The IMPORTED ENGLISH Orpington Thread

[Blarneyeggs]

Faraday, Gorgeous babies! I think that’s a pullet in the front of the picture. I see more wattle development, but something about it screams ‘female’ to me. We’re having some extreme cold too, but not as cold as you! Do you tarp your runs?

 

[Faraday40]

Faraday, Gorgeous babies! I think that’s a pullet in the front of the picture. I see more wattle development, but something about it screams ‘female’ to me. We’re having some extreme cold too, but not as cold as you! Do you tarp your runs?

I made "storm windows" out of thick vinyl - like shower curtains - & scraps of wood. It turns my runs into greenhouses. My birds a wimps & stay inside when there's snow.

I used to put up clear plastic sheeting, but now I have made enough storm windows for all of the runs. My chicken area is basically a collection of misc. improvements each year. Much of it was donated by the neighbors

The above was the orig set up.
Then we added some extras with the help of the neighbors...

 

[Faraday40]

Faraday, Gorgeous babies! I think that’s a pullet in the front of the picture. I see more wattle development, but something about it screams ‘female’ to me. We’re having some extreme cold too, but not as cold as you! Do you tarp your runs?

I'm fearing that it may be female, but hoping he's a nice looking male. I guess that's the trick to getting 88% female hatches (7 out of 8) - just hope for a male! The one confirmed male has awful gold leakage. It actually looks cool but not for breeding. His saddle feathers have gold lacing.

 

[WVduckchick]

I don't understand how lavender can have leakage. What's his background?

 

[Faraday40]

I don't understand how lavender can have leakage. What's his background?

Good question.
My orig lavs (great grandparents) were hatched from a breeder in IN and another in NC. Both batches of eggs were 50%-75% English and mixed with Am orps. The great grandpa (Mr Dummy-pants - a black-lav split) had one gold hackle feather from age 18 mo-2.5yrs years. He had the best rounded appearance & size - not to mention the sweet, gentle giant temperament. The gold may be from him. The son or grandson of Mr Dummy was the father. (Both are lavs)

I also got a few eggs from a friend who had 100% English orps. Those birds were smaller & their combs needed a lot of work, but the basketball shape was good. In 2016 I hatched some & then bred them to my orps. I kept two of the resulting offspring, so the current cockerel could be from one of those 2 hens.

Lavs can get sun bleaching, but this gold I'm seeing is definitely not from the sun. The feathers are actually growing in like that. I saw it in one other male (out of over 40 chicks) that was hatched over the summer. His was just a few feathers on the wings, but he tasted good. I didn't think much of it until now. Strange that both would be male. That makes me think that it's genetic.

I still have my orig 5 yr old blk lav split: Mr Dummy. He's now a pet & not up to breeding. I rehomed the other males to make more room in the coop and figured I'd just keep the best male from the Sept hatch. If that ???male turns out female, then I may have to borrow one of my former roos or use the less than perfect blk/lav split that just hatched.
He's only 4 wks old, but I can already tell he's a male. (on right)

 

[WVduckchick]

Mine get sun bleached too. I hate it when they look so faded until they molt again.
I guess having to have 2 copies of the lavender to look lavender made me mis-assume there couldn't be any other colors come thru, even if the parentage had some crosses. So that's all very interesting.
Thanks for going over it for me!

Oh, that little one - all boy! Lol

My 20-week old (from the lav orp thread) has turned out to be female. You were right!

 

[Lelanae]

What GREAT pictures Blarney!
GORGOUS birds! Your partridge hen has amazing lacing--what color is the grey laced girl in the last picture?

 

[Lelanae]

Love that Buff! Your pullets are looking good. When did they hatch?

Here are 2 of mine from the June 17th hatch. Both were thrown in as extra eggs. I was unsuccessful when I tried to sell them, but now I'm glad they're still here. I never owned a Buff orp & now I do! (Buff Colombian is close enough, right?) The other is a Silver Blue Laced Orp. I have a Silver Laced Orp Roo, so perhaps I will see if I can get some better lacing next generation.

If they look grumpy , it's because of the cold. Right now it's 2'F (windchill -12). Only getting colder tonight & tomorrow. Should be a touch warmer by Tuesday. Thankfully these gals have small combs. Even my English Orp roo has a smallish comb.
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Your blue laced is ethereal! My English girls hatched out in September sometime so they are still pretty young.

 

[Blarneyeggs]

What GREAT pictures Blarney!
GORGOUS birds! Your partridge hen has amazing lacing--what color is the grey laced girl in the last picture?

Thank you! The picture of the partridge is from a while ago, I am down to one female and one male. I was going to sell the pair at the Twin Tier Poultry Show, but I just adore the Cock bird, he’s great with his flock and not aggressive at all. I may seperate that pair into a breeder pen once the weather breaks and hatch from them -feathering on shanks is a big problem with that color.

The birds in the other pictures are Splash. The color is not accepted by the APA, but I really like it. Those birds are only 8 months old so they’ve got a lot of filling out to do.

 

[Faraday40]

I may seperate that pair into a breeder pen once the weather breaks and hatch from them

That has my vote! That's such a pretty feather pattern. (and I'm guessing hawk resistant too) I'd love to see more of them. I fact, I've never seen a partridge orp in person.