The IMPORTED ENGLISH Orpington Thread

[crazyhen]

Its acc. to the type of chicken. English orps are hard. Sorry

 

[QueenMisha]

Hey there everybody. Just wondering if anybody has any references for breeding Crele Orpingtons? Good friend of mine (my boss actually) has 2 pair but is thing of selling them because he's very frustrated with his attempts at breeding so far.

One pair is double-barred male, really pretty. The female is single barred. They look like pretty much all the pics of Creles I have seen on the internet.

The other pair I haven't seen in person, but as I understand it the male is nearly identical (I think he said they're brothers) but the female is a solid brownish color instead of true Crele.

He has bred around 15 chicks so far. 7 are around 4 months and the other 8-ish are maybe 2-4 weeks. None of the 7 oldest are Crele, of those he has two Barred, two Blue, one that looks like a Black Sex Link, and two patridge-ish. Of the younger crop, only 1-2 look like they may develop into a true Crele, the rest are various Barred and Buff-looking birds, plus one which may be a true partridge.

Is this normal? Are all these strange offshots in color typical, and it really is that difficult to produce a true Crele? I do enjoy seeing these birds at work each day and it would be a shame to see them sold if the only issue is an error in breeding strategy.

 

[Natalierose]

I finally got my girls outside in their coop! What do you guys think on my splash now that I have full body photos- Hen or Roo?

 

[henless]

I finally got my girls outside in their coop! What do you guys think on my splash now that I have full body photos- Hen or Roo?

He/she is very pretty! Is that the only English Orp you have?

My English Orps are only 3 months old now, but I would say you have a roo. The comb/wattle on yours are bigger and redder than on my hens. Your's also has the longer, curved tail feathers that lead me to think it is a roo. But I'm new to English Orps, so take my guess as you want.

Here is one of my roos, just shy of 3 months. He hasn't started growing his tail feathers yet, but has a larger/redder comb then my pullets. He and my other one started crowing at about 8-9 weeks of age. The 2nd pic is a show of both of my roos.




My pullets, don't have much of a comb or wattle at all and they are still very pale. They are the same age as my roos.




I noticed yesterday that my babies were starting to grow their tail feathers. They sure change a lot from week to week.

 

[HugHess]

Is this normal? Are all these strange offshots in color typical, and it really is that difficult to produce a true Crele? I do enjoy seeing these birds at work each day and it would be a shame to see them sold if the only issue is an error in breeding strategy.

Hi Queen,

I have read (and hatched true) that no two Crele will look 'alike'...these are the five I got out of eight shipped eggs...

The chick positioned at twelve o'clock turned into my crotchety Crele pictured in my last post...never would have thought that this little brown thing would turn into the hen she is today...so, yes I believe they are a potluck breed, each usually bringing their distinct style. Hope more peops post more pics...as I am still learning alot!

 

[Natalierose]

He/she is very pretty! Is that the only English Orp you have?

My English Orps are only 3 months old now, but I would say you have a roo. The comb/wattle on yours are bigger and redder than on my hens. Your's also has the longer, curved tail feathers that lead me to think it is a roo. But I'm new to English Orps, so take my guess as you want.

Here is one of my roos, just shy of 3 months. He hasn't started growing his tail feathers yet, but has a larger/redder comb then my pullets. He and my other one started crowing at about 8-9 weeks of age. The 2nd pic is a show of both of my roos.




My pullets, don't have much of a comb or wattle at all and they are still very pale. They are the same age as my roos.




I noticed yesterday that my babies were starting to grow their tail feathers. They sure change a lot from week to week.

Thank you!- he/she is my only chicken I got from a breeder because I wanted an english orp so badly- I'm gonna be kinda annoyed if I got a roo for $20. - Yep it's my only one.

Ya it's had pretty large waddles it's whole life but no crowing or noticeable saddle feathers yet so I'm going to hold out it ends up being a hen....

 

[mcrooke45]

Some real nice young blue and black English Orpingtons I got a few days ago.

 

[QueenMisha]

Hey there everybody. I'm posting to see if there is any interest in a couple of (non)Crele Orpington cockerels in the Northern CA area? We're trying to find a home for them if at all possible, we don't want to send them to freezer camp but we are running out of space to keep them in. They are 100% Crele bloodlines, but they are not Crele in color. They are currently being kept at the Poultry Palace in Placerville, CA - you can find our address on the web. We're open every day except Monday. We are trying to get $20-$30 per cockerel, since they each cost $25 as chicks. We won't gain anything on feed or time of course, but at least they have a chance at good homes.

The ones available for sure are the dark Blue cockerel and the Barred cockerel. The Brown-ish cockerel (we aren't really sure what to call the color) may or may not be available, we haven't quite decided on him yet. The Black cockerel I will be taking home myself.












And this is brother of the sire. I haven't seen the actual breeding pair myself, but apparently the male is identical, and the female is some sort of salmon-color.

 

[rockinpaints]

Hey there everybody. I'm posting to see if there is any interest in a couple of (non)Crele Orpington cockerels in the Northern CA area? We're trying to find a home for them if at all possible, we don't want to send them to freezer camp but we are running out of space to keep them in. They are 100% Crele bloodlines, but they are not Crele in color. They are currently being kept at the Poultry Palace in Placerville, CA - you can find our address on the web. We're open every day except Monday. We are trying to get $20-$30 per cockerel, since they each cost $25 as chicks. We won't gain anything on feed or time of course, but at least they have a chance at good homes.

The ones available for sure are the dark Blue cockerel and the Barred cockerel. The Brown-ish cockerel (we aren't really sure what to call the color) may or may not be available, we haven't quite decided on him yet. The Black cockerel I will be taking home myself.





And this is brother of the sire. I haven't seen the actual breeding pair myself, but apparently the male is identical, and the female is some sort of salmon-color.

I can give a little information on the Crele Orpington color. First a true crele is a cross of Cuckoo over Partridge. There is no other combination that will give you crele. A lot of people think Cuckoo over Buff will do it but it will not. Some people will put cuckoo over any other color and the first generation will look "kinda" crele so they sell them as crele, but future generations will look like the birds above.

Most "crele" eggs on Ebay are not going to give you crele chicks. If you want nice crele chicks know the breeder so you know what to expect in future generations. Even dark creles like these chicks




Will grow up to look like these:



Both of these two birds are single barred. You will get single barred pullets, single barred cockerels and double barred cockerels and a small % of pullets that will not be barred, and will look very close to a partridge pullet (she should not be used as a Partridge but can be used with a double barred crele rooster). You will NEVER get a solid cockerel/rooster from breeding 2 single barred birds together.

So what I am saying QueenMisha, is the birds in question above can not be from 2 barred parents, and I can tell you without seeing their pictures that genetically they are not crele, if they were there would be no way they could produce the birds in the pictures. If your friend knows the breeder of the birds the question to ask them is exactly what is genetically behind the parents of the chicks. As I said there are many birds you can cross and the first generation will look "kinda" like creles but future generations will be a disaster. Then those birds are bred back into a true crele line and makes a bigger mess.

The adult creles pictured above are our actual imports, they produced beautiful double barred males and lovely pullets like these.




However each generation lightens and eventually benefits by breeding the double barred rooster back to a "pure" Partridge hen. Thus the different colors in future generations. Every crele is not going to be perfect but every one should be beautiful and unique

If you breed a double barred Isabel (which is lavender cuckoo over partridge) you will produce lovely creles that carry the isabel/lavender gene (diluted crele) and will produce Isabel and crele when bred together, because the partridge and cuckoo gene are at work here as well. It will NOT work with lemon cuckoo, the buff gene is at work and will not produce crele.

Again there is no other combination that will produce crele except cuckoo (black or lavender only) over partridge. An you should start with a double barred cuckoo rooster and partridge hen. The off spring will be always be predictable, they may not always be the perfect crele, but they will genetically carry the combination of genes to produce creles.

The difference in this little guy and the dark cockerel above is that he is double barred:



And he will look like this:



There is just one final thing I would like to add. I have seen this numerous times, Creles are purchased then to produce more creles the purchaser adds something to the next genreation (who knows what) and will sell the resulting offspring as "pure Creles" from so and so's line. Again they are not because something has been added genetically to the mix. If you want to be absolutely positive you have a true crele you can create them yourself from true "pure" black double barred cuckoo over Partridge hens. All the information you can find here:
http://thefancychick.com/CreleEnglishOrpington.html Once something genetically has been added to Creles it is almost impossible to clean it up and make them actual Creles again. It is best to start with new genetics to work with.

I am sorry for the lengthy post but I see this all the time with eggs purchased on ebay. And I can guarantee there is no resolution from the seller. I suggest knowing the person you are buying from so you can ask questions if something doesn't look quite right. They will be able to tell you exactly what genetically is behind the birds/eggs you purchased. Only if it makes a difference to you, of course, some people truly don't care, they just like to hatch the chicks and watch the colorful birds running around their yards, and that is perfectly fine. In that case Ebay is the perfect place to buy.

Hope this information was helpful

 

[rockinpaints]

Hi Queen,

I have read (and hatched true) that no two Crele will look 'alike'...these are the five I got out of eight shipped eggs...



The chick positioned at twelve o'clock turned into my crotchety Crele pictured in my last post...never would have thought that this little brown thing would turn into the hen she is today...so, yes I believe they are a potluck breed, each usually bringing their distinct style. Hope more peops post more pics...as I am still learning alot!

Although I do not know what is behind these chicks they look more like what you might get from two single barred first generation creles. It appears that you have a double barred male, single barred male, single barred pullet and solid pulled of the correct color for second generation chicks. Even the double barred cockerel in the picture should show color as he matures. The next generation will tell for sure. If they are true creles all chicks produce in the next generation will be crele. It is just a matter of keeping the best to continue the breeding program. Keep us posted