The IMPORTED ENGLISH Orpington Thread

[ejcrist]

Jeremy your birds are absolutely primo! I have a trio of Buff Orpingtons that were bred to the American Standard but I far prefer the English standard myself so that's what I want to try to breed to. I'm brand new at breeding and this year will be my first attempt. If I could have birds 10% as nice as yours I'd be tickled. You really did outstanding work with yours - great job!

 

[minihorse927]

That's very interesting could an orp that is an off white/cream color be a mauve? We thought she would be mauve but feathered in almost white.

I believe she was a mauve roo over a chocolate cuckoo hen girl. She had three siblings hatched with her all the same color. All sexed pullets lacking head spots I believe.

Any ideas? I also had a cockeral last March that was from the same person and looked the same.

can you provide pictures?

 

[jeremy]

yes, apparently this didn't post with the pics

"So, I'm going to ask this and I may regret it. This hen was hatched in late October of 2014. She roughly 2.5years old now. As a 7 month old pullet everyone seemed to think she was going to be a stunner. As I am still learning, I would opinions.
She is bantam. 2lb, 14oz"

Well I wouldn't throw her out of the breeding pen.

If you're going for that extreme English SOP type, the length of her back could be a bit shorter, but she is a good bird, IMO. I would use her for breeding, pairing her with a male that would compliment her. The great thing is now at 2.5 years old, she shouldn't change shape much more, you know what her offspring will look like.

What color would you call that roo and the matching girl? It's stunning!

correct me if I'm wrong jeremy, but they appear to be mauve

Yup, they're both Mauve. I've been continually trying to breed away from the Chocolate gene, while maintaining the English SOP type. I had to use Chocs to get the shape I wanted in my Blues, as there aren't any/many good (IMO) examples of bantam Blues out there. This year I'm using a Mauve male over Blue and Black hens, from them I will keep a Blue split Choc male and continue breeding specifically for a BBS flock, ideally in a year or two I've locked in the type from the Chocs and bred the color out completely.

I may keep a Mauve hen or two around, because I do like the way they look, but I'm done with Chocolates at this point. I was o b s e s s e d with Chocs for the longest time, then I got them and realized, they're just kind of brown.

They are stunning.

Thank you, I've tried my best. The one thing I've learned is that in order to have a quality flock you have to be able to cull.

 

[Heron's Nest Farm]

I know this post is old, but...
Nugget looks really nice. Her undercarriage is a lovely lemon yellow and quite downy. For such a young pullet her tail is nice and high. Please post photos of her after the "awkward " stage!

 

[Faraday40]

the color mauve varies greatly, just like the blue coloration. Mauve can be a very pale chocolate to a dark chocolate to even looking almost like a dirty blue. Mauve splash should be splotchy just like regular splash.

Example, this is my mauve splash pullet.

That's very interesting could an orp that is an off white/cream color be a mauve? We thought she would be mauve but feathered in almost white.

I believe she was a mauve roo over a chocolate cuckoo hen girl. She had three siblings hatched with her all the same color. All sexed pullets lacking head spots I believe.

Any ideas? I also had a cockeral last March that was from the same person and looked the same.

can you provide pictures?

Here's our little mystery mauve:
We kept one & @chickendreams24 has her sister. (Sadly the 3rd was taken by a hawk.) Our daughter needed fertile sex-linked eggs for a project, & these were donated by a friend. They were supposed to hatch solid if female & head spots if male. All 3 that hatched looked to be mauve female chicks at hatch, but they feathered in white.

I confess that our pullet (named "Oopsie") is one of our favs. Besides her sweet personality, I love her dark eyes & gray legs. She began laying a few days after this pic was taken. This pic best shows her color. Not sure what to call this color.



Going back in time, you will see her growth in reverse order.


Oopsie loves to dig in the mud.


She's always under foot, looking up at me & pleading for treats!







This is the broody who adopted and cared for all the chicks..



The 3 mauves:











Day old pic

 

[jeremy]

Could Oopsie be recessive White?

I think Cuckoos have been used in White breedings, or Whites in Cuckoo breedings, I haven't bred either so I cannot say with 100% certainty if that is true. But I've seen as much mentioned on various forums. if she came from a Cuckoo line that was hiding recessive White, maybe?

 

[minihorse927]

Here's our little mystery mauve: We kept one & @chickendreams24 has her sister. (Sadly the 3rd was taken by a hawk.) Our daughter needed fertile sex-linked eggs for a project, & these were donated by a friend. They were supposed to hatch solid if female & head spots if male. All 3 that hatched looked to be mauve female chicks at hatch, but they feathered in white. I confess that our pullet (named "Oopsie") is one of our favs. Besides her sweet personality, I love her dark eyes & gray legs. She began laying a few days after this pic was taken. This pic best shows her color. Not sure what to call this color. Going back in time, you will see her growth in reverse order. Oopsie loves to dig in the mud. She's always under foot, looking up at me & pleading for treats! This is the broody who adopted and cared for all the chicks.. The 3 mauves: Day old pic

Could Oopsie be recessive White? I think Cuckoos have been used in White breedings, or Whites in Cuckoo breedings, I haven't bred either so I cannot say with 100% certainty if that is true. But I've seen as much mentioned on various forums. if she came from a Cuckoo line that was hiding recessive White, maybe?

I was thinking something similar. I've seen chicks hatch out that smoky color and turn white. Usually it is associated with dominant white though so if the parents were not white then I'm not sure how they turned out that smoky color.

 

[Faraday40]

I was thinking something similar. I've seen chicks hatch out that smoky color and turn white. Usually it is associated with dominant white though so if the parents were not white then I'm not sure how they turned out that smoky color.

I do not own the parent birds, but I think the mother was cuckoo & the father was solid. This was Oopsie's full brother - a choc cuckoo orp. Sadly, no one wanted him.

 

[Faraday40]

I may experiment & hatch some of Oopsie's eggs, but I don't think I have any way of getting mauve. Which roo would make the better mate?

Here are my choices of orp roos:
Moose: a lav orp (He's a BIG one!)
Because he's young & inexperienced, the ladies avoid more than squat


Here he was back in Sept at about 4-5 mo old


Mr. Dummy-pants = kids named him: A black/lav split orp: (Father or at least Uncle to the young lav cockerel)
He's standing near a Bielefelder hen. He's the flock leader but I rarely see him mate.




Brick: A double barred choc cuckoo orp. We got him from the same friend as Oopsie. He's much smaller than the other 2, but so beautiful & great to the hens.

Here he is next to a lav orp hen.

and near to the lav cockerel

 

[Heron's Nest Farm]

Faraday40
I've never seen a chocolate so white. GORGEOUS! The double barring is lovely.My Chocolate Cuckoo boys, Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dumb are quite lovely. I'll be rehoming Dumb as his type is not as English as I select for. I need to get some pictures and post!