The IMPORTED ENGLISH Orpington Thread

[corancher]

Thought I would comment on roosters that attack. I got 3 beautiful Crele roosters from Nellie's first line. Two of the roosters became aggressive and would jump and spur anyone that went into their pen area. I tried several different things to correct the behavior because for pete sake they were rare Crele birds. None of the tricks worked on these guys so I have one beautiful calm Crele rooster. The other two made beautiful decorating feathers and dinner.

 

[Faraday40]

Thanks to everyone for calming my worries. He's never tested us inside the coop or run. I can't even say he "attacked" because 1.) I barely felt anything & 2.) when I've viewed videos of roo attacks, they kind of fluff out & stand their ground prior to jumping. My chicken sitter was the only one he challenged a 2nd time. She told me she yelled at him & pulled out a pocket knife. I laughed & instructed her that her knife threats were beyond our roo's understanding. The next time I told her to yell & lunge while holding the "pooper scooper." That's an item he's desperately afraid of for some strange reason. (Not the hens. Only our big roo.)

 

[megalomaniac]

My chicks are now 7-9 weeks and I've noticed something interesting as I've been taking notes and keeping track of which ones seem to be showing signs of being cockerels. All the ones that appear to be cockerels (larger combs, developing wattles, thick legs, upright posture), have a very square, blocky tails. All the ones that appear to be pullets (small combs, no wattle development, more dainty legs) have a longer, pointer tail. I started noticing this a couple of weeks ago and so far, the tail structure seems to be bearing out as they grow. So even though the tails are growing and becoming larger, the shape so far is very different and the ones that I noted tail shape on when they were 4 weeks old are staying true to whatever that tail shape was (square are all showing cockerel traits and pointy are all--so far--looking like pullets).

Has anyone else noticed this? I know "lack of tail" has been mentioned a lot when I look at posts about how to sex Orps, but I haven't seen anyone mention shape of tail.

I've found that to usually be true as well. Very young cockrels seem to have much less tail than the pullets

 

[megalomaniac]

I need some opinions on this guy please. He's right at 6 months of age, great overall size and breadth, however he doesn't quite have the shape I was hoping for by now. How much will he likely fill out over the next few months, and is he worth holding onto?

 

[kittydoc]

@megalomaniac I think he looks very good for 6 months, and if he were mine, I'd hang on to him longer. The only way to find out how he will develop is to keep him and let him do it. I had two lavender (American) Orpington roos. The one that looked better early still looks good, but his formerly out of proportion, tall, lanky, skinny brother now looks much better than I thought he would--and I will not be surprised if he winds up looking even better than his brother in another 1-2 months. I am in the process of culling some black/lav split English Orp cockerels now. It's harder because the English develop so much more slowly. I waited between 7-8 months before I culled my last Jubilee Orp cockerels from a group of four. Even the worst one turned out better than I expected, while the nice ones also just kept getting nicer. You would think SOME birds would have to get worse as they develop, but I have yet to have a nice bird just go flat (or worse) that looked at least promising by 6 months.

Just my two cents' worth!

I have also noticed the tail length/shape changes. Pullets have more tail when they are very young, then the cockerels wind up with long tails later. For a short period, I am not sure whether I have a slow maturing cockerel or a rooish pullet as they make the switch, but going by feather shape plus size of combs/wattles their gender has been mostly clear for a while. My black/lav split cockerels are just barely 4 months and showing long tails with sickle feathers. I also noticed that they have more beetle green sheen than the pullets do, which are a bit more flat black at this time. The cockerels have definite sheen on their backs and tails.

 

[JackieandChicks]

So I've been doing some reading now that I have the trio. Talk to me about how difficult the EOs are to breed, please. Do you need to do a "bikini trim" on the boys and the girls? Thanks!!!

 

[kittydoc]

So I've been doing some reading now that I have the trio. Talk to me about how difficult the EOs are to breed, please. Do you need to do a "bikini trim" on the boys and the girls? Thanks!!!

I've just had my 2 roos and 4 pullets together for a couple of weeks, and know they are giving it the old college try. I plan to check egg fertility very soon. One pullet already was trimmed because she had accumulated a mess below her vent, so she's got enough feathers left to keep warm but much less than she started with! I plan to trim everybody, leaving about an inch of feathers in the relevant areas. If I have any issues, I plan to do artificial insemination to overcome the purported breeding problems as a last resort. It looks pretty easy, actually! There are some YouTube clips on how to do it.

 

[JackieandChicks]

Quote:
Now that was interesting! Much easier than cleaning my gelding's sheath! Thank you!

 

[EOrpBreeder]

Yesterday we had a nice day so I was able to get some of the kids outside to get new pics to share. Some of our BBS A few of the Buff kids

nellie i sent you a pm those bbs are just awesome

 

[megalomaniac]

How about this pullet? Too much 'cushion'? But overall, she is coming along very nicely IMO for only 6 months of age. From Red Reiner's eggs here on BYC. I think she is going to the show next month, not sure how her typing will fare in an APA show...