The IMPORTED ENGLISH Orpington Thread

[ColtHandorf]

I hatched the cutest little F2 Blue Silver-laced! I love it already...lol I'll have to get some pictures tonight when I get home from work.

 

[Faraday40]

With great sadness I must announce that my dear sweet bantam Orpington hen, Cookie, passed away on Sunday. She was the queen of all broody hens and mother to most of my flock.

For the 1st few years of her life, Cookie was my only bantam. She hatched along with full-sized orps and could hold her own. She knew how to use her size and speed to dash in & under the others to steal all the best treats. Cookie earned the nickname, "the bantam menace," because of her stealthy actions (and our Star Wars theme).

Cookie was an adorable ball of feathers and looked like a mini hot air balloon when broody. She could also pancake herself to accommodate up to 8-9 large fowl eggs. We called her "Cookie Monster" when broody. Because our roos were always large English Orpingtons, Cookie never had any biological offspring, but that never seemed to bother her. Going broody early & often was her mode of operandi . Her motto was, "If it peeps, it's MINE!" She never seemed to quit. She could scream like a banshee but was never "pecky" toward my fingers.

Cookie earned the title of Queen Broody not because of her large spread or hatching ability but for her multiple adoptions. She raised bantams, large fowl chicks, ducklings, turkeys, and quail. If it peeped, Cookie would care for it. Because she was small, it was easier for us to add Cookie to the big brooder and just let her adopt all the chicks. Her record was over 3 dozen! She happened to go broody about 3-4 days before a big hatch was due. I pulled one egg out at lockdown and slipped it under her..... then added the incubator chicks a few at a time as they hatched. She must have thought she was "SuperHen." She sat on ONE egg for 3 days and hatched over 3 dozen chicks! Thankfully Cookie couldn't count, so as some chicks were sold, more were added the following week. She could easily handle chicks of different ages and species. (I certainly wouldn't try that with any other hen.) To Cookie, learning how to scratch was the most important lesson for her chicks. It didn't matter if there was a full bowl of chick feed. Cookie would tidbit to her babies and go into a scratching frenzy - spreading food everywhere and sometimes even sending an unlucky chick flying across the brooder. LOL

Last summer Cookie started laying soft shelled eggs. Extra calcium didn't help. I felt relieved when she was broody because it paused her egg production. She never really laid another normal egg and I knew she had some type of reproduction disorder. About 2 months ago, Cookie started slowing down and losing weight. A lump under her vent began to grow. She ate and drank and hung out with my laced orps, but she no longer "ran around" like she used to. She would come when called - but at a walking pace. Like a true orpington, she never lost her desire to eat. After she passed, I did a necropsy and found a large lash egg. (Salpingitis) My only good news is that she is no longer in pain.

RIP My Sweet Little Cookie
April 22, 2013 - March 28, 2021
​

This is how I will always remember her:

​

Inflation

Hot chicks in cars. (My daughter actually played with Cookie like a baby doll, so seeing her driving around the bedroom with Barbie wasn't unusual.)​

Cookie asking herself, "Why did I want to go broody again?"​

Below: The only picture I have where Cookie's feet can be seen.​

"No Cookie! Stop trying to incubate that!"​

A rare sight - Cookie without chicks

Spring 2020 hatch (Yes, most are turkey poults)

Cookie and her baby turkeys

Don't you just love a good broody scowl?!​

 

[Finnie]

Aw, so sorry, @Faraday40 RIP, Cookie. She was a legend!

 

[ColtHandorf]

Awe, I'm so sorry. She was definitely one of a kind. Such a sweet girl. I can only hope when I get some bantams they are half as awesome as she was.

 

[Auntiejessi3]

 

[Painted Calls]

I'm so sorry for your loss. She was a magnificent, sweet girl.

 

[ColtHandorf]

I got everyone watered and fed yesterday. Yay!

Georgia (I think) is broody on five eggs. But I think Beatrice (these are the Buff geese by the way) is sneaking eggs into her nest. I'll probably sneak goslings to her when the first eggs start to hatch and then I'll pop the unhatched eggs in the hatcher to see what happens.

I'll move eggs to the hatcher today and candle all the eggs so I can set the 150 sitting on the counter. Then I'll order foam shippers to start shipping eggs. I can't keep up. The Buff geese, BBS Orpingtons, and Bourbon Reds all got to enjoy a couple of hours out on the grass yesterday.

Jamie (the b-hole Silkie) learned not to mess with dad when he has a water hose. (Nothing looks dumber than a drenched Silkie contemplating why he woke up and chose violence.)

I moved some birds around last weekend. This included pulling Leopold, the Lavender Silver-laced cockerel, off the yard and putting him and the female White Orpingtons together in a breed pen. The Whites carry Silver-laced under the white, so I figured that would be an easy way to make some split Lavender SLO until I produce some White cockerels I can use to breed. I've got a bajillion eggs in the incubator and multiple White chicks already so I'm hopeful. I also moved Cadbury and Godiva, the Chocolate pair onto the yard with the Marans, Ameraucana, and Olive Eggers. There is one Lavender Orpington too, so I was unsure I'd be able to tell their eggs apart, but didn't really have a choice. As it turns out, I can tell the Chocolate Orpington egg apart from the Lavender Orpington egg. She also lays on the ground instead of in the nest boxes which is fine and makes a positive ID quicker, although her egg is very smooth and a pale creamy brown.

I still need to set up the broody Mars Bar on some SLO eggs, but I completely forgot last night after it was dark. If it is not pouring tonight perhaps I'll get that done.

I'm getting the big fancy brooders this week after I get paid so I'll be all set up for babies. Ducklings and chicks should be hatching Friday. I'm hoping work is slow and boring today. I'm still trying to be functional after consuming a handful of benadryl last night to get over my allergies and be able to fall asleep. lol The massive Monster Energy drink I'm consuming hasn't helped much.

 

[ColtHandorf]

@Faraday40 @homeschoolin momma

But I think I did it.

My first F2 Blue Silver-laced Orpington. It's pretty cute.

 

[Faraday40]

I have 2 hens sharing my Easter hatch-a-long chicks. The 2 hens are OK, but I know Cookie could have done it all by herself.

 

[Faraday40]

My first F2 Blue Silver-laced Orpington. It's pretty cute.

Congrats! Can't wait to see what he/she looks like when feathered. All the waiting is the hardest part.