The IMPORTED ENGLISH Orpington Thread

[aveca]

Oh it has been a treat Vickie..we had to make up for mom nature quite a bit..felt bad for them kind of because of lot of rather bad weather and they were inside quite a bit..but they seemed at home where ever they hang thier hats....We try to give the very best to each and every bird here..takes so very little time and a routine..Im sure I can speak for Sarah too and say We just love them..Keeps me happy and occupied..it was a hard day for me when the Drs told me no more horse shows..told me I had to give the horses up..was pretty depressed and feelin sorry for myself for a long long time.... but this has made up for it in a big way..havnt been this happy in I cant tell you when..

Took me a long time to even look at the horse pics and all my freinds are still showing so its hard..I finnally got out the training pics
hadnt looked at them in about 5 years. Now I go out and look at my treasured poultry...

 

[thedragonlady]

Oh it has been a treat Vickie..we had to make up for mom nature quite a bit..felt bad for them kind of because of lot of rather bad weather and they were inside quite a bit..but they seemed at home where ever they hung thier hats....We try to give the very best to each and every bird here..takes so very little time and a routine..Im sure I can speak for Sarah too and say We just love them..Keeps me happy and occupied..it was a hard day for me when the Drs told me no more horse shows..told me I had to give the horses up..was pretty depressed and feelin sorry for myself for a long long time.... but this has made up for it in a big way..havnt been this happy in I cant tell you when..

The hardest thing I ever had to do was hang up my tack after 50 years riding, foxhunting, and showing. It was that , or end up in a wheel chair. The birds, koi, and gardens have sustained me since. I still have to bite my tongue when I see a friend's horse going badly, and not say, " Bring it here", and climb on.

 

[BamaChicken]

Dee and Phantom, you both have some nice looking birds there. The Crele are striking.

 

[yaya1215]

Had to go back a few pages and see what everyone was talking about. Nellie, those crele/legbars are amazing. Like a buffet of my favorite colors all in one bird and with gorgeous type to boot!

 

[aveca]

The hardest thing I ever had to do was hang up my tack after 50 years riding, foxhunting, and showing. It was that , or end up in a wheel chair. The birds, koi, and gardens have sustained me since. I still have to bite my tongue when I see a friend's horse going badly, and not say, " Bring it here", and climb on.

I thank God every single day for these Birds..It is such a treat and I mean that..only the best of everything for them..

I know, its hard All of my freinds are gearing up for show on facebook ..so I used to get bummed.just not look at it..but it doesnt bother me anymore..I root them all on now...they would invite me to come along, take pics to paint which I did..great freinds they are......Lot of them still think its an absolut riot that there is such a thing as a poultry show..

 

[aveca]

Had to go back a few pages and see what everyone was talking about. Nellie, those crele/legbars are amazing. Like a buffet of my favorite colors all in one bird and with gorgeous type to boot!

They certianlly are..just stunning in every way..

 

[rockinpaints]

Thank you all very much for the nice complements!
It is really funny, a lot of us must be close to the same age.........

..........as I was (am) a horse person as well. Horses really are my number one love. I still have 4 horses, but really miss seeing the babies running around the fields in the spring (so do our neighbors) as we do not have stallions anymore. I guess the chickens add a whole new meaning to "Empty nest"

. A little safer at our age, not to mention easier on the hands, knees and back......... as well as beautiful to look at and very entertaining to have a round

.

 

[rockinpaints]

Not gonna quote the pics and take up a page but those Crele Legbars r gorgeous and thanks for shareing those pics as I have seen very little pics of any of that variation. I can see those becoming very popular and makes me kinda wonder what u would get if u thru a chocolate gene in there. Im picturing something awesome in my head anyways. Also the roo def is very typey.

The black roo that was posted too is very pretty. He looks huge and shiney LOL.

Here is a question for all I need an opinion on. I have 2, 4 month old chocolate roos that r 3 quarters LF and a quarter bantam but 100% english. One is much larger then the other altho they r the same age and the smaller one has the white in the ear lobes so pretty sure Im gonna cull that one and prob sell him with his half sister that came out black(outta choc split roo and LF black hen) and keep the bigger roo to continue my LF project. I will b breeding him back over a very LF black hen and know that the babies will be sex linked so in doing that should I keep the largest choc hens and breed them to a LF black roo or keep some of the largest split roos when the time comes too and breed them back over their choc sisters or LF black hens? Im thinking it will take a total of 5 generations to get them to large fowl size and was wondering what way every one else was doing this?

Also since I only have the 1 LF black hen this season I was thinking about using my LF blue hen too. Has anyone done that and how will this affect the project? Is it possible to get chicks that have one Choc and one Blue gene and if so what would those hens look like? Pictureing really sunburnt looking blues but have no clue..

I would be a little reluctant to breed the chocolate to blue if you are looking for chocolate results. I think I would stick with the black if at all possible. I think blue is going to give you a diluted chocolate like tan/dun color. I don't think what you will get from breeding to blue will breed true later even if it is dun as blue is the combination of two colors already. It all depends on what you want the end result to be.

My only suggestion is keep good records (I know, I know I keep saying that............) when you are crossing with chocolate (actually other colors as well). It could show up where you don't want it in future generations. I culled an entire flock of English blue Orps that I had purchased, due to chocolate/orange bleed through on the shoulders a couple years ago. I also know other people who had to do the same thing by unknowingly purchasing birds that appear blue or black but came from a project line.

Good luck and by all means have fun!

 

[aveca]

Thank you all very much for the nice complements!
It is really funny, a lot of us must be close to the same age.........

..........as I was (am) a horse person as well. Horses really are my number one love. I still have 4 horses, but really miss seeing the babies running around the fields in the spring (so do our neighbors) as we do not have stallions anymore. I guess the chickens add a whole new meaning to "Empty nest"

. A little safer at our age, not to mention easier on the hands, knees and back......... as well as beautiful to look at and very entertaining to have a round

.

Me too Nellie..Miss the big warmbloods, only natural I would choose biggest chickens to make up for my empty horse nest..well not quite empty..have 1 left.. LOL!

 

[Kiniska]

Me too Nellie..Miss the big warmbloods, only natural I would choose biggest chickens to make up for my empty horse nest..well not quite empty..have 1 left.. LOL!

I too was very involved in horses and showing . After some bad spills over the years it just is not in the cards for me any more. So chickens here I come!