The IMPORTED ENGLISH Orpington Thread

[jeremy]

How ya doing Alton? Do you have any updated pics of your Jubes?

 

[Phantom_Rooster]

Nope. PM me or call.

 

[naturespace]

Wow that Liam is sure interesting. You thought him a boy early. I hope he is a great breeder for you. Glad you are keeping us posted on his development. It's nice to see for us novice.

You know, I started wanting orpingtons because I thought I would get a good broody large fowl. But now I got caught up in the English vs American and love the english with the lacing. BSS. I don't think there was a warning about the addictive ness of these birds. Still waiting for my first egg. I'm guessing that a few months always still.

 

[Phantom_Rooster]

Wow that Liam is sure interesting. You thought him a boy early. I hope he is a great breeder for you. Glad you are keeping us posted on his development. It's nice to see for us novice.
You know, I started wanting orpingtons because I thought I would get a good broody large fowl. But now I got caught up in the English vs American and love the english with the lacing. BSS. I don't think there was a warning about the addictive ness of these birds. Still waiting for my first egg. I'm guessing that a few months always still.

Oh, the patience with these English Orps. Hang in there.

 

[jeremy]

Wow that Liam is sure interesting. You thought him a boy early. I hope he is a great breeder for you. Glad you are keeping us posted on his development. It's nice to see for us novice.
You know, I started wanting orpingtons because I thought I would get a good broody large fowl. But now I got caught up in the English vs American and love the english with the lacing. BSS. I don't think there was a warning about the addictive ness of these birds. Still waiting for my first egg. I'm guessing that a few months always still.

The English Orps stole my heart almost 3 years ago and have had it ever since. There's nothing like these birds.

 

[naturespace]

Jeremey, There are lots of nice places here in VA for eng orp lovers...

 

[thedragonlady]

A few shots of my youngest with their adopted momma.







They weren't the easiest chicks to get pictures of, they're scared of anything that moves right now. LOL.

What an attitude the blue boy has! Love that! I now see from an earlier post that he's the chick on your avatar. He just keeps getting better!

 

[galanie]

Yes, Jeremy, I think Liam still has the "presence" that dragonlady pointed out at first with him. What a boy that is. I'm going to love seeing him grow.

 

[deek]

Jeremy, Cuteness Overload! The one in the middle picture knows "he's" cute. In the dog world, when showing, "expression" receives extra pts! I will definitely give him points for expression. Not sure what that is called in the chicken world..."attitude?" Thank you for sharing the pictures. Nice way to start the morning.

For all you experts out there... three questions.

I have no intention of ever showing or professionally breeding, but I'd like to learn regardless. I have one chick that is "giganimous". He literally weighs twice as much...I've weighed them. His head, chest, and body are enormous as compared to the other 11. While half of the others are feathering in, "he" is not at all interested in feathers. He just grows in size.

1- Although the chick is 14 days old today, could these two indicators, size and lack of feathering, possibly mean that he could be a cockerel?

2- Would his size as a chick indicate size as an adult?

3-"Does size matter"?

(...fertility wise or in any other way that I need to consider.)

I could post pics if that helps.

 

[thedragonlady]

Sounds like a growing roo to me. Do your others have tails yet. If he doesn't have one, and the others do ; he's probably a roo.
A roo CAN be too big if all his hens are a lot smaller. Not only will he be rough on them when breeding, but his sheer size, and sometimes resultant clumsiness, may impair fertility.

Jeremy, Cuteness Overload! The one in the middle picture knows "he's" cute. In the dog world, when showing, "expression" receives extra pts! I will definitely give him points for expression. Not sure what that is called in the chicken world..."attitude?" Thank you for sharing the pictures. Nice way to start the morning.

For all you experts out there... three questions.

I have no intention of ever showing or professionally breeding, but I'd like to learn regardless. I have one chick that is "giganimous". He literally weighs twice as much...I've weighed them. His head, chest, and body are enormous as compared to the other 11. While half of the others are feathering in, "he" is not at all interested in feathers. He just grows in size.

1- Although the chick is 14 days old today, could these two indicators, size and lack of feathering, possibly mean that he could be a cockerel?

2- Would his size as a chick indicate size as an adult?

3-"Does size matter"?

(...fertility wise or in any other way that I need to consider.)

I could post pics if that helps.