The IMPORTED ENGLISH Orpington Thread

[ColtHandorf]

Hi! I would like to share some of my buff and lavender Orpingtons of various ages!

Very cute. Are they English? I know a lot of people are unable to find English Buff Orpingtons.

I also forgot to mention, after catching the baby possum and taking it far, far away that the larger possum decided last night would be the night to kill a chicken. Thankfully it was one of the dozen SLO cockerels I don't need and I had someone coming to pick up today to butcher, but now I'm going to have to get rid of it...

 

[Chick_Maelle]

No, the hatchery didn’t say so I assume not. I thought I would share them anyways since they’re such a great breed. The one buff Orpington jumps up on my arm and sits down like she’s on a perch! Such a funny chick.

 

[ColtHandorf]

If they came from a hatchery then they probably aren't English. But they are still cuties.

 

[ColtHandorf]

Someone came yesterday to get all my extra cockerels and all the crosses, plus an extra blue cockerel. That was about thirty birds. I was so excited to see them leave. lol Now I just have to wait for these pullets to grow up enough to move them into the correct breed pens. I've almost got enough held back for breeders next year.

Silver-laced Orpingtons:

- Hollywood and Sterling II (m) - mature roosters
- Duchess II, Mel, Sue, Victoria, and Charlotte (f) - mature hens
- Mary, Martha, Matilda, and Mabel (f) - young pullets (12 and 15 weeks)

Blue, Black, Splash Orpingtons (also Mauve and Lavender):

- Suede II (m) - 6 month old Blue cockerel
- Agatha (f) - mature Blue hen
- Agnes (f) - 6 month Blue pullet
- Maud (f) - 6 month Mauve pullet
- Dahlia (f) - mature Black hen
- Sophia (f) - 10 week Blue Mottled pullet
- Dorcas (f) - mature Lavender hen

Chocolate Orpingtons:

- (The Duke of) Cadbury (m) - 10 weeks
- Prudence (f) - mature hen
- Marguerite and Jacqueline (f) - 10 weeks
- Godiva (f) - 15 weeks

White Orpingtons:

- Derek (m) - mature rooster
- Anne and Odette (f) - mature hens
- Elizabeth, Diana, Jane, Eleanor (f) - 12-15 week old pullets
- Leopold (m) - 12 week old cockerel

Lavender Silver-laced:

- 2 unsexed at this moment (but I'll bet on cockerels)

I also have two Blue Silver-laced project birds. I know one is a pullet and I'm fairly certain the other is as well. The older is fifteen weeks or so, and the younger one is like four? So a bit young to be sure. I'll breed them back to their "uncle" Hollywood and see what we get. The oldest pullet was out of Caspian and the youngest out of Sterling II.

I've got a few turkey poults and guinea keets on the ground too. And the guy that picked up all the "non-standard" Orpingtons (abominations) brought me seven little Chocolate Muscovy Ducklings. They are most precious.

@Faraday40 - How are you disinfecting your N360 in between use? I try to be super careful hand washing sections of it, but I can't run it through the dishwasher because of the electric components and it makes me nuts. I've been having terrible hatches and I think it is because it needs to be disinfected. I'm getting a lot of dead in shell and I can only assume it is from bacteria.

 

[Faraday40]

How are you disinfecting your N360 in between use?

Great news on the big rooster sale!

I first scrub with dish-soap & sponge (sometimes a cleaning brush if bad). Due to Covid19 and our broken dishwasher, I've been buying the detergent that's anti-bacterial. Most dish soaps are not since the main goal is greasy pots/pans not germs.

After it looks clean but still wet, I use a hydrogen peroxide wipe (like a bleach wipe) and set outside in the sun. You may be able to use a bleach wipe instead, but I haven't seen them in stores for months. Those wipes are diluted, but if you're nervous about using chemicals, the dishsoap and sunshine are probably enough. The sunlight kills bacteria and the air will evaporate chemicals.

I rinse off the the rubber shelf liner then pop it in the washer or soak in water with a bit of bleach. It will need a lot of rinsing and wringing, then it too goes outside to dry. There's no rush since it's not needed until day 18.

 

[Faraday40]

BTW- The mystery gender of the ??? lav orp has been solved.

When I closely examined her last night, I found the start of some saddle feathers. Sadly they looked pointy.

Month 1- Had large pink wattles, but could be Jewel's chick. No other male traits.
Month 2- Comb still pale and flat. No growth in wattles.... but still pink. Posture of female.
Month 3-Comb turned pink but only started to grow a little in the last 2 weeks. Legs all of a sudden looked longer. He's been sitting down a lot. My lav cockerels are pretty lazy. They run around to play and get food, but sit around the rest of the day.

It's a BOY.

 

[homeschoolin momma]

BTW- The mystery gender of the ??? lav orp has been solved.

When I closely examined her last night, I found the start of some saddle feathers. Sadly they looked pointy.

Month 1- Had large pink wattles, but could be Jewel's chick. No other male traits.
Month 2- Comb still pale and flat. No growth in wattles.... but still pink. Posture of female.
Month 3-Comb turned pink but only started to grow a little in the last 2 weeks. Legs all of a sudden looked longer. He's been sitting down a lot. My lav cockerels are pretty lazy. They run around to play and get food, but sit around the rest of the day.

It's a BOY.

Arghhh, I was wrong!!!

 

[ColtHandorf]

BTW- The mystery gender of the ??? lav orp has been solved.

I thought it was looking like a cockerel. Sometimes these English can be so tricky. I told the guy if he ended up with any pullets on the youngest birds to let me know. Lol Frankly I’m glad to not be feeding all of them. That many young birds were going through an exorbitant amount of feed a week.

 

[Faraday40]

[

Arghhh, I was wrong!!!

Me too. He was a very tricky one!

I thought male right away -around 2 weeks old. I didn't sell it because no one wants males. (When people ask for help selecting female chicks, I give them my best guess. I don't want to sell someone males if they can only own hens. ) I reconsidered the gender at 6 weeks when the pale comb refused to grow and the wattles had stayed the same. For quite a while I thought female based on stance. The past few weeks, "she" suddenly had a male vibe. The comb turned pink & grew just a little. The wattles grew and dropped. Those legs turned into stilts.

On the bright side, this new cockerel may end up as next year's breeder. Mr Potential is not quite right. He's been pooping green and feels skinny. I dewormed the flock twice last month but no change in him. He eats a lot but isn't putting on weight. Awesome seems to be the new top rooster when they're together. The biggest symptom is no hen-chasing. There's a small chance Mr Potential just matured and asks for permission now.... but I doubt that.

Normally the boys go wild as soon as they see the hens in the morning. After all, they spend the night in the garage and have no hens for a whole 10 hours! Poor, sad, lonely roosters! It drives them crazy, so there's a lot of chasing in the morning when they first see their girls. Mr Potential has been running to the food dish instead. Very unusual behavior for him.

I read that green poop could be bile. He may not be absorbing his food properly. Could be parasite, liver issue, poisoning (ate something bad or moldy in compost area) or some type of disease.

The little boy next door absolutely LOVES Mr Potential. Every night he comes outside to feed our chickens. The rooster is also very fond of the boy. If he walks along the fence, Potential follows him begging for treats. It's so precious. We've all grown to love Mr Potential, so my preference is that he gets better. However since that may not happen, a back up lav cockerel is not a bad thing.

 

[ColtHandorf]

On the bright side, this new cockerel may end up as next year's breeder.

Well that's good.

Mr Potential is not quite right. He's been pooping green and feels skinny. I dewormed the flock twice last month but no change in him. He eats a lot but isn't putting on weight. Awesome seems to be the new top rooster when they're together. The biggest symptom is no hen-chasing.

Hmmm, I hate it when someone isn't feeling good and I can't figure out why. Sometimes my males go through little spells where they aren't as interested. Usually it is when it is too hot or something.

After all, they spend the night in the garage and have no hens for a whole 10 hours! Poor, sad, lonely roosters! It drives them crazy, so there's a lot of chasing in the morning when they first see their girls.

LOL Poor boys.

The little boy next door absolutely LOVES Mr Potential. Every night he comes outside to feed our chickens. The rooster is also very fond of the boy. If he walks along the fence, Potential follows him begging for treats. It's so precious. We've all grown to love Mr Potential, so my preference is that he gets better. However since that may not happen, a back up lav cockerel is not a bad thing.

Aww, that's really cute! hopefully he gets rid of the funk and gets to feeling better. It's sad when there's a connection like that.

*****

It's been windy and a little cooler today. I've got a new sprinkler I'm going to move out to the pens and wet everything down so they can cool off better. I'll probably go let the Silver-laced birds our in a bit. The catch all pen has those new babies so they won't get out for at least another week. And the Whites and turkeys were out yesterday.

I did figure out yesterday that when the White pullets are old enough I'm going to move all the Whites over into the White pen at once. I'll pull the two Delaware hens and the Russian Orloff hen and give them to Sterling who is going to get moved into the old pen with the guineas and the geese. With the pen open and them on the big yard, I don't anticipate there being any issues. That will allow me to keep Sterling as a back-up/secondary rooster until I get another batch of SL pullets for him, and all the brown eggs in the White pen will be pure. The Blue cockerel is breeding now as well, so once Sterling is out those eggs will be pure. The Chocolate cockerel is like eight weeks old so it'll be a while before he's ready to breed so if I hatch and of Prudence's eggs they will just be Chocolate, Black, or Mauve.