What do you cull for in your Orpingtons?

[tazcat70]

I know that I should choose one or two things to work on, but what are the biggies? At what age, can you tell that one will need to be culled?

Such as at two weeks you should look for........

At two months you should look for..........

I love the full bodied Orps, the ones that look like they will break your back if you pick them up.

Here is a picture of my roo, with the hens in the background.

Ok I am ready for your brutal honesty. What would YOU do?

Thanks for your time, and responses.

 

[sonew123]

I think they are beautiful-cant help with your question though :

 

[BamaChicken]

That Roo has great comb and wattles. How old is he? I don't think unless it is very obvious faults you can make a quick decision when they are young. I have been learning this a I progress in breeding them. Thanks for sharing those photos. Nice looking flock

 

[tazcat70]

Thanks!

He is about a year old. Actually they all are.

 

[Majestic Lane Poultry]

One thing I know: Practice Patience. It is hard for me as I am not normally a patient person. I let them grow out before I make decisions for culling.

 

[EweSheep]

Orpingtons, I found out, are slow growing and slow maturing breed. Patience is the key.

I cull at one or two months of age if it is not the color I want OR wrong color for the breed.

At six months, I will cull again for the same reason above OR wrong leg color or a minor fault of eye colors, you dont want yellow eyed Orpingtons in the flock. It is most common in hatchery stock and once in a while in a breeder's flock. If that bird has a minor fault, you still can use him or her for breeding stock and see if that gene can be overridden by a better fault. If it doesn't, cull that out or sell it to someone who would use it for egg laying or producing mutt chicks.

At one year, I select the best of best and second best and cull the rest. And start again with the hatching process.

 

[Krys109uk]

I'd agree with Julie & Ewesheep. Unless faults are obvious it is more a matter of selecting for best points.
General cobby appearance; deep broad body.....deep, well rounded & broad in the chest, horizontal carriage not upright; broad across the back; Often one can spot nice broad chucky chicks at hatch. A kind of 'U' shape between the neck & tail. Smallish head, broad across the top of the head (narrower heads are common in blues & blacks). Tidy compact comb.
In my experience birds which are narrow framed do not usually get much broader as they mature but a bird can get a good deal deeper in the keel towards maturity.

 

[tazcat70]

I meant to respond last night, but I read this on my cell phone, and that is alot of typing for such a little keyboard.

Ok patience is the key.

I will try to put this in my own words and see if I have it right.

Body should be stocky, broad, a nice hefty size overall. I am not sure about the horizontal carriage, does that mean that their entire frame should look short and round, not tall and lanky. That makes sense if it is.

The head, small when looking from the side, but from the top and front they should be broader?


I have found that I am a visual learner.

So is there somewhere that I can go and see what you are saying?

I would love to see the pics of the head, and the "U" shape of chicks.

Thanks to all of you for your help.

 

[Krys109uk]

LOL It's difficult to describe. I expect I didn't describe it very well. It is easier to show than describe. I was shown by judges & long standing top breeders; when shown it is so much easier to understand what is being conveyed.
I think there is at least one judge on this list I wonder whether they might do the describing as no doubt he'd be much better as it is their job.

The kind of U shape is not in chicks but on the mature bird, between the neck along the back & up to the tail.
With Orp chicks one can often see, at hatch, that they're chunky & broad across the back when looking down at the. The chucky ones look so cute. But no U shape.

Horizontal as in not like a leghorn or some of the other upright breeds. The breast is supposed to be full rather flat with a cut off look (not litterally,

. Definitely not lanky. The thing about the head....head smallish in comparison with the size of it's body. But if one looks down at the head from above the head ought to be broadish for the size of the head, sometimes giving a rather flattish look from above (apart from the comb of course.

).