The IMPORTED ENGLISH Orpington Thread

[CarsonOrps]

We got our new coop today!! The building is a 12' x 20', inside it has four stalls that are each 4' x 12', 4' x 6' brooder/ feed storage area, 4 large windows (one for each stall) and 4 run doors (one for each stall) so the chickens can free range!

Do you have any pics of your whole farm?

 

[Lots A Cluckin]

Quote:

Yes I have other pictures! I will message you!

 

[TNBEARCHICK]

Yes I have other pictures! I will message you!

Love the coop.

 

[deek]

We got our new coop today!! The building is a 12' x 20', inside it has four stalls that are each 4' x 12', 4' x 6' brooder/ feed storage area, 4 large windows (one for each stall) and 4 run doors (one for each stall) so the chickens can free range!

Very nice! Was it custom built for you?

 

[Lots A Cluckin]

Quote: Thank you Dee!! Yes! The local Mennonite family that owns a building company built this coop as well as our other 2 coops! This one had a lot more custom work done to it than the other 2 but they will build them how ever you please! All of the inside work only cost an extra $500!! We could not have done it our selves that cheap!

 

[Mahen100]

Lovely coops, Deek. I am indeed a new egg, and unknown to you guys. Further, I've just gotten a tiny incubator (brinsea mini advance) and I live in an area zoned against roosters. I have just hatched my first English Orphington (just the one, and one other egg hatched..a red sex-link). I don't want to highjack the converstaion here, but with permissions, I am itching to post a pic of my new English blood lines Orphington hatchling, and I would be all ears to any comments and evaluations of the little guy. Thank you, I've enjoyed reading through this thread, and I LOVE the big gals. The hatchling will be my first.

 

[Bhmathews]

This is such a fabulous thread! I love looking through all the pics....such beautiful birds!

I have a gender question. I've tried searching and can't find an answer, so I thought I would put it to the English Orp specialists. We have 7 English Orps we hatched on Easter. They are now 3 weeks old. We had very bad luck with our Ameraucanas (ALL cockerels), and are now worried about our EOs. We can only keep 5 hens, and would like to be able to add any additional pullets soon before the age difference gets any greater.

We know that EOs are hard to sex. We've heard that with cockerels they will feather in slower (only one has feathers on its back right now, the rest are downy on their backs, wing feather leangth and fullness is pretty much the same on all but feather-back). We've also read that waddle size and color can help determine sex. Can we use that on such young birds? None of them have hanging waddles yet, but they have a light rosy cast to them. Will pullets' waddles stay strictly yellowish, with no pink coloring?

OR....are we just going to have to be patient? And if so, HOW patient? 1 week patient? 3 weeks? 3 month? If the experts tell us that these little buggers can be cockerlish or pulletish and then change at 6, 8, or even 12 weeks then we will put on our waiting hats and just...well, wait.

Also, would pics help?

Warm regards!

 

[CarsonOrps]

This is such a fabulous thread! I love looking through all the pics....such beautiful birds!

I have a gender question. I've tried searching and can't find an answer, so I thought I would put it to the English Orp specialists. We have 7 English Orps we hatched on Easter. They are now 3 weeks old. We had very bad luck with our Ameraucanas (ALL cockerels), and are now worried about our EOs. We can only keep 5 hens, and would like to be able to add any additional pullets soon before the age difference gets any greater.

We know that EOs are hard to sex. We've heard that with cockerels they will feather in slower (only one has feathers on its back right now, the rest are downy on their backs, wing feather leangth and fullness is pretty much the same on all but feather-back). We've also read that waddle size and color can help determine sex. Can we use that on such young birds? None of them have hanging waddles yet, but they have a light rosy cast to them. Will pullets' waddles stay strictly yellowish, with no pink coloring?

OR....are we just going to have to be patient? And if so, HOW patient? 1 week patient? 3 weeks? 3 month? If the experts tell us that these little buggers can be cockerlish or pulletish and then change at 6, 8, or even 12 weeks then we will put on our waiting hats and just...well, wait.

Also, would pics help?

Warm regards!

Pics always help

 

[Bhmathews]

Pics always help

 

[megalomaniac]

That coop is UNREAL!

I almost feel bad now for my chickens.... they are in little shanties compared to that. But my runs are coming along nicely. I made a new 35x35' run and moved my existing chickens into that run to mow down the grass and vegetation... in the meanwhile, I tilled their old runs up and sowed them down in turnip greens and ladino clover. Their old runs look like lush green carpet now, and they'll go back into them when the greens get 12" high. Gonna make for some good eggs and happy birds