Wyandottes and Orpingtons

[forgetful]

I'm more wyandotte oriented, but I've seen a lot of people getting into the orpington craze and imports and the whole lot. I bought a standard but can't find it for the life of me, so I did some googling. What are the body differences in the two breeds? I don't mean comb, or skin color, but the body shape of the bird. They both seem to be rather full bodied, circular, symmetrical birds, and the pictures I've found online reflect that. Could someone clarify for me?

 

[greeneggsnham]

From what I've seen the English orps are larger and more "round" than the others. They are fluffier in general and tend to have puffy butts like the cochins. It was only a week or so ago that I decided to get English orpingtons so I have not had any personal experience yet but as they grow I can send you pics of my standards and the English side by side. Pm Papa Brooder for more details since he sells them on here. Also look on this thread.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/386051/the-imported-english-orpington-thread

A few others have asked the same questions on here so you should be able to get the info that way. Sorry I can't be more help.

 

[Matt1616]

I'm more wyandotte oriented, but I've seen a lot of people getting into the orpington craze and imports and the whole lot. I bought a standard but can't find it for the life of me, so I did some googling. What are the body differences in the two breeds? I don't mean comb, or skin color, but the body shape of the bird. They both seem to be rather full bodied, circular, symmetrical birds, and the pictures I've found online reflect that. Could someone clarify for me?

Wyandottes and Orpingtons are very different in type. There is really not much about them that is the same. Two very obvious and major differences are the Orpington has a much longer back and a lower tail angle. Those are two fundamental parts to a chickens type.

 

[forgetful]

Matt, that's not what I have observed. All the 'pure English' orpingtons I am seeing are huge birds with relatively high tails, like this:

To me it doesn't seem very far off from the Wyandotte form, which as I understand it is supposed to be very circular and and symmetrical.

In fact while searching for pictures I found both barred wyandottes and orpingtons. I could not tell a difference in the shape, besides a slightly deeper body in the orpingtons.

 

[Matt1616]

Matt, that's not what I have observed. All the 'pure English' orpingtons I am seeing are huge birds with relatively high tails, like this:



To me it doesn't seem very far off from the Wyandotte form, which as I understand it is supposed to be very circular and and symmetrical.

In fact while searching for pictures I found both barred wyandottes and orpingtons. I could not tell a difference in the shape, besides a slightly deeper body in the orpingtons.

In your original post you said you bought a "standard"....are you referring to an APA Standard?

 

[forgetful]

Yes. I bought the APA standard last year and have read through it several times. I mentioned I am not well educated on orpingtons, hence the thread. I still can't find the book, but considering I recently moved its not surprising. I also followed and still look back on the CSU Large Fowl SOP thread. There is one photo of a beautiful orpington that does not match any of the current stock I am seeing:



Is this the type you were referring to?

 

[Matt1616]

Yes. I bought the APA standard last year and have read through it several times. I mentioned I am not well educated on orpingtons, hence the thread. I still can't find the book, but considering I recently moved its not surprising. I also followed and still look back on the CSU Large Fowl SOP thread. There is one photo of a beautiful orpington that does not match any of the current stock I am seeing:



Is this the type you were referring to?

The reason I asked about the Standard is because if you are interested in your birds being bred to the APA Standard you need not pay any attention to the "Import Orpingtons". The pictures that you posted are of extremely bad representitives of the Orpington breed as far as our Standard goes. However, if those birds are what you are comparing the Wyandottes to...again, there are really no similarities between those Orpingtons and properly bred Wyandottes. I don't know if you have ever been to a poultry show and seen these types of pure bred/exhibition lines of poultry in person but if you seen them side by side you would see the obvious differences.

Matt