October 31, 2024 • 18 mins
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Carey (00:00):
Hi, and welcome to the Poultry Nerds Podcast.
I'm Carey Blackmon, and I'm herewith my co host for the show,
Jennifer Bryant, and we're hereto help you figure out how to
raise the healthiest, happiest,and highest quality birds
possible.
Mhm.
Jennifer (00:23):
Welcome, poultry nerds.
We're here today with RossHarrington, and he raises buff
orpingtons.
So welcome Ross, how are you?
Ross (00:32):
Pretty good, thank you.
Jennifer (00:34):
How long have you been racing Buff Orpingtons?
Ross (00:37):
I got pretty serious with the buffs in the last five
years.
I've always had some runningaround, but I doubled down about
five years ago and reallystarted focusing on them and got
rid of some other stuff.
So they could be the main focuschicken wise.
Jennifer (00:55):
Yeah, you can only focus on a couple things at a
time, can't you?
Ross (00:59):
Chickens for sure.
They take up a lot of space.
Jennifer (01:02):
Yep.
We try to help people getstarted with birds.
And when I tell people that ittakes so much space to just
breed one breed well, I don'tknow that they really
understand.
So tell us how many breedinggroups you have and how much
space they take up.
Ross (01:20):
I try to run three breeding groups.
Sometimes it doesn't work outthat way.
It ends up being a little bitmore, a little bit less.
I like to put one male over twoto four females and I mainly
just track off of the males.
All the females are usuallypretty closely related.
And then just try to hatch asmany as I can out of each pen.
(01:44):
Some years it's great.
Some years it's not.
Just depends on the gods.
Jennifer (01:49):
Depends on the weather, depends on your time.
Ross (01:52):
Yeah.
Jennifer (01:53):
Incubators.
Ross (01:57):
Oh gosh, yeah.
And we live down here in TornadoAlley, so that's about the time
that we're trying to hatch, andsometimes you'll have one ripped
through and won't have power fora little while.
Yeah.
Jennifer (02:10):
So your birds so let's explain the difference between
standard bred and utility birds.
Ross (02:18):
Yeah I would say the utility birds are great for
people just looking forsomething pretty in their
backyard.
They generally don't have thesize, the body capacity, the
quality of feather that we'relooking for, and something that
we would breed to a standard.
And in the standard Orpingtons,I think, especially in the
(02:39):
buffs, the biggest thing is ofcourse size, but we also want
them to have the featherquality.
And that's the biggest issue inme or in my buffs is the females
don't always have that nice widethick feather.
But they are overall just a muchlarger, heavier bird.
And I would say they're maybenot as productive as your
(03:01):
utility type strains.
Jennifer (03:04):
Yeah.
If you're just looking for egglayers, I would not get birds
from us.
Ross (03:10):
No, you'll be so disappointed.
Carey (03:11):
No, cause like I have some reds and I have some
standard reds and my productionreds lay significantly more eggs
than my standard reds.
Ross (03:23):
Yeah.
And that seems to be the commontheme.
Those production birds arethey're bred to produce.
And that is, they're bred toproduce eggs.
Jennifer (03:32):
Yep, and then the size difference, I still have two of
my original hatchery birds outthere.
They've got to be nine, tenyears old at this point.
But they just keep coming back.
Clocking along.
We're still laying eggs too.
But they're probably four, maybefive pounds.
Yeah.
Ross (03:51):
They're not real big, but they do live a long time.
Those production birds, theylive forever.
Jennifer (03:56):
And then the standard hens, they're going to be more
like eight to 10 pounds.
Right?
Ross (04:02):
Ideally.
Yeah.
A 10 pounds for a female isprobably going to be a little
bit too heavy, but I don't seemany people bringing scales, so
I wouldn't worry too much aboutweight.
Jennifer (04:14):
We're not going to get into that conversation.
Carey (04:18):
If your buff is a little fluffy, but she looks pretty,
you'll be alright.
It'll be just fine.
Jennifer (04:24):
I hear a lot about the skirt of the bird.
So can you explain to peoplewhat they're, what we're talking
about?
Ross (04:31):
Yeah, so that skirt is what's covering the hawk.
And ideally we don't want it tocover the shank, but Sometimes
it does.
That skirt is gonna just comeright around there about the
hock.
And it is to cover the hock, butit is not supposed to cover the
shank in full.
It does sometimes.
It's the least of my concerns.
Jennifer (04:54):
But there is a rule, a two inch rule, right?
Ross (04:58):
Allegedly.
Jennifer (04:59):
Allegedly, sometimes it's there.
Sometimes it's not.
Ross (05:02):
Yeah, it's like those scales.
They're not walking around withthe tape measure either.
Carey (05:06):
Depends on the judge.
That's right.
Jennifer (05:09):
All right.
Let's see.
Now, Orpington's come in Bantamand Largefowl.
Both of us raised Largefowl.
Ross (05:16):
Yes.
Jennifer (05:18):
Have you seen the little Banning Orpingtons?
Ross (05:20):
Yeah.
A friend of mine actually justpicked up some Bannum Buffs and
they're pretty cool.
They look great.
Jennifer (05:25):
They look, but they're so tiny.
Carey (05:28):
Are they smaller than the production ones?
Jennifer (05:31):
Yeah,
Ross (05:31):
they're smaller, but they're really wide and they
feel like a bowling ball in yourhand.
Jennifer (05:37):
If you can't see their feet, they almost look like a
coach in
Ross (05:40):
a little
Jennifer (05:40):
bit.
All right.
Let's see.
So we both raised Buff and theyhave a whitish pinkish skin.
Do all the Orpington plumagecolors have white, pink skin?
Ross (05:54):
They're supposed to have white skin.
And then of course in the blacksyou'll have the Melanizer gene
at play.
But they're to have white skintoo.
But their shanks and their beaksare going to be black.
Jennifer (06:06):
And a single comb.
Ross (06:08):
Single comb, five points, medium size.
Jennifer (06:13):
A light brown egg.
Ross (06:15):
Yeah, do yours not lay pink eggs?
Mine lay pink eggs.
Jennifer (06:19):
No, I don't have Easter Eggers.
I
Carey (06:23):
knew that
Jennifer (06:27):
was coming.
You get pink eggs, huh?
Ross (06:32):
Yeah, I'll just send you a picture.
Mine are pink.
Jennifer (06:35):
Interesting.
Ross (06:36):
Consistently.
We have two
Jennifer (06:38):
different lines of birds.
That's
Ross (06:40):
cool.
Jennifer (06:40):
Yours are fluffier than mine.
How about, let's talk about thedifferences between the standard
bred and the English Orpingtons.
And yeah, so there,
Ross (06:52):
of course they definitely, they're all under the English
class.
And if you want an Englishlooking bird, then you'll have
to breed it to the Englishstandard.
But for the American standard,They're not supposed to be as
fluffy, as high tailed.
The main thing is those Englishtype birds have really high
tails and they're just reallyfluffy.
(07:14):
The American birds, the AmericanOrpington is going to be a
tighter feathered bird, a littlelonger back than a much lower
tail.
Those are the main differences.
Jennifer (07:25):
Yep.
And your temperament.
No, I have never had a meanOrpington.
Have you?
Ross (07:30):
Never.
Jennifer (07:32):
No, they
Ross (07:33):
require very little handling to be tame.
Jennifer (07:36):
I think
Ross (07:37):
they hatch tame, honestly.
Jennifer (07:39):
Yeah.
They're pretty much big babies.
Carey (07:41):
Yeah.
When you're a chicken and youweigh 10 pounds, you really
can't move around fast enough tobe aggressive.
Ross (07:49):
No, they're never mean.
I don't have any any issues withpicking as babies or anything.
They're just tame.
Really docile birds.
Jennifer (07:58):
So one of my big cock birds, he's probably, I haven't
weighed him in a while, but lasttime I did he was almost 14
pounds and he's about as big as,he's bigger than some of my
turkey hens and my four year oldgrandson was helping me feed one
day and he was going in and outof all of the coops grabbing the
water buckets for me.
(08:19):
And I told him, of course, theCochins, I have the two cock
birds and the Cochins are kindof jerks.
And so he doesn't go in there.
And so he was going and he wasrunning around the corner and JC
is the big cock bird and he wasstanding there.
And he's about eye level withDerek and Derek just comes to a
(08:41):
complete stop and just looks athim through the gate, like eye
to eye with JC.
And he just turned around and hegoes, this one's all yours,
grandma.
I ain't going in there.
Carey (08:49):
That's hilarious.
That's funny.
Jennifer (08:53):
Yeah, but they're big birds, but they are no problem
sending him in there because hewouldn't hurt him at all.
Ross (08:59):
Yeah they're so tame and I really think that Orpingtons are
a great bird for kids, forpeople just wanting to get into
the hobby or even just backyardpeople.
They're really easy going.
Jennifer (09:11):
So let's talk about some defects and like what you
look for.
Do you start culling straightout of the hatcher, straight out
of the brooder?
When do you start?
Ross (09:20):
I don't, unless they have sprigs, I don't cull, I don't
cull anything until it's aboutsix months old.
Obviously sprigs, crooked toes,that's all going to get culled
pretty early, but everythingelse they get to grow up and
then at six months I'll start toevaluate type, color, stuff like
that.
Jennifer (09:38):
Okay, so explain sprigs to people who don't know
what they are and stuff.
Ross (09:42):
So a sprig sometimes is so small you really, you have to
feel it.
So if you run your hands downeach side of their comb,
anything that's sticking out isbasically what I consider a
sprig.
Some of them are big veryvisible, and some of them are
super tiny.
Jennifer (09:58):
And a stub?
Ross (10:01):
Stubs are going to be on their feet or in between their
toes.
It's just a feather or multiplefeathers, clusters of feathers,
anything like that.
I generally don't tolerate.
Jennifer (10:13):
Yeah, those don't, especially the sprigs.
Definitely just cull those out.
Yep.
That is a huge genetic issuelater down the road, right?
Ross (10:23):
Yes, do not tolerate it.
Jennifer (10:25):
Yeah.
Alright, and then at six months,what do you start looking for?
Ross (10:31):
Length of back is something I've been trying to
focus on more the past coupleyears.
And a more forward breast in mymales.
My males don't have enoughbreast.
They don't have enough backlength.
We're getting there, making someprogress.
But that, those are the mainthings at six months is really
looking at length of back and abig forward breast.
Jennifer (10:55):
Because they're considered dual purpose.
We eat them.
Ross (10:58):
They're
Jennifer (10:58):
egg layers.
So you want them to be full inthe chest.
Ross (11:02):
Yes, want a big full breast.
They're supposed to look good ona table or out in the yard.
Jennifer (11:06):
Yeah, they're not these modern game birds, they're
like little barbies standingthere and put them on a shish
kebab or something
Carey (11:14):
Nope, I like this.
It's not a table jumper
Jennifer (11:17):
Huh?
Carey (11:17):
Not a table jumper.
Jennifer (11:19):
No, oh those little saramas Yeah those are my bad
birds would eat those
Carey (11:25):
I like watching them at shows.
I mean because some of thosepeople they get really into that
And I just they do get into
Ross (11:32):
it
Jennifer (11:33):
All right, how about feed?
Do you do anything special forthe Orpingtons?
Ross (11:37):
No everybody here eats the exact same thing.
Luckily, my local feed store isnow carrying Kombach, so I just
switched to that, but everybodyeats the same thing.
Jennifer (11:48):
Since you just switched over to it, do you have
any initial observations?
Ross (11:53):
They love it.
That it's, they really like theKombach.
I haven't had anybody turn that,their cups are clean every day.
They're finishing it up.
Jennifer (12:04):
Yeah.
I really like it too.
Oh, let's see.
What advice would you have foranybody wanting to get started
breeding and showing?
Ross (12:13):
If you want to get started breeding and showing obviously
by standard, read it, learn it,know it try to create a mental
image.
Okay.
Talk to breeders who areconsistently, every year,
producing the type of bird that,the type of bird that you are
mentally picturing whenever youread the standard.
(12:35):
And try to buy the best stockthat you can afford.
Really good Orpingtons are notcheap and there's a reason
they're not cheap because ittakes a lot to get them.
Sorry, my computer has decidedto change my lighting up.
The best stock you can affordand get it from a breeder who
(12:56):
It's consistently producingreally top notch birds.
Ridgeview Farms, they sellreally good Orpingtons every
year, and they're consistentlyproducing really good birds.
That's what I would look for.
If I was going to start withOrpingtons over, I would go look
for somebody who is consistentlyproducing the type of bird that
you can mentally picturewhenever you read the standards.
Jennifer (13:18):
Now, how do you go about finding those people?
That'll be the next questionpeople ask.
Ross (13:23):
Facebook is honestly, as much as we all like to hate it,
it is the best way to findstuff.
And then of course the OrpingtonClub, the United Orpington Club
has a breeders directory and Ithink that's a fabulous resource
as well.
Jennifer (13:38):
Do you sell?
Ross (13:40):
I have sold one pair of buffs since I started breeding
them.
And that's it.
I call hard.
I call really hard.
Jennifer (13:49):
Yeah.
So that's the same with me.
I just, we just eat them.
If somebody calls and says theywant one, I'll say I got this
one here.
Take it or leave it.
Cause it's going in the pot ifyou're not taking it.
But I don't advertise.
And most of the time it's justsomebody wanting a big bird to
increase their size of theirstock that they had at home.
Ross (14:12):
Yeah, and I think that's always important, too is just,
it never hurts to ask.
If you need something andsomebody has it, the worst
they're gonna say is no.
Jennifer (14:21):
And if we said, yeah, we'll call you back later, give
me a month, don't hesitate tohit us back in a month because
we probably won't call you back.
Ross (14:28):
I have definitely forgotten.
Please remind me.
Jennifer (14:32):
We don't keep lists.
I tried lists years ago and itjust doesn't work.
Ross (14:37):
Yeah, and I'll sell hatching eggs if I've got
something extra every now andthen.
And I think that's another greatway to get started.
Especially if you can purchaseout of their, the exact breeding
pens they're breeding from.
Jennifer (14:49):
Not everybody
Ross (14:50):
offers hatching eggs.
Jennifer (14:51):
That leads me to another question.
So do you trim in order toincrease your fertility?
Ross (14:56):
I do trim, yeah.
About, I just take my fist andthen trim around it and make a
hole about yay big.
Jennifer (15:05):
And then you have to wait for the molt for that to
grow back.
Yep.
Yep.
All right.
Orpingtons are easy becausethey're so docile.
They're just there.
They're so pretty.
You don't really have to do awhole lot.
So it doesn't really require ahuge, long, drawn out
conversation.
Ross (15:21):
No, they're a really easy, straightforward breed.
Long as you really pay attentionto the details, you can't really
go wrong with.
No,
Jennifer (15:28):
Now we both raised buffs and and that's a color,
not a breed for everybody whowill type that out.
Orpington's also come in black,white, blue, black,
Ross (15:41):
white, blue and buff.
Jennifer (15:42):
Yep.
That's the APA standards, butyou can get other colors like
lavender.
Yeah, not
Ross (15:49):
recognized.
And I honestly don't thinkthere's enough people working on
them to get them recognized.
They have a feather shreddinggene that is really hard to
recognize.
Jennifer (15:58):
Do you know anybody that has a lavender line that
doesn't have the shredder gene?
I don't either.
Yeah.
No, self believes are hard.
I don't know anybody either.
All righty thanks for joining ustoday to talk about Orpington's.
Ross (16:15):
Absolutely.
We can go in depth on them, butthat's a pretty good brief
overview.
Jennifer (16:20):
Yes, that's exactly what we needed.
Ross (16:23):
Yep.
Jennifer (16:24):
All right.
We'll talk to you soon.
Ross (16:26):
All right.
Thank you.
Carey (16:28):
Thank you for joining us this week.
Before you go, be sure tosubscribe to our podcast so you
can receive new episodes rightwhen they are released.
And they're released every week.
Feel free to email us atpoultrynerds@gmail.com to share
your thoughts about the show.
Until next time, poultry pals,keep clucking, keep learning,
(16:50):
and keep it egg citing.
This is Carey signing off fromPoultry Nerds.
Feathers up, everyone.
Mhm.
Hi, and welcome to the Poultry Nerds Podcast.
I'm Carey Blackmon, and I'm herewith my co host for the show,
Jennifer Bryant, and we're hereto help you figure out how to
raise the healthiest, happiest,and highest quality birds
possible.
Mhm.
Jennifer (00:23):
Welcome, poultry nerds.
We're here today with RossHarrington, and he raises buff
orpingtons.
So welcome Ross, how are you?
Ross (00:32):
Pretty good, thank you.
Jennifer (00:34):
How long have you been racing Buff Orpingtons?
Ross (00:37):
I got pretty serious with the buffs in the last five
years.
I've always had some runningaround, but I doubled down about
five years ago and reallystarted focusing on them and got
rid of some other stuff.
So they could be the main focuschicken wise.
Jennifer (00:55):
Yeah, you can only focus on a couple things at a
time, can't you?
Ross (00:59):
Chickens for sure.
They take up a lot of space.
Jennifer (01:02):
Yep.
We try to help people getstarted with birds.
And when I tell people that ittakes so much space to just
breed one breed well, I don'tknow that they really
understand.
So tell us how many breedinggroups you have and how much
space they take up.
Ross (01:20):
I try to run three breeding groups.
Sometimes it doesn't work outthat way.
It ends up being a little bitmore, a little bit less.
I like to put one male over twoto four females and I mainly
just track off of the males.
All the females are usuallypretty closely related.
And then just try to hatch asmany as I can out of each pen.
(01:44):
Some years it's great.
Some years it's not.
Just depends on the gods.
Jennifer (01:49):
Depends on the weather, depends on your time.
Ross (01:52):
Yeah.
Jennifer (01:53):
Incubators.
Ross (01:57):
Oh gosh, yeah.
And we live down here in TornadoAlley, so that's about the time
that we're trying to hatch, andsometimes you'll have one ripped
through and won't have power fora little while.
Yeah.
Jennifer (02:10):
So your birds so let's explain the difference between
standard bred and utility birds.
Ross (02:18):
Yeah I would say the utility birds are great for
people just looking forsomething pretty in their
backyard.
They generally don't have thesize, the body capacity, the
quality of feather that we'relooking for, and something that
we would breed to a standard.
And in the standard Orpingtons,I think, especially in the
(02:39):
buffs, the biggest thing is ofcourse size, but we also want
them to have the featherquality.
And that's the biggest issue inme or in my buffs is the females
don't always have that nice widethick feather.
But they are overall just a muchlarger, heavier bird.
And I would say they're maybenot as productive as your
(03:01):
utility type strains.
Jennifer (03:04):
Yeah.
If you're just looking for egglayers, I would not get birds
from us.
Ross (03:10):
No, you'll be so disappointed.
Carey (03:11):
No, cause like I have some reds and I have some
standard reds and my productionreds lay significantly more eggs
than my standard reds.
Ross (03:23):
Yeah.
And that seems to be the commontheme.
Those production birds arethey're bred to produce.
And that is, they're bred toproduce eggs.
Jennifer (03:32):
Yep, and then the size difference, I still have two of
my original hatchery birds outthere.
They've got to be nine, tenyears old at this point.
But they just keep coming back.
Clocking along.
We're still laying eggs too.
But they're probably four, maybefive pounds.
Yeah.
Ross (03:51):
They're not real big, but they do live a long time.
Those production birds, theylive forever.
Jennifer (03:56):
And then the standard hens, they're going to be more
like eight to 10 pounds.
Right?
Ross (04:02):
Ideally.
Yeah.
A 10 pounds for a female isprobably going to be a little
bit too heavy, but I don't seemany people bringing scales, so
I wouldn't worry too much aboutweight.
Jennifer (04:14):
We're not going to get into that conversation.
Carey (04:18):
If your buff is a little fluffy, but she looks pretty,
you'll be alright.
It'll be just fine.
Jennifer (04:24):
I hear a lot about the skirt of the bird.
So can you explain to peoplewhat they're, what we're talking
about?
Ross (04:31):
Yeah, so that skirt is what's covering the hawk.
And ideally we don't want it tocover the shank, but Sometimes
it does.
That skirt is gonna just comeright around there about the
hock.
And it is to cover the hock, butit is not supposed to cover the
shank in full.
It does sometimes.
It's the least of my concerns.
Jennifer (04:54):
But there is a rule, a two inch rule, right?
Ross (04:58):
Allegedly.
Jennifer (04:59):
Allegedly, sometimes it's there.
Sometimes it's not.
Ross (05:02):
Yeah, it's like those scales.
They're not walking around withthe tape measure either.
Carey (05:06):
Depends on the judge.
That's right.
Jennifer (05:09):
All right.
Let's see.
Now, Orpington's come in Bantamand Largefowl.
Both of us raised Largefowl.
Ross (05:16):
Yes.
Jennifer (05:18):
Have you seen the little Banning Orpingtons?
Ross (05:20):
Yeah.
A friend of mine actually justpicked up some Bannum Buffs and
they're pretty cool.
They look great.
Jennifer (05:25):
They look, but they're so tiny.
Carey (05:28):
Are they smaller than the production ones?
Jennifer (05:31):
Yeah,
Ross (05:31):
they're smaller, but they're really wide and they
feel like a bowling ball in yourhand.
Jennifer (05:37):
If you can't see their feet, they almost look like a
coach in
Ross (05:40):
a little
Jennifer (05:40):
bit.
All right.
Let's see.
So we both raised Buff and theyhave a whitish pinkish skin.
Do all the Orpington plumagecolors have white, pink skin?
Ross (05:54):
They're supposed to have white skin.
And then of course in the blacksyou'll have the Melanizer gene
at play.
But they're to have white skintoo.
But their shanks and their beaksare going to be black.
Jennifer (06:06):
And a single comb.
Ross (06:08):
Single comb, five points, medium size.
Jennifer (06:13):
A light brown egg.
Ross (06:15):
Yeah, do yours not lay pink eggs?
Mine lay pink eggs.
Jennifer (06:19):
No, I don't have Easter Eggers.
I
Carey (06:23):
knew that
Jennifer (06:27):
was coming.
You get pink eggs, huh?
Ross (06:32):
Yeah, I'll just send you a picture.
Mine are pink.
Jennifer (06:35):
Interesting.
Ross (06:36):
Consistently.
We have two
Jennifer (06:38):
different lines of birds.
That's
Ross (06:40):
cool.
Jennifer (06:40):
Yours are fluffier than mine.
How about, let's talk about thedifferences between the standard
bred and the English Orpingtons.
And yeah, so there,
Ross (06:52):
of course they definitely, they're all under the English
class.
And if you want an Englishlooking bird, then you'll have
to breed it to the Englishstandard.
But for the American standard,They're not supposed to be as
fluffy, as high tailed.
The main thing is those Englishtype birds have really high
tails and they're just reallyfluffy.
(07:14):
The American birds, the AmericanOrpington is going to be a
tighter feathered bird, a littlelonger back than a much lower
tail.
Those are the main differences.
Jennifer (07:25):
Yep.
And your temperament.
No, I have never had a meanOrpington.
Have you?
Ross (07:30):
Never.
Jennifer (07:32):
No, they
Ross (07:33):
require very little handling to be tame.
Jennifer (07:36):
I think
Ross (07:37):
they hatch tame, honestly.
Jennifer (07:39):
Yeah.
They're pretty much big babies.
Carey (07:41):
Yeah.
When you're a chicken and youweigh 10 pounds, you really
can't move around fast enough tobe aggressive.
Ross (07:49):
No, they're never mean.
I don't have any any issues withpicking as babies or anything.
They're just tame.
Really docile birds.
Jennifer (07:58):
So one of my big cock birds, he's probably, I haven't
weighed him in a while, but lasttime I did he was almost 14
pounds and he's about as big as,he's bigger than some of my
turkey hens and my four year oldgrandson was helping me feed one
day and he was going in and outof all of the coops grabbing the
water buckets for me.
(08:19):
And I told him, of course, theCochins, I have the two cock
birds and the Cochins are kindof jerks.
And so he doesn't go in there.
And so he was going and he wasrunning around the corner and JC
is the big cock bird and he wasstanding there.
And he's about eye level withDerek and Derek just comes to a
(08:41):
complete stop and just looks athim through the gate, like eye
to eye with JC.
And he just turned around and hegoes, this one's all yours,
grandma.
I ain't going in there.
Carey (08:49):
That's hilarious.
That's funny.
Jennifer (08:53):
Yeah, but they're big birds, but they are no problem
sending him in there because hewouldn't hurt him at all.
Ross (08:59):
Yeah they're so tame and I really think that Orpingtons are
a great bird for kids, forpeople just wanting to get into
the hobby or even just backyardpeople.
They're really easy going.
Jennifer (09:11):
So let's talk about some defects and like what you
look for.
Do you start culling straightout of the hatcher, straight out
of the brooder?
When do you start?
Ross (09:20):
I don't, unless they have sprigs, I don't cull, I don't
cull anything until it's aboutsix months old.
Obviously sprigs, crooked toes,that's all going to get culled
pretty early, but everythingelse they get to grow up and
then at six months I'll start toevaluate type, color, stuff like
that.
Jennifer (09:38):
Okay, so explain sprigs to people who don't know
what they are and stuff.
Ross (09:42):
So a sprig sometimes is so small you really, you have to
feel it.
So if you run your hands downeach side of their comb,
anything that's sticking out isbasically what I consider a
sprig.
Some of them are big veryvisible, and some of them are
super tiny.
Jennifer (09:58):
And a stub?
Ross (10:01):
Stubs are going to be on their feet or in between their
toes.
It's just a feather or multiplefeathers, clusters of feathers,
anything like that.
I generally don't tolerate.
Jennifer (10:13):
Yeah, those don't, especially the sprigs.
Definitely just cull those out.
Yep.
That is a huge genetic issuelater down the road, right?
Ross (10:23):
Yes, do not tolerate it.
Jennifer (10:25):
Yeah.
Alright, and then at six months,what do you start looking for?
Ross (10:31):
Length of back is something I've been trying to
focus on more the past coupleyears.
And a more forward breast in mymales.
My males don't have enoughbreast.
They don't have enough backlength.
We're getting there, making someprogress.
But that, those are the mainthings at six months is really
looking at length of back and abig forward breast.
Jennifer (10:55):
Because they're considered dual purpose.
We eat them.
Ross (10:58):
They're
Jennifer (10:58):
egg layers.
So you want them to be full inthe chest.
Ross (11:02):
Yes, want a big full breast.
They're supposed to look good ona table or out in the yard.
Jennifer (11:06):
Yeah, they're not these modern game birds, they're
like little barbies standingthere and put them on a shish
kebab or something
Carey (11:14):
Nope, I like this.
It's not a table jumper
Jennifer (11:17):
Huh?
Carey (11:17):
Not a table jumper.
Jennifer (11:19):
No, oh those little saramas Yeah those are my bad
birds would eat those
Carey (11:25):
I like watching them at shows.
I mean because some of thosepeople they get really into that
And I just they do get into
Ross (11:32):
it
Jennifer (11:33):
All right, how about feed?
Do you do anything special forthe Orpingtons?
Ross (11:37):
No everybody here eats the exact same thing.
Luckily, my local feed store isnow carrying Kombach, so I just
switched to that, but everybodyeats the same thing.
Jennifer (11:48):
Since you just switched over to it, do you have
any initial observations?
Ross (11:53):
They love it.
That it's, they really like theKombach.
I haven't had anybody turn that,their cups are clean every day.
They're finishing it up.
Jennifer (12:04):
Yeah.
I really like it too.
Oh, let's see.
What advice would you have foranybody wanting to get started
breeding and showing?
Ross (12:13):
If you want to get started breeding and showing obviously
by standard, read it, learn it,know it try to create a mental
image.
Okay.
Talk to breeders who areconsistently, every year,
producing the type of bird that,the type of bird that you are
mentally picturing whenever youread the standard.
(12:35):
And try to buy the best stockthat you can afford.
Really good Orpingtons are notcheap and there's a reason
they're not cheap because ittakes a lot to get them.
Sorry, my computer has decidedto change my lighting up.
The best stock you can affordand get it from a breeder who
(12:56):
It's consistently producingreally top notch birds.
Ridgeview Farms, they sellreally good Orpingtons every
year, and they're consistentlyproducing really good birds.
That's what I would look for.
If I was going to start withOrpingtons over, I would go look
for somebody who is consistentlyproducing the type of bird that
you can mentally picturewhenever you read the standards.
Jennifer (13:18):
Now, how do you go about finding those people?
That'll be the next questionpeople ask.
Ross (13:23):
Facebook is honestly, as much as we all like to hate it,
it is the best way to findstuff.
And then of course the OrpingtonClub, the United Orpington Club
has a breeders directory and Ithink that's a fabulous resource
as well.
Jennifer (13:38):
Do you sell?
Ross (13:40):
I have sold one pair of buffs since I started breeding
them.
And that's it.
I call hard.
I call really hard.
Jennifer (13:49):
Yeah.
So that's the same with me.
I just, we just eat them.
If somebody calls and says theywant one, I'll say I got this
one here.
Take it or leave it.
Cause it's going in the pot ifyou're not taking it.
But I don't advertise.
And most of the time it's justsomebody wanting a big bird to
increase their size of theirstock that they had at home.
Ross (14:12):
Yeah, and I think that's always important, too is just,
it never hurts to ask.
If you need something andsomebody has it, the worst
they're gonna say is no.
Jennifer (14:21):
And if we said, yeah, we'll call you back later, give
me a month, don't hesitate tohit us back in a month because
we probably won't call you back.
Ross (14:28):
I have definitely forgotten.
Please remind me.
Jennifer (14:32):
We don't keep lists.
I tried lists years ago and itjust doesn't work.
Ross (14:37):
Yeah, and I'll sell hatching eggs if I've got
something extra every now andthen.
And I think that's another greatway to get started.
Especially if you can purchaseout of their, the exact breeding
pens they're breeding from.
Jennifer (14:49):
Not everybody
Ross (14:50):
offers hatching eggs.
Jennifer (14:51):
That leads me to another question.
So do you trim in order toincrease your fertility?
Ross (14:56):
I do trim, yeah.
About, I just take my fist andthen trim around it and make a
hole about yay big.
Jennifer (15:05):
And then you have to wait for the molt for that to
grow back.
Yep.
Yep.
All right.
Orpingtons are easy becausethey're so docile.
They're just there.
They're so pretty.
You don't really have to do awhole lot.
So it doesn't really require ahuge, long, drawn out
conversation.
Ross (15:21):
No, they're a really easy, straightforward breed.
Long as you really pay attentionto the details, you can't really
go wrong with.
No,
Jennifer (15:28):
Now we both raised buffs and and that's a color,
not a breed for everybody whowill type that out.
Orpington's also come in black,white, blue, black,
Ross (15:41):
white, blue and buff.
Jennifer (15:42):
Yep.
That's the APA standards, butyou can get other colors like
lavender.
Yeah, not
Ross (15:49):
recognized.
And I honestly don't thinkthere's enough people working on
them to get them recognized.
They have a feather shreddinggene that is really hard to
recognize.
Jennifer (15:58):
Do you know anybody that has a lavender line that
doesn't have the shredder gene?
I don't either.
Yeah.
No, self believes are hard.
I don't know anybody either.
All righty thanks for joining ustoday to talk about Orpington's.
Ross (16:15):
Absolutely.
We can go in depth on them, butthat's a pretty good brief
overview.
Jennifer (16:20):
Yes, that's exactly what we needed.
Ross (16:23):
Yep.
Jennifer (16:24):
All right.
We'll talk to you soon.
Ross (16:26):
All right.
Thank you.
Carey (16:28):
Thank you for joining us this week.
Before you go, be sure tosubscribe to our podcast so you
can receive new episodes rightwhen they are released.
And they're released every week.
Feel free to email us atpoultrynerds@gmail.com to share
your thoughts about the show.
Until next time, poultry pals,keep clucking, keep learning,
(16:50):
and keep it egg citing.
This is Carey signing off fromPoultry Nerds.
Feathers up, everyone.
Mhm.
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