The IMPORTED ENGLISH Orpington Thread

[jeremy]

Joy, I cracked open two and ate them for breakfast this morning... also to check if they were fertile... AAANNNDDD, they were! They had BIG "bullseye" marks in the middle of BIG yellow yolks. Everything about these birds is big, isn't it?

My scrambled eggs with chorizo was delicious, too. I felt almost bad for eating them... I thought about sneaking the other four in the bator before you-know-who woke up and said no.

Julie, I'm glad y'all have gotten some rain and hope it's a bit cooler there. My mom is in Central Texas and she's said it's been unbelievably hot. They got some rain the other day too and she called me crying. My mother does have a flair for the dramatics...

We're expecting light showers here on Sunday that I'm actually not looking forward to. Our summer literally just started, it's been chilly here up until about 3 weeks ago. We've had lovely 75+ degree weather though the past month. A few days this week we were up in the high 80s (87 degrees being the hottest) and I actually felt warm. It reminded me of home.

I've got a question, how am I to tell which girl laid what egg? I want to collect specifically from Thelma, Alice and Elizabeth and set their eggs for my own hatching as I feel they are my 3 typest (and most beautiful) girls. Besides separating them to lay elsewhere, does anything else work for selective egg collection? Has anyone tried the food coloring thing wher you put drops on their vent? Does that actually work?

 

[tazcat70]

I did the food color, and it does work, but it was light and I had to look for it. One hen did not like it when I was doing it, and she flung blue food coloring all over me.

 

[jeremy]

Quote:

How much did you put on each girl?

I wondered earlier too... if Neville is mounting them will he get food coloring on his boy parts and then continue to spread those different colors to each hen as he breeds others. How will I tell the eggs apart then?

 

[daytonfarm]

I tried the food coloring twice the first time I only had one hen that had color on her eggs, the rest I had beautifully colored poop! The second time I tried it one hen had just a trace on the first egg layed and that was it. Unless I'm doing it wrong I haven't had good luck with it. Is there a technique to getting it to work??

Carolyn

 

[Mrs. Fluffy Puffy]

Question about the food coloring thing, how does it work? Does it make them lay colored eggs? Do you add it to their drinking water?

 

[jeremy]

Mrs. Fluffy Puffy :

Question about the food coloring thing, how does it work? Does it make them lay colored eggs? Do you add it to their drinking water?

No, you put drops of food coloring on their vents.​

 

[Mrs. Fluffy Puffy]

Quote:
No, you put drops of food coloring on their vents.

Ah, I might have to try that.

~ Aspen

 

[hoppy]

my trick for it is to put in one drop, set the hen down, she will poop then pick her up and do it again. mine worked on a silkie for 2-3 eggs but did not work on the wyandotte that pooped right after I did it until I redyed her, then only worked for 1 egg (but it was laid 2 days later)

 

[justuschickens59]

Jeremy - You got that right, about everything being BIG about these English Orps !! Don't you just love it? I just love to sit and watch my big, beautiful, English birds run all around the yard. I just sit and smile and think how lucky I am to have such magnificent creatures here on my farm. They are just such beauties !! It's really exciting to see other people importing other colors. Now if somebody would just get some Buff Orps imported, that would just be awesome !!! I'd really love to have some big, fluffy, beautiful English Buff Orps running around here.

The food coloring thing- I've tried it a gazillion times and never had any luck at all. When I was trying to collect eggs from only Clementine, I separated her from the other girls and put her in a run by herself every morning around 10AM. After she laid her egg (usually by 2PM), I would then put her back in with the other girls. This way I was 100% certain that I was getting her eggs only.

 

[jeremy]

Joy, you mean birds like this?