The IMPORTED ENGLISH Orpington Thread

[Faraday40]

My fav lav hen Darling is broody. Chicks are hatching Friday. She has been terrible about getting off the nest to take care of herself. I'm so worried!!! It's 91'F today. (Yes we went from chilly to sauna overnight)

I put a hanging waterer with nipples by her nest box but she won't drink. I tried feeding her a cold slice of apple but she wouldn't eat. My sweet hen is so thin & pale!!! Any suggestions? She's not a hen I could handle losing!

 

[ColtHandorf]

I had to take Prudence off the nest every day for about a week. After that she started doing it herself. Duchess I take off everyday and if I'm lucky after the growling is done but before she gets on the nest she'll have a quick drink. She's been breaking eggs. I'll actually have a chance tonight to candle her eggs and slip the chicks under her if that's the route I decide to go. We got some really nice cages over the weekend so at least I have something to break her up in now if she doesn't take the chicks and I need to.

I'd pick her up off the nest if she'll let you and see what happens. I offered hen scratch, eggfood, and a couple of other things to entice her to eat. She's been really stubborn. At the worst you could always take the eggs and put them in the incubator?

 

[homeschoolin momma]

My fav lav hen Darling is broody. Chicks are hatching Friday. She has been terrible about getting off the nest to take care of herself. I'm so worried!!! It's 91'F today. (Yes we went from chilly to sauna overnight)

I put a hanging waterer with nipples by her nest box but she won't drink. I tried feeding her a cold slice of apple but she wouldn't eat. My sweet hen is so thin & pale!!! Any suggestions? She's not a hen I could handle losing!

Her sister is the same way. She hasnt eaten or drunk hardly anything since ive brought her into the garage. I took her outside a few days ago and made her stayboff the nest while i cleaned coops. I saw her picking at grass, but that was it. She is so thin. I'm hoping that ee eg hatches soon! All my orp eggs appear to be infertile.

 

[ColtHandorf]

All my orp eggs appear to be infertile.

I'm having that issue too. They aren't completely infertile, as the whites and "non-standard" Orps are hatching just fine. The Silver-laced though are ending up with a lot of clear eggs and quitters in both my incubators and my friends. I was watching the other night and it seemed to me that Hollywood isn't actually mating. He grabs the hen and might climb on or not, and won't even go through the motions. He just holds them for a few seconds and then stands there next to him. I may have to swap him and Sterling out. Hollywood should only be three, but maybe that's too old for them?

Prudence ended up with eight chicks; three silver laced, one white, one Silver x blue, and three Silver x Black. I'm only hatching the non-standard colors to fill orders for pullets from individuals that just want eggs. Nine Slate turkeys hatched, and I've got eight Orp chicks out of the incubator. Another hatched yesterday from the eggs I pulled from Prudence.

I've got a bunch of stuff to do today when I get home, but hopefully I can check Duchess's eggs and either do a chick swap at night or let her keep the eggs she's on.

There's a poultry swap this weekend about an hour away. I'm not TAHC certified, but a few individuals have reached out about hatching eggs or chicks/poults/goslings. So it looks like I'll have a lot of people coming out to the house to grab eggs and birds this weekend.

 

[Faraday40]

My SLOs are also having huge fertility issues. Mr Wonderful passed, so it's up to his son Awesome. Awesome won't be a year old until the end of the summer. I'm trying to help him out by putting the SLO hens in a tractor with only him. Like "fishing in a barrel"

* 1st he makes all their heads bald. Upset hens don't lay eggs.
* Next Stromy (blue SLO) decides to grow back her head feathers.... then continues to molt the rest slowly. No eggs from her for the past month.
* Then Crystal (my adult hen) goes broody. She gets removed to sit on eggs.
* Treasure (pullet SLO) is laying very well but almost all of her eggs are clear.
* Then I get a nice SLO hen from a friend. She will go to @homeschoolin momma but since she was laying & I have a roo...... she's having a layover here. Well, perhaps the stress of the move or 1st time with a rooster caused her to stop laying. I got 2 eggs from her from the 1st few days here and then nothing. She's very sweet, so I've been calling her 'Sweetheart.' However, I'm beginning to question why she's still here since I'm not getting eggs.

I set about 10 SLO eggs in the incubator which are due to hatch tomorrow. Only 2 developed. I have no idea if they'll even hatch. About 6 days ago I set another 8 eggs. So far they all look clear, but I'm going to wait until day 10 before tossing any. (Just to be 100% sure) My lavs are doing fine.

@homeschoolin momma
'Sweetheart' is looking good. Her head has pin feathers growing back. It's doubtful that I'll get eggs anytime soon, so the next time we see each other, plan to add a hen. Perhaps Taj can do the job and you can send me some Blizzard & Sweetheart eggs later this summer.

I can't believe it's June and I have yet to hatch a single SLO. It hasn't been for lack of trying. I started in Feb when my bantams started going broody, and I have been setting their eggs ever since. (Back then, my lav roo had a preference for the exotic laced hens, so their chicks were all black.)

 

[Faraday40]

I had my 4H Cloverbuds over today. We talked chickens, learned the parts of an egg, and candled some developing eggs. The classs went well and they looked adorable in their little masks!! (Life during Covid19)

I brought the incubator outside and 3 chicks just happened to hatch during the hour the kids were here. I couldn't ask for better timing.

The NR360 incubator works well for the seramas but is so short for my orps.
Only the serama can stand up. The poor lav orp hits its head just by sitting.

On a sad note, Darling left the nest today. It looks like her only egg hatched. I found a dead lav orp in the run. It was still wet from hatching. Not sure if Darling did it or if the chick was discovered by another hen when Darling was off the nest. And why would she leave just as the chick hatched???

Not sure if I should move another chick under her. (She's back in the nest now.) This hatch was supposed to be hers.

 

[ColtHandorf]

My SLOs are also having huge fertility issues.

I'm sorry, that sucks. Is he successfully mating with them? Or has he just not gotten the hang of it very well? I've noticed almost everyone of Victoria's eggs are infertile when I set them. But I've also never seen Hollywood breed her. I don't think she'll let him. And she lays the biggest eggs. He does breed Duchess, her mother, Mel and Sue, and the "new" pullet I still haven't named. I really should do that now that I'm thinking about it.

I set about 10 SLO eggs in the incubator which are due to hatch tomorrow. Only 2 developed. I have no idea if they'll even hatch. About 6 days ago I set another 8 eggs. So far they all look clear, but I'm going to wait until day 10 before tossing any. (Just to be 100% sure) My lavs are doing fine.

I set the N360 the last time, completely full of eggs. I tossed over half the eggs in there and all but two in the Brinsea. I took almost 60 eggs to my friend with a cabinet and she tossed 19 clears and quitters on the first candling. I'm going to clean the incubator up tonight, carton up the freshest eggs to sell to the vendors at the poultry swap tomorrow, and set whatever is left tomorrow.

I can't believe it's June and I have yet to hatch a single SLO. It hasn't been for lack of trying. I started in Feb when my bantams started going broody, and I have been setting their eggs ever since.

I really feel you. My first two sets were completely clear this spring. Then I got some really good hatches off but I'm getting a lot of Recessive Whites popping up in the SLO pen. Which is great, because I need more pullets, but out of the first set of chicks, all the SLO were cockerels except one. Thankfully the White is a pullet. As is the little Blue girl fathered by Caspian. She get's prettier every day.

I had my 4H Cloverbuds over today. We talked chickens, learned the parts of an egg, and candled some developing eggs. The classs went well and they looked adorable in their little masks!! (Life during Covid19)

Aww that sounds fun! I used to do 4-H when I was much younger. We had a really small show, so the only poultry were broilers. I usually showed rabbits which did have a meat and a breeding class so that was more fun.

The NR360 incubator works well for the seramas but is so short for my orps.
Only the serama can stand up. The poor lav orp hits its head just by sitting.

My Orps don't seem to have too much trouble in there. But once they are running amok it does get crowded quick. I left the turner in this time and that seemed to help tremendously with the chicks not rolling the eggs all over creation.

If I didn't mention, out of the six eggs I took from Prudence so she'd get off the nest with the chicks that had hatched, I did end up with one more chick. I went to candle the eggs under Duchess last night and low and behold, eleven of them were fertile. Which I suppose I should expect since she never gets off the nest, ever! I pried her off of them last night and sat her butt down in front of the water and she just drank and drank. *rolls eyes* Drives me crazy. As soon as these babies hatch I'll be so glad because then she'll have to eat. I've never had a broody that poops on the nest or gave me this much trouble taking care of herself while she was incubating. And of course she's the loud, obnoxious broody that puffs up and screams like a dragon queen before she starts biting you. Prudence just fussed gently and did the little high pitched "I'm annoyed, don't touch me" noise.

On a sad note, Darling left the nest today. It looks like her only egg hatched. I found a dead lav orp in the run. It was still wet from hatching. Not sure if Darling did it or if the chick was discovered by another hen when Darling was off the nest. And why would she leave just as the chick hatched???

Not sure if I should move another chick under her. (She's back in the nest now.) This hatch was supposed to be hers.

That's so odd. Prudence lost one when she was still on the nest. A little SLO of course. The other eight have been doing well. I can only hope that Duchess will be as successful. I've been having to help Prudence take the babies to bed each night because they haven't all figured out the little ramp up into the nestbox area of the prefab coop. I went out yesterday evening to help her get them wrangled up and she'd decided to sleep on the floor under the coop with them. All of Amanda's Silkies and my oldest started Orpingtons had evicted her and were sleeping up there. I need more pens! lol

 

[ColtHandorf]

Prudence and babies:

 

[Faraday40]

Picture Time!

Cookie & her Chicks:

Gender guesses??? Comb & feather growth say female. Red wattles scream male.

Cookie stands tall to prove she's still the enforcer.

Cute turkey

Mr Potential is turning into a handsome rooster.

.... and after posing so big & strong, he walked away with a feather dragging behind him. Looked silly like someone coming out of the bathroom with a trail of TP stuck to a shoe.

Some updated pics of little lonely only.
(Since Darling went broody and is adopting the incubator chicks, I slipped one more under her.) The serama's crying out for her quail siblings, but I feel it's time for her to bond with some chickens.

 

[Faraday40]

From the current hatch I had only 2 SLO eggs develop. I also had a bunch of lav eggs (from which I am hoping for a blk/lav split hen)

Well I got excited to see a black.... until I realized it hatched from one of the SLO eggs. I started collecting about 12 days after separating the orps. I guess Mr Potential was the Daddy.

Only about 1/2 the seramas are hatching. I am wondering if I have the lethal short legged gene. I read something about it a while ago. One copy is OK but 2 causes the chick to die right before hatching. Today was hatch day, so there's still plenty of time left for more to pop out. We'll see.