The IMPORTED ENGLISH Orpington Thread

[Faraday40]

Yes, she certainly has that look!

(In reality, she allows me to handle the chicks and never pecks. She does the usual broody hen grumblings and if really upset, she'll do a big banshee scream. )

I love my little Cookie. She keeps tight control over her chicks and is a wonderful, dedicated mama. Of course she really goes to town when it comes to teaching her chicks how to scratch.

 

[ColtHandorf]

She really is precious. I'm so ready for next week when my eggs start hatching.

 

[ColtHandorf]

Well I candled again today with five days left. I don't usually do that, but I figured why not. I tossed two more eggs that I had left to be sure they weren't developing. I'm a little concerned that about half the eggs I'm unsure on now. We had veins and heartbeats in them all and now some look to have died in shell. In both the rcom and the N360. I'm not sure if that's a humidity issue, as I've had trouble keeping both of them in the 45% range. The 360 drops into the thirties really quickly. So I guess I'll just see how things go next week when they start hatching.

Have any of you ever had an aggressive Orpington cockerel? Sterling usually follows me around like a dog in the yard. I think he was probably just following two close because I had a bucket of feed but he did bounce off my leg earlier. I didn't feel any feet, just breast feathers, and when I stopped to look back at him he was just looking at me like he normally does. So hopefully that's not going to become an issue. His father was never aggressive and none of the others have been either.

 

[Faraday40]

Well I candled again today with five days left. I don't usually do that, but I figured why not. I tossed two more eggs that I had left to be sure they weren't developing. I'm a little concerned that about half the eggs I'm unsure on now. We had veins and heartbeats in them all and now some look to have died in shell. In both the rcom and the N360. I'm not sure if that's a humidity issue, as I've had trouble keeping both of them in the 45% range. The 360 drops into the thirties really quickly. So I guess I'll just see how things go next week when they start hatching.

Have any of you ever had an aggressive Orpington cockerel? Sterling usually follows me around like a dog in the yard. I think he was probably just following two close because I had a bucket of feed but he did bounce off my leg earlier. I didn't feel any feet, just breast feathers, and when I stopped to look back at him he was just looking at me like he normally does. So hopefully that's not going to become an issue. His father was never aggressive and none of the others have been either.

I hope your hatch goes well. I know what you mean about the humidity drops but I don't think that would be a problem. In my Coolerbator I do a dry hatch with very good results (incubate at 30% and hatch at 65-70% ). If your humidity dropped to 10% or stayed a few days in the 20s perhaps it would cause problems, but I don't think humidity is as important as constant temp.

I've never had an aggressive male SLO. In fact they have been the sweetest roosters ever. I did have an unpredictable lav roo. He'd be OK at times & then suddenly attack the pooper scooper. The kids were afraid of him, so that certainly didn't help. He left and was eventually replaced with "Mr Dummy" the respectable king of all roosters and all-time sweetheart.

Keep an eye out for signs of aggression in Sterling, but I doubt it. Like you said, he probably just bumped into you.

 

[ColtHandorf]

I hope your hatch goes well. I know what you mean about the humidity drops but I don't think that would be a problem. In my Coolerbator I do a dry hatch with very good results (incubate at 30% and hatch at 65-70% ). If your humidity dropped to 10% or stayed a few days in the 20s perhaps it would cause problems, but I don't think humidity is as important as constant temp.

Well that's good to know. Maybe I'm just being paranoid. I just didn't like the way some of the eggs looked. Like they'd died recently. They are too full to see well in the eggs I'm confident int, but them all not uniformly looking that way bothered me.

I've never had an aggressive male SLO. In fact they have been the sweetest roosters ever. I did have an unpredictable lav roo. He'd be OK at times & then suddenly attack the pooper scooper. The kids were afraid of him, so that certainly didn't help. He left and was eventually replaced with "Mr Dummy" the respectable king of all roosters and all-time sweetheart.

Keep an eye out for signs of aggression in Sterling, but I doubt it. Like you said, he probably just bumped into you.

That's what I think too. Apparently he did it to Amanda also this morning. She stopped to see if it was him or Golly running behind her and when she stopped quickly he bounced off her leg too. He's just such a sweet boy the rest of the time I'm hoping it's just him being overly excited. He's all alone except for the geese who aren't much company.

 

[ColtHandorf]

@Faraday40 How many babies did you end up with? I'm in lock down now. I moved all the eggs over the N360 for hatching. I keep having to babysit the humidity, but we'll see.

I set nine turkey eggs this morning in the rcom, and I'll probably add one more to the empty spot if she lays today or tomorrow.

I picked up four new Orpingtons from a breeder yesterday. Two young pairs for $50; two blue cockerels, a blue pullet, and a mauve pullet. I wasn't thrilled about the mauve, but I actually like her when I saw her in person. I refuse to breed for mauve, but if I'm understanding what I'm reading if I breed a blue rooster to her I'll get a bunch of colors out of her. The oldest blue rooster is a little light. The younger one looks decent. Neither of them are as dark as Suede, but I'm hoping maybe they darken up as they grow out. *shrugs* I suppose if they don't breeding them back to black will help. There's a chance all of them are split mottled too, which is annoying. lol I have enough random mutations without more colors popping out when I hatch. But it's the only blue males I could find. My friend almost off-loaded her whole blue flock on me, but decided to keep them. lol Which is fine of course. But I was excited about six new Orpingtons that were almost ready to start laying.

I did re-home Caspian this weekend. He went to be an only rooster at a farm with a lit of pretty girls, which meant Sterling could go back to the breeding pen. The geese were glad to be rid of him. I'll post some pictures I took yesterday evening from the phone in a few minutes.

 

[ColtHandorf]

Geese enjoying some fresh water...

Turkeys hens appropriately horrified by the snake I killed when I got home with the new birds. There was literally egg pouring out of it when I was done. I’m so over snakes. That’s three in as many weeks...

White Orpingtons:

The Weird Sisters and Dahlia:

Prudence:

Dahlia:

Sterling and Dorcas:

Hollywood and the girls:

Afternoon enjoying some scratch after dad was through acting like a lunatic killing the snake.

Blue pullet, Mauve pullet, Blue Cockerel, and Blue Cockerel (left to right):

Mauve on the left:

Baby goose has figured out the pool...

 

[ColtHandorf]

I walked by the incubator earlier and thought I’d heard peeps a few times. I already have pips! Two days early? What in the world...lol

 

[ColtHandorf]

I've got a chick this morning and more pips. Prudence, the Chocolate is definitely broody. I guess I'll let her set on her golf balls for a few days and then I'll move her over to the tractor and let her try her hand at hatching some chicks.

 

[Faraday40]

I've got a chick this morning and more pips. Prudence, the Chocolate is definitely broody. I guess I'll let her set on her golf balls for a few days and then I'll move her over to the tractor and let her try her hand at hatching some chicks.

Congrats!

If she's been broody for a week or more, you'll be able to get her to adopt. If less than that, her hormones may not be strong enough to make the switch from incubating to mothering.

I find it's best to slip the chick(s) under hen while in the nest. (slip egg out & chick in..... repeat....repeat....) You see/hear her 'talking' to the chick. Once bonded (couple hours to a day later) you can move the little family wherever you want. Mama will happily stay with her chicks.

If your hen is a broody expert (like Cookie), then you'll know just how many chicks she can handle. For Cookie it's all of them. Chicks are so much easier when you have a broody hen to do all your work. When a hen has too many chicks, I keep them contained in a big brooder. Once I sell some and get the number down to about 6 or 7, I'll let them out to be with the flock or even free range. I would never do that now to Cookie because she is caring for 3 dozen. Best to keep them contained for her.