It's been fifteen years since my last one.

The four new birds (Mauve pullet and three blues) are doing well too. They've integrated decently with Amanda's bantams. I'm still not 100% sure they are two pairs. The largest blue that was supposed to be a cockerel isn't as developed as the for sure cockerel that is 2-3 weeks younger. So we'll see. I like the color on the younger bird anyway.

The Lavender Silver-laced should be coming up in the next week or so. If my friend can't bring them, I guess I'll drive down and get them myself. And my friend with the blue flock she wanted to sell is going to hatch a set of chicks for me to get some unrelated blues and hopefully a a nice dark rooster like Suede.

 

[Faraday40]

It's time for musical chicks!


All 9 incubator orps hatched (plus one serama who's bunking with some quail for now)
6 lav, 2 black, & one blue orp

I put them under hen Crystal and didn't have time to take good pics since it's cooler than normal outside.

Crystal's bantam egg hatched this morning. (Turned out to be a serama not a silkie mix like I had thought.) I also moved that serama in with the quail.

Then I brought the 2 pipped orp eggs under Crystal into the incubator. I was afraid Crystal would leave the nest with all the newly added chicks. The last 2 eggs came from my laced pullet, but she was probably fertilized by the lav orp. Likely they'll be black, but there's a small chance of laced.



Incubator Notes:
The shelf liner I added seemed to have no effect on hatch rate. Every egg that was fertile hatched. But, the eggs did have a shiny wear spot around the middle due to turning.

I removed the chicks very shortly after the last hatched. This was an active group that enjoyed playing soccer with their unhatched siblings. There were only 9 orps but it was quite a party. I think 22 "normal sized" chicks could work, but truly doubt 22 orps could move in such a small space. When standing, the chicks are so tall that they had to crawl under the center. You can see my height concerns in this pic.

The 360 view is nice to see and interact with chicks.... BUT the misc. floating chick fluff quickly sticks to the sides, so hard to take pics after a few have hatched & dried. Also camera flash glare from dome shape. My Coolerbator is still the best for photos.

Since the main goal is incubating and hatching chicks, I say this is an excellent incubator. Can't beat 100% hatch rate. It's also pretty easy to clean. The lid has all the electronics and gets wiped. The bottom with the water trays and hatching debris can be thoroughly washed in the sink. (Refill water, turn back on, heat it up, and then add more eggs. LOL) It has auto everything and is easy to use. The only thing I had to do was add water - especially at lockdown.

 

[Riv-6]

I'll let her know abut your experience with them. The little Silkie cockerel was crowing this morning. He sounds like a toy. So cute. She got her first egg from the Seramas and was very pleased with them.

I think I'll do two more big hatches on Orpingtons for myself and after that sell most everything I set or sell hatching eggs. Out of the older set it looks like the two Blacks out of Caspian x Dahlia are a pair. The Blue out of Caspian x Agatha looks like a pullet. It's hard to be sure, but she looks like she has some lacing going on. I'm hoping to breed her back to one of the Silver-laced Roosters in the fall and see what those chicks look like. The little White looks to be a pullet. Out of the Silver-laced two are for sure cockerels and one is a pullet. The other one I'm up in the air on, but leaning towards a cockerel.

The younger chicks are growing quickly. I'm going to have to graduate them to a larger tub by this weekend I think. I'll probably move them out into the big water trough in the bird room where they'll have more room to spread out. Fawkes (the little one that was picking on eyes) seems to be doing great at her new home and isn't bothering any of her new brooder mates. Which is awesome. My friend asked me how much she owed for her and I just laughed. I'm not charging her for a problem child. I even told her that if it turned out to be a cockerel I'd give her a pullet just for raising it up. She declined though and said she'd buy some babies from me once she knew the sex.

All the big Orpingtons are doing well. The Silver-laced pen is averaging four eggs a day out of five hens which is lovely. Sterling II has integrated nicely in Caspian's old pen for the time being. The girls still aren't super sure about him, but they are laying. The Whites and Blue Slate Turkeys are laying sporadically. The younger turkey hen lays almost every other day. I've candled the eggs of hers that I set and saw a few that are questionably fertile. I'll give them another week before peeking again. Prudence is sitting on her 15-16 eggs quite well. i am pulling her off the nest twice a day for eating and drinking as she doesn't seem to be doing it on her own. I put her on the eggs Saturday night and by Monday morning she was very pale and wasn't opening her eyes. So after this round of being broody I may not let her go again. We'll just have to see. I'm hoping she just wasn't getting off the nest because she was unsure of the new coop and where food and water was. Hopefully moving her off the nest twice a day for the first week will encourage her to get off the nest on her own. If not, I'll have to break her up or keep bringing her to the food and water. It will be nice to see a broody with chicks again though. It's been fifteen years since my last one.

The four new birds (Mauve pullet and three blues) are doing well too. They've integrated decently with Amanda's bantams. I'm still not 100% sure they are two pairs. The largest blue that was supposed to be a cockerel isn't as developed as the for sure cockerel that is 2-3 weeks younger. So we'll see. I like the color on the younger bird anyway.

The Lavender Silver-laced should be coming up in the next week or so. If my friend can't bring them, I guess I'll drive down and get them myself. And my friend with the blue flock she wanted to sell is going to hatch a set of chicks for me to get some unrelated blues and hopefully a a nice dark rooster like Suede.

Lavender Silver-Laced Orpington sounds so pretty I've never seen one before. Do you have any pictures? The Silver-Laces alone are gorgeous

 

[Faraday40]

Then I brought the 2 pipped orp eggs under Crystal into the incubator. I was afraid Crystal would leave the nest with all the newly added chicks. The last 2 eggs came from my laced pullet, but she was probably fertilized by the lav orp. Likely they'll be black, but there's a small chance of laced.

The 2 eggs from my SLO hatched out black like I thought, so the lav roo was definately mating her. (I guess he prefers the exotic girls)

Time to wash out the incubators and set more eggs.