The IMPORTED ENGLISH Orpington Thread

[Faraday40]

Here are my 4 mo old (Sept 10th) orp cockerels

Lav
Still has no pointed saddle/hackle feathers, but I think it's just a slow maturing

Not good pics (color is off) but you can see the general shape



Laced

This guy is smaller than the lav but has some pointy rooster feathers.



... and poor Mr Wonderful is molting. He's looking nasty.

 

[PlainOrpingtons2018]

Well I guess the gender of the ? serama no longer matters. She was fine this morning but around 9am I found her laying on her side in the shavings crying. I think the flock pecked & mortally injured her. I separated the chicks & mama.... and then mama continued the beating. I removed mama & the chick died. I tried putting the mama back in with the remaining living chick but mama was beating her up too. Now I have a lonely only chick with a balding head inside the house and no companion for comfort & friendship. Not sure how to integrate this little one. Any suggestions? She's so sweet & gentle.

So sorry about your little serama!
I have introduced birds by putting my younger birds in a pen that I’ve got within the coop, all the chickens can see them and once I let them out they usually get along pretty well

 

[ColtHandorf]

Sorry to hear the little Serama didn't make it. And now mom is being hateful on top of it. Poor baby. I'll bet her hormones are all over the place if your weather has been anything like mine. What do you think Cookie would do with the single?

The cockerels are looking nice. Mr. Wonderful is looking kind of like Mr. Fell Out of the Molting Tree and Hit Every Branch On the Way Down. lol Hollywood looks just as ridiculous. He has no tail, so he looks rump-less right now. Which is not a good Orpington look. lol

I started to grab some photos yesterday and all I could have gotten was a puddle of Orpingtons since they all piled up in the alcove between the back porch and the bird room to get out of the crazy wind we were getting yesterday. Martha and Matilda have been getting along pretty well. Most of the chickens seem to have forgotten they were new. The geese of course have not forgotten, but the pullets have learned to avoid them.

My little cockerels are getting pretty handsome, even if they are in that awkward stage. It's going to be in 30's every night and practically dark by the time I get home from work, but I'll see if I can't get some good shots of the youngsters. Sue finally finished the majority of her molt. Her back had been bare since I got her from No Name over-breeding her and Mel but she's all feathered in now. She's still not as fluffy as she was initially. I'm hoping with molts coming to an end they'll start laying again. Not that I need to hatch any chicks, but it would be nice to get some hatching for the Spring.

I felt absolutely awful all weekend so I didn't make it out to the other breeders house. I absolutely need to call him when I get off work. And change the little sprouts tub out. I'm hoping for a pullet there. if so, she'll be a Mary. lol

 

[ColtHandorf]

It was way too dark for photos when I got home. I'll try today but it may have to wait until the weekend.

 

[PlainOrpingtons2018]

Snapped some pics of my silver laced boy, he’s still missing a few feathers lmao! I really like how he’s looking now after molting

And some terrible pics of the lavs lol, they’re all sun bleached, poor kids

 

[Faraday40]

I took some pics today of some of the summer pullets. (I only got 2 of the girls b/c they were so pretty & posing well that I took too many pics of them. It was also pretty cold, so I had to go inside before my fingers froze.)

Here's my silver laced orp pullet (who is likely a "blue" SLO). She's Blizzard's replacement & we're working on a name. Perhaps Snowflake or Flurry. Depending on the light, she sometimes looks blue & other times black. She's still pretty young, so perhaps she's just starting to grow in her 1st set of adult feathers.

This girl has funny-looking eyebrows.... or perhaps it looks more like a hat head.



And guess who's now laying? She started just a couple days ago. She hatched on April 15, 2019.

This is Glow. I had some fun with the sunlight behind her.

 

[Faraday40]

@PlainOrpingtons2018
Your SLO looks awesome!

He has a very nice comb - which is often hard to find on English orps.

 

[flgardengirl]

I agree they are just beautiful!

Sorry to hear about the poor little Serama chick.Mean old Mommie!

Im trying to get caught up on this thread lol.

 

[flgardengirl]

Snapped some pics of my silver laced boy, he’s still missing a few feathers lmao! I really like how he’s looking now after molting

He is a handsome little chunk lol. I love the Lavenders too. I just took a few pics of my little lav chicks. They grow so fast!

 

[ColtHandorf]

@PlainOrpingtons2018 - The little Silver-laced cockerel is shaping up to be quite handsome. I'll be excited to look like once he's all filled out.

@Faraday40 - The girls are looking very nice. I wonder how Glow will look after another molt. Nice that she's laying so early. I'm still waiting on Victoria to start.

It was super dark when I got home from work last night. It always seems like something comes up in the last few minutes that keeps me at the office for another 30-45 minutes. The morning sun was way too harsh this morning, especially bouncing off the hard frost we got last night. My two young cockerels keep getting more and more handsome despite those yellow legs. I can only hope they are half as good looking as their dad was. Mary and Matilda are going to be gorgeous when they are older. I'm already loving how round they are and their lacing is looking quite nice even on juvenile plumage. They should be old enough to start laying in the latter part of next spring I hope.

Little Bit (Martha) in the house is shaping up to be a very sweet chicken. I think it is a pullet but without some siblings to compare it to I'm not 100% sure. I can definitely grab some pics of her tonight. I had a little laugh with her the other day when I was cleaning her tub out. I took her stuffed animals out in order to pull up the potty pads and she fluffed up and stretched as tall as she could to just glare at me. lol She wasn't a fan of the roommate holding her, but she just sat on my hand when I returned her to her stuffed friends. I don't know if she's one of Sterling's or not. He and Duchess threw chicks with GL down and willow-colored legs at hatch. Her legs are still greenish right now but I haven't kept one of the brown-downed babies longer than a couple of months, so I'll just have to wait and see.

Edited to add:

I forgot to mention the last two bags of crumble I've bought for the younger birds is the broiler grower feed with the higher percentage protein. I'm really liking it over the starter/grower I'd been using. The younger birds have filled out considerably and the molting adults seemed to have feathered out quicker (but that could just be my imagination). Anyway, I think I'll continue buying that over the first formula I'd picked up.