The IMPORTED ENGLISH Orpington Thread

[aveca]

beautiful babies rising star, and so glad to see so many helping out their birds with the frozen blocks, thats exactly what i do when it gets that bad..frozen soda bottles and fans and ice in water thou weve have been so lucky .. we have so far escaped anything too bad..in fact 2 days ago i had to run the heat lamp in the A frame for the bee bees..it was 45 degrees at night for several nights, windy cold days just barley 70 ..were getting some of it now. im sure it will be moving our way..thou i pray it doesnt..they say balmy 80 degrees monday..it has been in the low 90 s for a couple days..

 

[Renie'sPeeps]

Thank you Rockinpaints

 

[Margitas]

Thank you Margitas. They are from Greenfire. The boys have vibrant, bold lacing- all of them actually. Only one, of the 5 girls, has nice bold lacing. The other girl's lacing pattern is nice, but not bold- rather dull at this point. Not sure if a molt would help that or not. Do subsequent molts change their coloring? I'm hoping for an "ugly duckling to swan" scenario.

They get much better laceing after the first molt , some like the silver lace.

 

[Margitas]

There is public knowledge on the Greenfire website about the Chocolates.

quote from their site:

Although the British chocolate Orpington lines have many strengths, they also carry with them some notable weaknesses. We have found that all lines of British chocolate Orpingtons currently in the United States occasionally produce chicks with light feathering on their legs; a deviation from the breed standard. Of greater concern, chocolate Orpingtons may also have low disease resistance, and low fertility is also common in this variety. These problems may be linked to inbreeding. To address these problems we have acquired championship lines of black Orpingtons to cross into chocolate lines in order to further boost the genetic diversity of this variety. This strategy has proven effective in reducing the frequency of these flaws in the chocolate young they produce while carrying forward the best traits of the British bloodlines.

I'm sure others will chime in. Not sure if the above helps. If it were me, I'd specifically ask your breeder since the genetic diversity between lines might not show the same issues.

Dee

What i do ,i keep 5 LF choc hen with LF Roo , and also 2 LF choc hen over my 17.6 pound LF english orp roo, he ramsley line also cary the choc gane. I love the large birds and like to get , some very large. Also have bantams from greenfire line and rob boyd lines. But so far i have no problem with the choc's

 

[Margitas]

I wanted to share some information with the readers here on BYC. I realize this is probably not the place to list this but larger fluffy breeds (our English Orps) are at a litter higher risk of heatstroke than small birds although it can affect even chicks. If this must be removed by the moderators as being in the wrong forum I understand.:


Several weeks ago we went out of town on a family emergency. Where we were in PA the temps were 75 and rainy. We were only gone for the weekend but the heat was extreme here at home while we were gone and our loss was great. (Actually 37 people died that weekend from heat related issues)

I first want to say it was NOT our caregivers fault. They did absolutely nothing wrong. They did exactly what we had asked. Our birds were fed and watered as we had written in the instructions. In 25 years of raising poultry I had never lost a bird to heat so it did not occur to me to tell them what to watch for.

The affected birds that did not die the day we returned home (at 100 degrees) we lost daily that following week. I kept thinking they would pull out of it and get better but after much research I found that the brain damage is already done and they generally will not recover. The birds that were unable to stand DID NOT get better. The ones that were disoriented and weak did recover after a couple weeks of intensive care. Most of the birds lost were from our flocks of huge fluffy imported orpingtons.

I want to add ALL the birds had plenty of water and shade but it wasn’t enough. With the intense heat that they were not used to and no breeze, they needed more. I want to share what we are doing now to help our birds deal with the heat, signs of trouble and what will help once the birds are in trouble:

If the temps reach 90 the birds could need extra cooling, if it reaches 95 it is a must. The sooner the better.
Heat stressed birds will pant and hold their wings away from their body.

In the early stage of heatstroke they will do much the same thing except they will seem more stress and agitated or have a blank stare on their face.

As it worsens the panting will become heavier and the bird could loose balance and be unable to stand and lastly go into convulsions.
THIS CAN HAPPEN TO ANY BIRDS WITH THE HEAT WE HAVE BEEN HAVING, EVEN IF THEY HAVE WATER AND SHADE.
What can be done to help with heat stress and prevent heatstroke:

1. Change their water often. Drinking water that is the same as the outside temperature only adds to the problem. It could need to be changed every couple hours or more. When you change the water dump the old water on the ground in their pen to help cool the ground they are walking on.

2. If the birds are inside keep the air moving, a fan or open windows, but moving air is a must. When the chicken release the heat through its body the heat hovers around the birds and it is still unable to cool. Moving the air away from the bird will greatly help it cool it’s self.

3. Electrolytes in their water will help their depleted systems because of excessive panting to stay cool.

4. Birds help cool their blood by circulating it through their combs and wattles. Sponge them in cool water if they are overly stressed.

5. Mist or spay their coops with cold water (mist inside if necessary) I even mist the birds if the humidity is not overly high so they will dry.

6. Place jugs filled with ice around randomly in their coop or in pans of water, they will lay against it if need be to stay cool. I have even seen my chicks lay against their waterier to cool.

7. And lastly if your bird is in trouble you can submerge it in a bucket or pail of cool water (not cold as that could cause shock and seizures) to help cool it’s body temperature. By feeling your birds feet and legs (or combs) you can pretty much tell if they are getting cool.

If anyone has any more tips or suggestions I am always open to new information as I am sure a lot of the readers are. I hope this information helps to keep your birds safe in this horrible heat wave we are having

Im sorry for you loss , what i did i add more fans even the run area ,i also use drinker cups and i fill the bucket with ice is good for 8 hour . Hope the temp go down if not i have to install the a/c too.

 

[galanie]

Last summer we had 110 degree weather very often and the worst drought in history here. Didn't lose a one of my fluffy part English birds. SHADE. Water to wade and stand in that is in the shade. Lots of air circulation. Lots of shady places to retreat to, muddy if you can do that. I've even taken a spray bottle and wet down their chest and stomach. And/ or a dunking in cool water.

Many people lost lots of birds last summer here and when you visit their setups you suddenly understand why. Mostly, not enough air flow and shade. I'm lucky enough to have a huge oak tree that offers a perfect place for their "pool" and provides shade and air circulation enough that the water under it doesn't get hot. There are tarps over the runs now that they can hang out under and a small stand of pines, an apple tree, and a pear tree. Plus they can hang out on the concrete slab in the garage if they wish. The garage doors were installed on the south and east to provide summer air flow, and it works well.

Yes, it is a serious concern, especially for those who think 90 is really bad heat. 'Round here, it's almost a cold front lately if it's that cool during the day. Yes, the really fluffy loose feathered ones do suffer greatly. So do other breeds. I had a Barred Rock that suffered more than the Orps it seems.

SO SORRY for your losses! I know that heat hit you by surprise. It's not the same as here where we know it might get to 100 and so are somewhat prepared for it.

 

[4cats3kids1hubby2many]

Quote: If you do make an incubator...can you take photos and share. I have started a "freezor - bator" project. I have the heater...need to get a fan .... so I have not finished it. Not really sure how to. Would love to see this progress.

 

[4cats3kids1hubby2many]

I can't thank you enough for sharing.
I love them so much, even if they do look like turkeys!

Hope those new saddles stay on the girls. They are seriously heavy duty, but I am afraid to put them on until it cools off.

Where did you get saddles? I need one. Poor little girl has been pluckled clean on her back.

 

[pips&peeps]

Personally, I haven't had any real health issues with my imported chocolates. I have made sure in the beginning that they are totally isolated from the rest of my flock just in case there were bacterial or viral issues that the birds from across the pond were not used to. I make sure and vaccinate them on schedule and like I said have had no issues. (The chicks are raised now with my ameraucanas and still no issues.)

I am however, not experiencing the heat some of you have been this year. I am going to stop complaining about our "Seattle" like weather and be happy it's nice enough to go outside. We do get warm here though in 90's and hitting a hundred now and again during the latter part of July and through August. We cool back down about the second week of September. It's all down hill rapidly from there.

 

[BerrytangleFarm]

Make that 3 dead chocolate chicks. The survivor went to sleep last night and didn't wake up.

Man.

This sucks.

That's almost a whole month's preschool payment in the trashcan....literally!

We really need a turnaround here.