The IMPORTED ENGLISH Orpington Thread

[jeremy]

My plan is to breed a nice Blue split male, concentrating on size this generation. I'll then take the male to my biggest hens and hopefully hatch out some nice big Chocolate babies. It's going to take me a bit longer to get visually Choc birds but I'm hoping that better type and size will make up for my wait on color.

ETA: I'm also excited about bringing in the new blood from the Choc hen to my line, I plan on keeping a few of the Blue females produced as well in order to further promote biodiversity within my flock.

 

[pips&peeps]

Just an FYI for those of you out there that have purchased pure imported chocolates....

I have gotten 2-3 blue chicks from my chocolate orpington over black ameraucana hens. I am 100% positive that the ameraucanas are not blue as the cock bird that fathered them was a black boy who is on my website and two black hens. The hens were the only ones in the breeding pen that summer and the two hens in with the chocolate are the offspring and have been with no other cock bird ever. No possible way it came from the ameraucanas.

 

[jeremy]

Just an FYI for those of you out there that have purchased pure imported chocolates....

I have gotten 2-3 blue chicks from my chocolate orpington over black ameraucana hens. I am 100% positive that the ameraucanas are not blue as the cock bird that fathered them was a black boy who is on my website and two black hens. The hens were the only ones in the breeding pen that summer and the two hens in with the chocolate are the offspring and have been with no other cock bird ever. No possible way it came from the ameraucanas.

Jean, genetically that should be impossible???

 

[radirevo]

Just an FYI for those of you out there that have purchased pure imported chocolates....

I have gotten 2-3 blue chicks from my chocolate orpington over black ameraucana hens. I am 100% positive that the ameraucanas are not blue as the cock bird that fathered them was a black boy who is on my website and two black hens. The hens were the only ones in the breeding pen that summer and the two hens in with the chocolate are the offspring and have been with no other cock bird ever. No possible way it came from the ameraucanas.

Jean,

The chocolates you have from me were never crossed with blue, whatever you might suggest.
They were kept separate from other varieties at my place.
The original breeder doesn't have blue orpingtons at all (Ramsley)
The only cross I did was choc bantam rooster x LF black hen and I kept all of them.
In this years cross of F1 split rooster x LF black hens, I only have black or chocolate, no blue to be seen.
It's always good to think twice before you air a statement on BYC like the one you made.

Marc

 

[OSUman]

Here's one of my %50 Choc Orp Bantam Cockerels. He is hatched Feb 5.

 

[pips&peeps]

Jean,

The chocolates you have from me were never crossed with blue, whatever you might suggest.
They were kept separate from other varieties at my place.
The original breeder doesn't have blue orpingtons at all (Ramsley)
The only cross I did was choc bantam rooster x LF black hen and I kept all of them.
In this years cross of F1 split rooster x LF black hens, I only have black or chocolate, no blue to be seen.
It's always good to think twice before you air a statement on BYC like the one you made.

Marc

Marc,

Why should I think twice about airing a fact. I in fact, have blue offspring from my chocolate over black ameraucana hens. It is that simple.

I am not blaming anyone for anything, just trying to figure it out. And I am letting others know in case they may have had the same issue.

I do know for a fact, that my birds are black and are from black on black breeding and that no other cock bird has ever been in with them. Christina K, saw the breeding pen the hens came from the year before last and can verify they are from black on black mating. There is no way another bird has gotten in the breeding "box" I have set up.

 

[lildinkem]

Marc,

Why should I think twice about airing a fact. I in fact, have blue offspring from my chocolate over black ameraucana hens. It is that simple.

I am not blaming anyone for anything, just trying to figure it out. And I am letting others know in case they may have had the same issue.

I do know for a fact, that my birds are black and are from black on black breeding and that no other cock bird has ever been in with them. Christina K, saw the breeding pen the hens came from the year before last and can verify they are from black on black mating. There is no way another bird has gotten in the breeding "box" I have set up.

Almost sounds like a Dun. Like Jeremy said. It is genetically impossible. Wonder IF someone down the line introduced DUN instead of Chocolate?

 

[pips&peeps]

No, I would highly doubt that; it's one of the imported lines. The cockerel is a very nice specimen.

 

[lildinkem]

No, I would highly doubt that; it's one of the imported lines. The cockerel is a very nice specimen.

You prolly need to grow them out till their about 3 to 4 months old. by then they should be giving you an idea what you have.
And you will definitely know when you start to bred the offspring to each other. That is where I got to know that for a fact I had Dun in my line of Blacks that came from the Buff/Black cock from a few years ago.
Your partner gave me a pair of her Dun Splashes which I breed to him and I got some chicks that were different.
Here is one. Don't know IF this qualifies as Dun or something else. She will eventually be bred to my Dun Birchen. She is starting to have that Birchen look.
So, you may have to wait a few before you know what you got.

 

[jeremy]

Almost sounds like a Dun. Like Jeremy said. It is genetically impossible. Wonder IF someone down the line introduced DUN instead of Chocolate?

My second thought was Dun too, I hatched a lot of Platinum, Dun, Blue and Black Sumatra chicks this year and as day olds sometimes the Dun chicks and the Blue chicks looked almost identical. It wasn't until they started to feather out that I could easily tell them apart.

The only problem with that train of thought is that when you cross a Choc and a Dun bird you are supposed to get a "double dilution", turning the bird a beige color... Dun is like Blue, genetically it cannot be hidden (you can't have splits) so it always expresses itself if the gene is there.

I feel like it's very unlikely that the UK Chocolates are carrying Dun, so... I still have no idea.

Do you have any pictures of the chicks in question Jean?