The IMPORTED ENGLISH Orpington Thread

[BamaChicken]

I haven't found the blue feathering to be more fragile. Your boy may have blue favorites

 

[orpington man]

Now, I'm working with the Lemon Cuckoos. I have my largest Lemon boy in with three Buff Orpington hens from the Hinkjc line. I have some of their eggs in the incubator. Now once they hatch out do I breed the pullets back to their dad? Is the correct? My three BO hens have a nice size and shape. They look a whole lot better than my pure LC pullets. Wow!

~ Aspen

Aspen,
I see you list lemon cuckoo splits in the list of birds you keep, splits don't exist in cuckoo in any colour, if they are cuckoo they will show their barred markings,
Ideally you need to be sure your lemon cuckoo cockerel is carrying 2 copies of the cuckoo gene ( double factor) if he was bred out of buffs he won't be, if he is single factor then you will get both L C and buff from the mating with the buff hens, no splits! if he is double factor you will get all L C, from whichever mating you can then select the best type and cuckoo marked birds to do a sibling mating, discard the buffs as they are redundant for your project, from this sibling mating of single factor L C you will find among the cockerels the double factor ones you need to take your project further, the boys you need are the very light washed out looking birds (often discarded) not the nicely marked darker birds which are single factor, select the best of these double factor and put him to the best type buff hens you can find, the whole process then starts all over again each time selecting for better type and colour
it's a long haul but if you stick with it and don't try to take short cuts you will be successful

Bob

 

[orpington man]

OrpingtonMan I check in on this thread about once a week, found your
photos - Your flock is spectacular and your property is lovely and peaceful.
Thanks for sharing

Love this thread....

Cecilia

Hi Cecilia,
we are very lucky to live in a very quiet part of Dorset surrounded by hills and woodland, for the pleasure of having green grass almost the whole year we have to suffer a lot of mud underfoot for a good part of the time, they are threatening a hose pipe ban in the south of england due to a dry winter and our ground is only just starting to dry out, looks nice but not so good for the chickens and sheep when continually wet,

we've finished lambing at last so back to normality and a full nights sleep, will find time now to dig out and post more pictures

Bob

 

[orpington man]

 

[rockinpaints]

Morning Bob,

I am so glad you found our site and decided to join as you have offered us so much genetic insight on these beautiful birds

.
Again thank you for the help on my project, I appreciate it very much and have already put your suggestions to work!! Can't wait to see the outcome! (Not to mention all the 'eye candy' we get to look at from across the pond

)
Nellie

 

[tennesseeckn]

I haven't found the blue feathering to be more fragile. Your boy may have blue favorites

He prefers ALL of the blue, then. Blue is the only color I added to the pen last fall, so they're the younger girls. That might have something to do with it, too.

I guess I need to start moving them around. Ninety percent of my girls are black. I can't have a boy in there that doesn't like them anymore.

 

[lildinkem]

Aspen,
I see you list lemon cuckoo splits in the list of birds you keep, splits don't exist in cuckoo in any colour, if they are cuckoo they will show their barred markings,
Ideally you need to be sure your lemon cuckoo cockerel is carrying 2 copies of the cuckoo gene ( double factor) if he was bred out of buffs he won't be, if he is single factor then you will get both L C and buff from the mating with the buff hens, no splits! if he is double factor you will get all L C, from whichever mating you can then select the best type and cuckoo marked birds to do a sibling mating, discard the buffs as they are redundant for your project, from this sibling mating of single factor L C you will find among the cockerels the double factor ones you need to take your project further, the boys you need are the very light washed out looking birds (often discarded) not the nicely marked darker birds which are single factor, select the best of these double factor and put him to the best type buff hens you can find, the whole process then starts all over again each time selecting for better type and colour
it's a long haul but if you stick with it and don't try to take short cuts you will be successful

Bob

Great pics Bob. Thank you for clearing up what is and what isn't a Cuckoo. I had always been told by a fellow Orp breeder from Pennsylvania there is no such thing as a Cuckoo split. Sadly you go on EBAY you will STILL see people selling a dozen eggs as Lemon Cuckoos and their pics do not show one single Cuckoo Orps that they claim to be the birds their using for egg production.

 

[DaveK]

He prefers ALL of the blue, then. Blue is the only color I added to the pen last fall, so they're the younger girls. That might have something to do with it, too.

I guess I need to start moving them around. Ninety percent of my girls are black. I can't have a boy in there that doesn't like them anymore.

Might not be the color OR the younger age the way you are thinking of it. Might be that the younger ones, who are blue, are the ones in good laying fettle right now. That should make them attractive even if they were green plaid. I've had very good blue Andalusians in the past and worked closely with a friend who had a blue/black family of large fowl Cochins. The Cochins especially could be very hard on their hens but it was never noticed that there was any difference in the strength or substance of blue vs black feather.

 

[DaveK]

Some folks get sucked in to this sort of thing through their own honest ignorance and of course the huckster mentality and it's seller's hype is always alive and well. Plus the fact of people from both of these circumstances in a big old hurry to make their $$$ back off their birds. Great pics Bob. Thank you for clearing up what is and what isn't a Cuckoo. I had always been told by a fellow Orp breeder from Pennsylvania there is no such thing as a Cuckoo split. Sadly you go on EBAY you will STILL see people selling a dozen eggs as Lemon Cuckoos and their pics do not show one single Cuckoo Orps that they claim to be the birds their using for egg production.

 

[lildinkem]

Some folks get sucked in to this sort of thing through their own honest ignorance and of course the huckster mentality and it's seller's hype is always alive and well. Plus the fact of people from both of these circumstances in a big old hurry to make their $$$ back off their birds. Great pics Bob. Thank you for clearing up what is and what isn't a Cuckoo. I had always been told by a fellow Orp breeder from Pennsylvania there is no such thing as a Cuckoo split. Sadly you go on EBAY you will STILL see people selling a dozen eggs as Lemon Cuckoos and their pics do not show one single Cuckoo Orps that they claim to be the birds their using for egg production.

I agree Dave. This is what the seller told me when I asked if these pics were the correct ones for the auction.
The seller is obviously believing that there are Lemon Cuckoo splits. Thanks to Bob for letting us ALL know there is no such thing as a Lemon Cuckoo split. They are if they look like it or their just a Buff colored bird.

This is what the seller wrote in response to my question:

The pixs are correct. My auction explains how to get pure Lemon Cuckoo's.

The eggs in this auction are from birds i hatched from eggs from Greenfire farm. THIS IS STEP 1

Here’s how the color genetics work for lemon cuckoo Orpingtons: When we think of “pure” lemon cuckoo Orpingtons we usually envision the bright yellow color and dramatic white barred feather pattern that is the signature of this variety. This color and pattern exists only in roosters that carry two barring genes. A “pure” lemon cuckoo hen carries only one barring gene and so the females appear to be a light buff color without obvious barring.

Roosters that carry only one barring gene are colored like the hens. They are a light buff color without the prominent white barring effect.

When you see pictures of lemon cuckoo Orpingtons you are almost always looking at roosters with two barring genes, for it is these birds that have the bright yellow feathers and classic cuckoo barring pattern.


Here is the recipe for creating “pure” lemon cuckoo roosters with the two barring genes.

Step 2: The chicks you produce from this mating should (over a large number of eggs) be about 25% “pure” lemon cuckoo roosters; 25% roosters with one barring gene (they will appear to be a light buff color); and 50% hens, all with the single barring gene.

Step 3: If you breed the “pure” lemon cuckoo roosters with any of the hens, 100% of the male chicks you produce will be “pure” (with two barring genes) lemon cuckoo roosters and the females will also carry the lemon cuckoo gene. You are now producing 100% “pure” lemon cuckoo Orpingtons