The IMPORTED ENGLISH Orpington Thread

[ColtHandorf]

Colt:
Your animations are great!

I like to think so. I'm just collecting eggs to set myself.

 

[Faraday40]

I realize I don't need to hatch, but I couldn't resist doing a small test hatch. The eggs were started about 9 days ago

Orp eggs: 9 developing, 3 are probably not. (For January eggs with below zero temps, that's not bad!)
Bantam eggs: 0 out of 6 developing. I believe most eggs came from my silkies who are a bit big for my serama rooster. However, I'm a little concerned about his fertility now.
Leghorn eggs: 1 out of 4 developing.

I'm curious about the possible father of the Leghorn egg. The orp males are usually too big and I have never had a fertile Leghorn egg before. I have a hardy serama out there, so it's most likely his offspring. I never planned to keep Pipsqueak, so he got to be self sufficient and free range with the big chickens. He LOVES his big hens! I decided he could stay until it got too cold. As we got down into the single digits, Pipsqueak was still going strong. He spent most of his time snuggled under the orp hens. At night, he goes into the garage and cuddles with his buddy - my lav orp rooster. I actually felt sorry for him the 1st night it was dropping below zero. I considered preventively culling him, but instead I brought him in the house to be with Mr. Squeaky. He really roughed up Mr Squeaky and tore off a comb point. Pipsqueak went back outside into the unheated coop and is still going strong. In my opinion, he's too big to keep as a serama breeder, but he's so pretty and friendly (to people) that I couldn't cull without a better reason.

I noticed about half of my Leghorn eggs have bullseyes, which is why some went into the incubator. Pipsqueak is about 20 oz so closer to a bantam Old English Game in size.

I'm fine with him mating my medium hens- like Leghorns, EE, and Spitzhauben. (He's afraid and won't go near Trouble- my Sebright) Do I need to worry about him successfully mating my orp hens? or will nature and size make that a moot point?



Some nights I have a very hard time locating him.
Where's Pipsqueak?

Hint:


Every night, I have to feel around under each orp to play his game of hide and seek.

 

[ColtHandorf]

I realize I don't need to hatch, but I couldn't resist doing a small test hatch. The eggs were started about 9 days ago

Orp eggs: 9 developing, 3 are probably not. (For January eggs with below zero temps, that's not bad!)
Bantam eggs: 0 out of 6 developing. I believe most eggs came from my silkies who are a bit big for my serama rooster. However, I'm a little concerned about his fertility now.
Leghorn eggs: 1 out of 4 developing.

Not too shabby! I'm setting tonight I think.

I'm fine with him mating my medium hens- like Leghorns, EE, and Spitzhauben. (He's afraid and won't go near Trouble- my Sebright) Do I need to worry about him successfully mating my orp hens? or will nature and size make that a moot point?

I don't think so. My Silkie cockerel liked his girls big, but I don't think there's any way that a Serama could breed an English Orpington hen.

Some nights I have a very hard time locating him.
Where's Pipsqueak?

That's adorable!

So cute, squished up in there. lol

Every night, I have to feel around under each orp to play his game of hide and seek.

I'm sure the girls enjoy that. Haha

 

[Faraday40]

That's adorable!

So cute, squished up in there. lol

I'm sure the girls enjoy that. Haha

Last night when I walked into the coop to grab him, he popped up his head and then went back down into the orp fluff like a prairie dog. Such a funny situation.

 

[ColtHandorf]

He sounds like a complete toot. lol

 

[Faraday40]

Orp eggs: 9 developing, 3 are probably not. (For January eggs with below zero temps, that's not bad!)
Bantam eggs: 0 out of 6 developing. I believe most eggs came from my silkies who are a bit big for my serama rooster. However, I'm a little concerned about his fertility now.
Leghorn eggs: 1 out of 4 developing.

So far:
12 orp eggs set= 9 fertile - 3 quitters = 6 chicks
6 bantam eggs set = zero fertile
4 leghorn eggs set = 1 developed ..... waiting for pip/hatch

Poor silkie has been on eggs for 5-6 weeks. She'll be happy to finally be a mama. Adoption in process.

 

[ColtHandorf]

So far:
12 orp eggs set= 9 fertile - 3 quitters = 6 chicks
6 bantam eggs set = zero fertile
4 leghorn eggs set = 1 developed ..... waiting for pip/hatch

Poor silkie has been on eggs for 5-6 weeks. She'll be happy to finally be a mama. Adoption in process.

I just set 20+ dozen eggs yesterday. Lord help me if they all hatch.

 

[Faraday40]

I just set 20+ dozen eggs yesterday. Lord help me if they all hatch.

..... and I thought my hatching addiction was bad! LOL

My orp fertility is never high in Jan, so I didn't expect many. The chicks were mainly to make my silkie happy. I usually get people asking to buy hens in spring/summer (They don't want to wait for eggs.) My hope is to sell or eat these in June.

I'm trying to resist hatching more until I get the orps into designated breeding groups. It looks like the lav orp may be the daddy. This year, my laced hens have been laying well, so it figures that the lav orp would breed them. Last year my lav hens started laying first, but my male lav was still a clueless cockerel. My mature SLO was #1 then.

I'll post pics when I can. (The chicks are all black but many have that tiny brown area by beak. In the past, those have grown into partial laced juveniles.)

 

[ColtHandorf]

..... and I thought my hatching addiction was bad! LOL

I brought home 17 dozen eggs from some friends. Just from this week. Gold-laced, Red, White, Chocolate, BBS, Black, and Chocolate Cuckoo English Orpingtons. The Silver-laced and Buff aren't laying so next time. lol Then they gave me all their Black Copper Marans and Blue Partridge Brahma eggs too. They were just going to throw them away. So I set all of those, plus all of mine I'd been saving up. There's a big poultry sale coming up so hopefully, I can move some of them there.

I'm trying to resist hatching more until I get the orps into designated breeding groups. It looks like the lav orp may be the daddy. This year, my laced hens have been laying well, so it figures that the lav orp would breed them. Last year my lav hens started laying first, but my male lav was still a clueless cockerel. My mature SLO was #1 then.

Isn't that always the way of it? I saw someone with a bunch of English Orpington roosters on FB the other day that was saying they were fighting. I found out they were all from my stock and I tried so bad to get one of the SLO males back to use without having to have conjugal visits. But she gave him to someone else.

And I still have that extra Isabel Crele male with no hens. My friends said they'd eat him. lol I wouldn't let them. So he's in a pen by himself.

I'll post pics when I can. (The chicks are all black but many have that tiny brown area by beak. In the past, those have grown into partial laced juveniles.)

Gonna have to get some pure babies when we do our egg swap this year. I'm getting tested next month so it'll be all official for the sales for this year.

 

[Faraday40]

The roosters spend their days hanging out in a group of the same color, but when it comes to breeding I believe my roosters prefer the exotic girls.

The second one from left (with "eyebrows") is the only one that looks like a black orp to me.

The rest all have an SLO influence.
Ex: Lighter beak, light brown fluff by beak, lack of yellow belly, lack of pink toe tips at hatch.