The IMPORTED ENGLISH Orpington Thread

[Chickenhill]

If anyone has a near mature Mottle male that is not a cull bird they can spare or know of someone that has one please PM me. Our boy was found fatally wounded by what looked to be our resident eagles doing Sadly we had to put him down. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[gclark94560]

Thanks everyone! I guess 14X14 is a good starting point. Should the height be 14 too?

I read somewhere that keeping the nest box low reduces the hens pooping in the box. Anyone agree?

 

[sarahandbray]

We have 8 nesting boxes, 12X12, four over four, and lower than the roosts but still off the floor.
They work great! And they're all used, which I heard is rare. Most of the time, the chickens seem to like only specific boxes. We don't have them covered with "curtains" and they still lay in there religiously.
They seem to fit all of our chickens just fine. I don't think they mind that they're small, to be honest!
But I'm sure you could make them bigger!

 

[piglett]

Thanks everyone! I guess 14X14 is a good starting point. Should the height be 14 too?

I read somewhere that keeping the nest box low reduces the hens pooping in the box. Anyone agree?

mine are open top

maybe a lower height will help with the pooping?

make a couple & report back on your findings


thanks
piglett

 

[megalomaniac]

mine are 14x14" external boxes with a roof that tapers from 13" down to 11" to shed rain. They sit about 4in lower than the 8" opening to the boxes to prevent the hens from scattering the nesting box material out into the main coops. The entrance is about 6" above the top of the coop bedding material.

That size seems to be about perfect for English orps, or at least it has worked out well for my birds.

 

[piglett]

mine are 14x14" external boxes with a roof that tapers from 13" down to 11" to shed rain. They sit about 4in lower than the 8" opening to the boxes to prevent the hens from scattering the nesting box material out into the main coops. The entrance is about 6" above the top of the coop bedding material.

That size seems to be about perfect for English orps, or at least it has worked out well for my birds.

sounds good, can we get a picture?

 

[gclark94560]

Thanks for all the comments everyone! Now to get to building.

 

[SunnySky]

Genetics question for all of you! I'll try to make it as least confusing as possible.

Questions about 5 cuckoo Orpington chicks, straight run. All 5 came from the same rooster and hen cross.

Info on the parents of the chicks:
The FATHER of these chicks is a black split to chocolate cuckoo rooster (Fancy Chick roo x Chocolate Korfus clucker hen). He is black cuckoo in color.
The MOTHER of these chicks is a blue cuckoo pullet (her parents are straight from Fancy Chick).

So now for the chicks:
4 out of the 5 are cuckoo (black cuckoo);
1 out of the 5 is blue cuckoo.

Sex of the chicks:
3 black cuckoo are cockerels
1 black cuckoo is a pullet
The blue cuckoo is a cockerel

So my question lies in the breeding of these guys. Do they all carry the chocolate gene (as dad is split)? Do they all carry the blue gene (as mom is blue cuckoo)? Would you put these in with chocolate pullets or blue pullets? Or neither lol?

My thoughts:
I'm guessing that the single cuckoo pullet is not carrying the chocolate gene otherwise she'd be chocolate right?
I'm also guessing that the 3 black cuckoo cockerels are black split to chocolate or would they be black cuckoo (no chocolate gene) because they came from a blue hen? (so theoretically the chocolate gene got 'bred out when crossed with the blue?')
Then the single blue cuckoo cockerel likely doesn't carry the chocolate gene either correct?

I get chocolate genetics; I get blue genetics; but put them in the same bird and I get confused.

Thanks for your KIND feedback, lol.

 

[moosehorn2015]

Genetics question for all of you! I'll try to make it as least confusing as possible.

Questions about 5 cuckoo Orpington chicks, straight run. All 5 came from the same rooster and hen cross.

Info on the parents of the chicks:
The FATHER of these chicks is a black split to chocolate cuckoo rooster (Fancy Chick roo x Chocolate Korfus clucker hen). He is black cuckoo in color.
The MOTHER of these chicks is a blue cuckoo pullet (her parents are straight from Fancy Chick).

So now for the chicks:
4 out of the 5 are cuckoo (black cuckoo);
1 out of the 5 is blue cuckoo.

Sex of the chicks:
3 black cuckoo are cockerels
1 black cuckoo is a pullet
The blue cuckoo is a cockerel

So my question lies in the breeding of these guys. Do they all carry the chocolate gene (as dad is split)? Do they all carry the blue gene (as mom is blue cuckoo)? Would you put these in with chocolate pullets or blue pullets? Or neither lol?

My thoughts:
I'm guessing that the single cuckoo pullet is not carrying the chocolate gene otherwise she'd be chocolate right?
I'm also guessing that the 3 black cuckoo cockerels are black split to chocolate or would they be black cuckoo (no chocolate gene) because they came from a blue hen? (so theoretically the chocolate gene got 'bred out when crossed with the blue?')
Then the single blue cuckoo cockerel likely doesn't carry the chocolate gene either correct?

I get chocolate genetics; I get blue genetics; but put them in the same bird and I get confused.

Thanks for your KIND feedback, lol.

I was under the impression that no one has been able to successfully breed blue cuckoo, so I'm stumped. However, I am also no genetic expert, so I'll leave that to someone else. Do you have pictures of all the cockerel's and pullet?

 

[rockinpaints]

Genetics question for all of you! I'll try to make it as least confusing as possible.

Questions about 5 cuckoo Orpington chicks, straight run. All 5 came from the same rooster and hen cross.

Info on the parents of the chicks:
The FATHER of these chicks is a black split to chocolate cuckoo rooster (Fancy Chick roo x Chocolate Korfus clucker hen). He is black cuckoo in color.
The MOTHER of these chicks is a blue cuckoo pullet (her parents are straight from Fancy Chick).

So now for the chicks:
4 out of the 5 are cuckoo (black cuckoo);
1 out of the 5 is blue cuckoo.

Sex of the chicks:
3 black cuckoo are cockerels
1 black cuckoo is a pullet
The blue cuckoo is a cockerel

So my question lies in the breeding of these guys. Do they all carry the chocolate gene (as dad is split)? Do they all carry the blue gene (as mom is blue cuckoo)? Would you put these in with chocolate pullets or blue pullets? Or neither lol?

My thoughts:
I'm guessing that the single cuckoo pullet is not carrying the chocolate gene otherwise she'd be chocolate right?
I'm also guessing that the 3 black cuckoo cockerels are black split to chocolate or would they be black cuckoo (no chocolate gene) because they came from a blue hen? (so theoretically the chocolate gene got 'bred out when crossed with the blue?')
Then the single blue cuckoo cockerel likely doesn't carry the chocolate gene either correct?

I get chocolate genetics; I get blue genetics; but put them in the same bird and I get confused.

Thanks for your KIND feedback, lol.

I was under the impression that no one has been able to successfully breed blue cuckoo, so I'm stumped. However, I am also no genetic expert, so I'll leave that to someone else. Do you have pictures of all the cockerel's and pullet?

There are a couple people who are breeding blue cuckoo but I am not one of them although the genetics are quite simple. A black cuckoo rooster over a blue hen. Blue genetics would be in place here so you would get both blue and black, and unless the rooster is double barred you would get solid and cuckoo chicks.
Hope this information helps.

You can fine the Cuckoo information here http://www.thefancychick.com/CuckooOrpington.html and the blue genetic info here http://www.thefancychick.com/ImportedBlueOrpingtons.html