The IMPORTED ENGLISH Orpington Thread

[Faraday40]

The Chocolate cockerel is like eight weeks old so it'll be a while before he's ready to breed

Ain't that the truth!
My SLO was over 12 months before I got fertile eggs from his hens!

 

[ColtHandorf]

Ain't that the truth!
My SLO was over 12 months before I got fertile eggs from his hens!

No kidding. Although the two Blue cockerels were grabbing at five months and successfully mating by six months.

 

[homeschoolin momma]

And my 13 mo old lavender still hasn't figured it out!

 

[ColtHandorf]

Well adding Sterling and the non Orpington hens into the mix with the guineas is not going to be feasible I don't think. I let the guineas out onto the full (non-fenced yard) over the weekend. Lon story short, the guy who mows my yard asked if we found a neonate Garter snake to catch it for his son as he wanted to raise one. So they came out to get it and while his three year-old was running around looking at chickens I hear the older son yell they found a snake. It was a copperhead over three feet long. Literally the biggest one I've ever seen outside of a zoo. Needless to say it was eliminated in quick fashion with all the children being sworn to secrecy that they wouldn't tell their mom.

So I wanted the guineas on snake patrol in the yard. That dumb little male ran like an angry, inflated football over to the Silver-laced Orpingtons who were minding their own business in the shade and started chasing and plucking tail feathers. He chased them all into the barn and then wandered off with the females. So dumb. They don't bother the geese, or the young birds though. If the geese and the turkeys got along I'd just put all of them together. But the geese and the turkeys hate each other. They'll get into it as least once if they are both turned out on the yard that isn't fenced.

I re-drove some eight foot t-posts in place of the five foot posts I had out at the barn. The fence was starting to sag because the ground has cracked and the five foot posts were leaning in every direction. The birds were less than impressed, but at least it is done.

I'm going to work on the business page for the birds on Facebook so I can have pictures and stuff of them up. No actual advertising though so they don't delete the page. I've got enough hatched for myself for the year now until fall, so I wouldn't mind selling some of the eggs or hatching babies off to sell.

 

[ColtHandorf]

How was everyone over the weekend? I didn't do much with the birds but some friends sent me home with some Mars Bars pullets while we were visiting their farm/homestead. It was a magical little place. I'll link their Facebook here as well as my new business page that I created last week.

 

[Faraday40]

Been seeing a lot of @homeschoolin momma lately. (Our teens enjoy hanging out, so the moms & rest of the family are along for the ride. LOL) This weekend we visited another mutual chicken friend, went to the park, and walked to the local ice cream place.

Gotta ask: What are Mars Bars? (some type of Marans?)

 

[ColtHandorf]

That sounds fun. These Mars Bars are produced crossing Black Copper Marans x Crested Cream Legbars for a sex-linked Olive Egger. They'll just be egg layers for extra Orpington roosters (Sterling) to cover once I move him out of the barn.

 

[Faraday40]

That sounds fun. These Mars Bars are produced crossing Black Copper Marans x Crested Cream Legbars for a sex-linked Olive Egger. They'll just be egg layers for extra Orpington roosters (Sterling) to cover once I move him out of the barn.

Haven't had as much time for pics, but I've got some very pretty ones growing out this year. I'll try to get some pics this weekend.

Pullets: I saved 2 lav, a black, and a blue orp. I don't think I'll keep all 4.

Cockerels: I have 2 lavs. (One was the guy- no girl - no guy... lav orp I had here) and another sweety that just returned to me. There's also a family who has a nice black orp male in need of a home. The black one is the biggest cuddle-bug. If I was 100% sure he was a black-lav split orp, the decision would be easy. I would keep him myself. Then there's another one of my lav cockerels who went to another BYC friend. He has the beautiful 5 point comb I like. (cockerel - not the friend) I'll need some help trying to figure out which one to keep. ....

Meanwhile Mr Potential follows me everywhere. He stands next to me when i'm weeding - just in case I dig up a treat. He also runs to greet the neighbor kid who always feeds him.

Silver Laced: I sold a few. Jewel is mothering 2 (boy & girl) and Coge is mothering a male. 4 laced eggs due to hatch Fri and another couple SLO eggs due next week.

Seramas: too many to count, I fear.

 

[ColtHandorf]

So here is my new Facebook page I created for the birds:

Fairy Tail Farms

The place we visited over the weekend was Atlas Homestead:

Atlas Homestead

They are simply fantastic! They are breeding heritage pigs, geese, turkeys, rabbits, chickens, and more. Super friendly and great people. They’ve got some cool photos on their Facebook and here’s a picture of my friend bottle feeding a calf after she commandeered the bottle from her son. Lol

 

[ColtHandorf]

Charlie petting Jamie, the horrible little Silkie Rooster. He's a complete doll once you pick him up, but he bites and "tries" to spur if he's on the ground. Little pest...

Guinea girls:

Barred Plymouth Rock Bantams:

Silver-duckwing Old English Game Bantams:

Gold-duckwing OEGB:

Seramas:

Black-tailed White Japanese Bantams:

My Silver-laced looking awful! I can't wait for everyone to molt and be pretty again. They look terrible.

The little bit of everything Orp pen. There's Whites, Chocolate, Mauve, Blue, Black, Lavender, and Silver-laced in there currently.

Blue Slate Turkey pair:

Odette:

Seramas: