The IMPORTED ENGLISH Orpington Thread

[HuffleClaw]

I believe my newest flock members (Jubilee Orpingtons) are considered English?
Just brought them home this morning. First 2 pics are when we had JUST arrived home and last 2 is them in their new coop!

 

[homeschoolin momma]

Wow, i missed so many posts due to being busy and cant figure out how to get my notices back.
@ColtHandorf I'm so sorry about Sterling. He was such a handsome guy and sweet by the sound of it. I know you (and your girls) will miss him tremendously. Hugs to you.

I believe my newest flock members (Jubilee Orpingtons) are considered English?

They look like English orps to me in the last picture. Like they swallowed a bowling ball.

 

[Faraday40]

Sad morning here. I had to put Oreo down. She was in a heavy molt and not acting herself. She was moving a little slower than usual, but I figured it was the molt. I should have examined her closely, but life's been busy. Last night & yesterday afternoon, I noticed her crop was full. I didn't think much of it b/c orps like to have full crops - especially before bed. She's normally goes straight to bed as soon as I let the laced girls out of the tractor. She was hanging out by the feeder and lethargic. I put her up on the roost where she normally sleeps. No breathing issues, eyes were clear, nostrils were fine, no signs of mites, not egg bound, just a full crop and hard molt.

This morning, she was in the same spot & her crop was still full. Uh Oh. She didn't want to stand and was very weak. My poor girl had a slow/sour crop and was starving, near death. She looked so miserable, and I knew she was dying. My morning plans had to change and I chose to put her down. I wanted to do an autopsy to see if it was a disease. (I've had a lot of people here to buy chicks & even though they stay in the front part of the yard, there are things like Merecks that can travel on clothing/shoes.)

The good news is that the organs looked normal except for some fat between the skin & muscle. Oreo always liked her scratch grains. No lice or mites, and no evidence of an overload or worms. Heart, lungs, & liver were the proper size & color. The bad news is that the crop & gizzard were packed full & smelled a little sour. Lots of long grass. My poor baby. It was sour crop. If I had caught it sooner, perhaps I could have treated it. Chickens hide their symptoms and I honestly thought my outgoing, friendly girl was hanging back like all chickens do when they molt. I didn't pick her up because molting hens don't enjoy being touched. That was my mistake and my fault which cost dear Oreo her life.

She was a beautiful hen and very personable. I loved her round little body and sweet face. She was a gentle hen who enjoyed cuddles and treats. She was very easy-going and happy to be in the middle of the pecking order - never bullied others or got bullied. Her BFF was Double Stuff and I'll always remember how the two girls would roam the yard together - never more than a couple feet from each other.

RIP sweet Oreo.

 

[homeschoolin momma]

Sad morning here. I had to put Oreo down. She was in a heavy molt and not acting herself. She was moving a little slower than usual, but I figured it was the molt. I should have examined her closely, but life's been busy. Last night & yesterday afternoon, I noticed her crop was full. I didn't think much of it b/c orps like to have full crops - especially before bed. She's normally goes straight to bed as soon as I let the laced girls out of the tractor. She was hanging out by the feeder and lethargic. I put her up on the roost where she normally sleeps. No breathing issues, eyes were clear, nostrils were fine, no signs of mites, not egg bound, just a full crop and hard molt.

This morning, she was in the same spot & her crop was still full. Uh Oh. She didn't want to stand and was very weak. My poor girl had a slow/sour crop and was starving, near death. She looked so miserable, and I knew she was dying. My morning plans had to change and I chose to put her down. I wanted to do an autopsy to see if it was a disease. (I've had a lot of people here to buy chicks & even though they stay in the front part of the yard, there are things like Merecks that can travel on clothing/shoes.)

The good news is that the organs looked normal except for some fat between the skin & muscle. Oreo always liked her scratch grains. No lice or mites, and no evidence of an overload or worms. Heart, lungs, & liver were the proper size & color. The bad news is that the crop & gizzard were packed full & smelled a little sour. Lots of long grass. My poor baby. It was sour crop. If I had caught it sooner, perhaps I could have treated it. Chickens hide their symptoms and I honestly thought my outgoing, friendly girl was hanging back like all chickens do when they molt. I didn't pick her up because molting hens don't enjoy being touched. That was my mistake and my fault which cost dear Oreo her life.

She was a beautiful hen and very personable. I loved her round little body and sweet face. She was a gentle hen who enjoyed cuddles and treats. She was very easy-going and happy to be in the middle of the pecking order - never bullied others or got bullied. Her BFF was Double Stuff and I'll always remember how the two girls would roam the yard together - never more than a couple feet from each other.

RIP sweet Oreo.
View attachment 1927226 View attachment 1927223 View attachment 1927224 View attachment 1927225

RIP Oreo
Hugs to mama! Im so sorry, she was a great gal.

 

[Cryss]

Oh sweet Oreo. I'm so sorry.

 

[flgardengirl]

Sorry to hear about your Oreo! She was beautiful.
Had she had any bread lately? I totally quit giving any bread or bread-like treats here this past year and have not had one case of slow/sour crop since. Before that, I had some birds die over the years from it. I finally realized it could be the bread combined with our hot humid climate because I started noticing some chickens, usually hens would get slow crop a few days to a week after getting bread for treats.

 

[ColtHandorf]

@Faraday40 - I'm so sorry! I know how you feel. Mine are all molting too and you combine that with any illness and it's really hard to determine what exactly is going on because they just look wretched and aren't their "normal" selves.

@HuffleClaw - Those do appear to be a trio of Jubilee Orpingtons. I'll be interested to see them once they are through with their molt and are all filled out and well feathered again.

@homeschoolin momma - Sorry the forum is giving you fits. I'm just glad the ads and page jumping seems to have stopped. That was driving me batty.

Well it seems like we've gotten a couple of days of autumn weather down here. It dropped from 98 degrees yesterday to a brisk 70 this morning. The birds were definitely feeling it this morning. They all had the chicken (and turkey) zoomies, racing around the yard flapping and acting like complete fools when I turned them out before work. lol

Hollywood is still figuring out what to do with his new role in the flock. He seems to have calmed down in the frantic attempts at breeding which I (and the girls) appreciate. He's a bit of a jerk to the younger birds which annoys me, but there's not much I can do about that. Suede is still uninterested in crowing, much less breeding. But none of the Lavender cockerels are crowing yet, and they are five months now. I know the English Orpingtons mature slower; but when do they generally start crowing? All of my roosters were purchased as adults except for the babies I hatched out.

I did grab pictures of the barn. I'll upload those here and see what y'all think about it. I've only gotten one egg since I started saving them. Maybe this cold front will get them to kick it into gear. I hate to only set one egg, but I'm going to have to set them Friday no matter what I've got.

I found someone who will take all the extra cockerels to freezer camp for me. She's going to take the Lavenders this week and once the Silver-laced boys are older they are going too. I still can't tell if the gimpy SLO is a pullet or a cockerel. I swore up and down it was a cockerel based on how ginormous its feet were. But I'm not seeing any male specific feathering yet.

I do want to treat everyone for mites this week. What all are y'all using for mite control. I've seen a few on a couple of the birds and want to take care of it before it gets out of hand.

 

[ColtHandorf]

Here is the barn. It had electricity. I don’t know if it still does. Maybe the lightbulbs are just burnt out? I’m not sure. It obviously needs some work, but I’d like to convert it into three breeding pens, similar to this in post 7...

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/building-material-for-house-interior.1326019/#post-21643505

 

[flgardengirl]

Nice outbuilding! I have a similar one that used to be a garage/workshop that has a huge metal roof covered double carport attached. It also has a side overhang that has horse stalls built in. On the covered horse stall side, we ran some chain link fencing around it and build a chicken coop with wood pallets.
The garage/carport area had electricity at one point but its not working now. My dh says it was a bad socket so that might be an easy fix.
I am thinking of converting it to a barn with goat pen and maybe another chicken coop since there is an acre of pasture on that side.
I will be interested to see how you convert your building.

 

[PlainOrpingtons2018]

A few grow outs! not great pics lol

So far really liking how round these gals are. I don’t know if I should breed them to a black American orp cock, or to their half brother(blue Orpington cockerel). I have lots of time to decide lol!

This splash cock is the Daddy of the splash pullets

Lavender grow outs, very pleased with them so far!

And a couple of mixed pullets with the splash gals

@ColtHandorf so sorry about your loss aside from the yellow skin, Sterling was quite a looker!
@Faraday40 sorry about your pullet she was stunning!!