Thanks @Heron's Nest Farm ! She's my favorite.
THANKS SO MUCH! What a great link. I am LOVING her site and the discussions on breeding and the subtleties of coloring. Great information!!!!HI Jeremy. The Partridge, even though we have a few different bloodlines are not great layers. But in my humble opinion, none of the English orps are not great layers. Do I still love them....... Absolutely!
They are all quite finicky layers. They will lay excellent for a while then for no apparent reason at all they just stop. If they don't like the roo they are with, they quite laying. If they get tired of the roo they are with (hey, it happens) they stop laying. And what ever you do, don't move them once they begin to lay, or, you got it, they will go off lay.
I have had an Isabel pullet lay her first egg ( infertile ) and go broody, whaaaat! And she didn't lay again for months.
And it ain't just the girls. For some unknown reason, eggs are coming, nearly 100% fertile, life is good. Then one day, zero % fertility from a proven rooster. In the past I have culled the rooster thinking he had gone sterile. But that is not the case and I don't cull any more for that. I keep a bachelor pen (thanks to my friend below). And when I start getting infertile eggs I change out the rooster and give that guy a break and bring in a new boy. After a month or so I might have to do it again and take the first guy back out and put him with the girls and you guessed it......he's gettin the job done again.
I did some research and talked to some of the UK and OZ breeders who have been breeding these guys for years and it is a trait with them. Causing the least amount of change or excitement seems to help the hens and giving the roo a break seems to help him. Breeding the imported English Orpingtons is definitely a challenge, but very rewarding. In over 25 years of raising chickens I have never seen one quite so finicky with their laying habits.
One would never make a living selling eggs from Imported English Orpingtons, but you won't find many much prettier.
_____________
I belong to the OZ Orpington Club and this is one of the correspondences with Sue, one of the members from OZ, tips on the infertility issue with the roosters (current as of from February 2014)
"In the UK and here in OZ the birds are bred more for exhibition these days, tending to be froofy = having more ‘fluff’ than feathers in the rear than they did even 20yrs ago. I have always bred mine as dual purpose so my lines don’t have as much ‘fluff’ but more the correct feathers in the rear = to which the Club is encouraging all Breeders aim towards.
Trimming helps immeasurably for the physical act but the males sperm count does go down if the temps go up even a bit = this tends to be a modern Orpington trait = I blame the Partington influence as he bred Chochin (I think it was cochin anyway = would have to check) into the breed to up the fluffiness. Froofy is one thing fluffy is another! We in OZ decided at our 2011 AGM to breed for froofy = good feathers in the rear with little or none of the ‘fluffiness’ seen overseas = especially in our Buffs. With success starting to show with the 2013 crop of juveniles showing much promise for correct feathering, rump, rise of tail etc.
Back to the sperm count = most males out mate themselves being the randy buggers they are so rotation helps = keeping a rooster away from hens for abt 3 to 4 weeks makes him very willing to mate (obviously) and the sperm count is usually good as a result. But one has to remember that Orps have a definite breeding season – here that is the 1st or 2nd week in August to the 1st or 2nd week in October – so that would need to be reversed for over there state dependant as I imagine some of the more southern states have climates and seasons similar to ours here?
If rotation doesn’t help = my magic recipe =
http://www.thecuckoopoultrystudofaustralia.com/fertility-and-my-secret-recipe.html
_________________________________________________________________________________________
Hope this information was helpful
thanks for the rooster infoHI Jeremy. The Partridge, even though we have a few different bloodlines are not great layers. But in my humble opinion, none of the English orps are not great layers. Do I still love them....... Absolutely!
They are all quite finicky layers. They will lay excellent for a while then for no apparent reason at all they just stop. If they don't like the roo they are with, they quite laying. If they get tired of the roo they are with (hey, it happens) they stop laying. And what ever you do, don't move them once they begin to lay, or, you got it, they will go off lay.
I have had an Isabel pullet lay her first egg ( infertile ) and go broody, whaaaat! And she didn't lay again for months.
And it ain't just the girls. For some unknown reason, eggs are coming, nearly 100% fertile, life is good. Then one day, zero % fertility from a proven rooster. In the past I have culled the rooster thinking he had gone sterile. But that is not the case and I don't cull any more for that. I keep a bachelor pen (thanks to my friend below). And when I start getting infertile eggs I change out the rooster and give that guy a break and bring in a new boy. After a month or so I might have to do it again and take the first guy back out and put him with the girls and you guessed it......he's gettin the job done again.
I did some research and talked to some of the UK and OZ breeders who have been breeding these guys for years and it is a trait with them. Causing the least amount of change or excitement seems to help the hens and giving the roo a break seems to help him. Breeding the imported English Orpingtons is definitely a challenge, but very rewarding. In over 25 years of raising chickens I have never seen one quite so finicky with their laying habits.
One would never make a living selling eggs from Imported English Orpingtons, but you won't find many much prettier.
_____________
I belong to the OZ Orpington Club and this is one of the correspondences with Sue, one of the members from OZ, tips on the infertility issue with the roosters (current as of from February 2014)
"In the UK and here in OZ the birds are bred more for exhibition these days, tending to be froofy = having more ‘fluff’ than feathers in the rear than they did even 20yrs ago. I have always bred mine as dual purpose so my lines don’t have as much ‘fluff’ but more the correct feathers in the rear = to which the Club is encouraging all Breeders aim towards.
Trimming helps immeasurably for the physical act but the males sperm count does go down if the temps go up even a bit = this tends to be a modern Orpington trait = I blame the Partington influence as he bred Chochin (I think it was cochin anyway = would have to check) into the breed to up the fluffiness. Froofy is one thing fluffy is another! We in OZ decided at our 2011 AGM to breed for froofy = good feathers in the rear with little or none of the ‘fluffiness’ seen overseas = especially in our Buffs. With success starting to show with the 2013 crop of juveniles showing much promise for correct feathering, rump, rise of tail etc.
Back to the sperm count = most males out mate themselves being the randy buggers they are so rotation helps = keeping a rooster away from hens for abt 3 to 4 weeks makes him very willing to mate (obviously) and the sperm count is usually good as a result. But one has to remember that Orps have a definite breeding season – here that is the 1st or 2nd week in August to the 1st or 2nd week in October – so that would need to be reversed for over there state dependant as I imagine some of the more southern states have climates and seasons similar to ours here?
If rotation doesn’t help = my magic recipe =
http://www.thecuckoopoultrystudofaustralia.com/fertility-and-my-secret-recipe.html
_________________________________________________________________________________________
Hope this information was helpful
Great information Nellie. I have a Golden Laced roo that needs to go into time out.
I also know how it is when a hen does not care for a rooster or another group. I have a beautiful Golden Laced pullet that just pines away every time I put her in the Golden Laced pen. The others don't pick on her but she goes off feed and mopes. As soon as I put her back with the laced projects, she perks up and starts eating again. I just put her back for the third time. She was the only Golden Laced of her group and I understand she likes being with her buddies but she is throwing my breeding program off since I don't know which egg belongs to her.I just can't stand to see her waste away.
