Reviews by LilyD

Love my Orps they are my breed of choice for both meat and eggs. Great at laying and also at hatching out their own babies. Great mothers and wonderful free range birds.

Such a cool breed and very similar to the Cochins that I also love!! Mine started laying and just haven't stopped. They are great birds and love being outside and being with people. My rooster at 5 months is about 10 pounds (maybe more) but is the biggest baby ever. They will even back down to the young 6 week old chicks when they get pushy. There isn't an aggressive bone in them. They make good meat birds in my opinion. Mine grew fast, laid quicker than expected and I was able to process them at 20 weeks with decent results. All were between 6 and 8 pounds with decent breasts and dark meat portions. Can't do better than that and if I can get great personality as well I'm in!!

They make some pretty cool funny noises. My roo will make noises like a cat purring and also will make a loud almost growl. Scared me the first few times but it's just him having something to say. My hen is already broody at 5 months but is so nice I can take the eggs from her with no problem.

I can't say enough good about this breed!!!

I have Cochins and Cochin mixes in my backyard flock. They lay well every day without fail and started laying early. They are talkative and love to follow people around and just talk at them. Not an aggressive bone in their body. Even my rooster who is about 11 pounds is a push over and will let the little hens and smaller rooster push him around. They do go broody and love to sit on the eggs. My only solution for that since it's below zero is to pick up the eggs twice a day and that keeps her laying rather than sitting on the eggs.

My only gripe with these birds is that they are so smart they can find a way to get out of any enclosure I put them in. Even with wire on top and an enclosed coop they will find a way to get out and free range if that's what they want to do even if I'm not ready to let them yet. I have found them in the horse pasture under the car and all over the yard. It's totally fine but if they get out before laying their eggs then they will lay them all over the place. They are easy to catch though when I go out they run right up to me so no problem there, but be ready for an Easter egg hunt lol.

Right now I have a trio with one rooster and two hens of varying age. The rooster is friendly and smart. I hatched him out myself and he does very well with the other birds. I did have a few roosters that I hatched out from the same group that were a bit pushy with the other chickens. Since that's not a trait I want in my flock I didn't keep those birds for breeding. The three I have are as sweet as can be. My nephew can pick them all up. They will not bite or scratch and they actually will step up onto your arm if you ask them to. They love human attention but are okay with being on their own too.

As far as their use as Dual Purpose birds they seem small compared to some of my other birds but boy when you pick them up you can feel that they are SOLID. They have more breast meat than my other DP birds and the white feathers makes them fairly easy to pluck as well.

I really have nothing bad to say about them they are amazing birds.