Monday 2 April 2007

Famous Chicken Breeds : The Orpington


The original Orpington (the Black) was developed in 1886 by William Cook. He crossed Minorcas, Langshans and Plymouth Rocks to create the new hybrid bird. Cook named the breed after his home town in Kent. The first Orpingtons looked very much like the Langshan and were black. Between 1889 and 1905, Cook also created white, buff and blue colored Orpingtons. The Orpington was bred as a dual-purpose breed (meat production and eggs), but its popularity grew as a show bird rather than a utility breed. Their large size and soft appearance together with their rich color and gentle contours make them very attractive.

Besides the original colors (black, white, buff, blue), lots of other varieties exist today, e.g. porcelain, red, mottled and birchen. The original colors are still the most widely bred varieties.


Photo by Jack Bennett of his prize Rooster 'Goliath'


Orpingtons lay between 110 and 160 eggs a year.

Below is a little video footage of some Buff Orpington Hens, and Cockerel.




The above text about Orpingtons is licensed under the
GNU Free Documentation License.

4 comments:

kandie said...

would like to know more about the buffs! thanks
kandie

Anonymous said...

I LOVE my four pet Buff hens. They are good layers of delicious large brown eggs. I get an average of 3 a day. Best of all they are very social and tame. They are intelligent and get along well with one another. I can spend hours sitting in a chair in their yard while they take turns jumping up onto my lap for chin scratches. They also keep my yard free from any and all creepy crawlys. They are quite large, so plan your space accordingly.

Glenda Joy said...

I have kept Buff Orpingtons as pets and for the eggs for a few years. They are tame and lovely to look at. They've never been prolific layers though. When we were down to one I bought a Black Orpington to keep her company. It never laid and we gave up hoping. Now it's about 5 years old and last week it started making wierd squawking noises. This week it's managed to master the full cock-a-doodle-doo. No wonder he wasn't laying. Talk about a late developer. It took 5 years for the proverbials to drop. The neighbours are being pleasant about it but are developing bags under their eyes. He is going to a new home in a few days and we're getting a couple of chickens who were bound for the pot to keep our old one company and maybe produce a few eggs. Which would be nice...

Chicken Breeds said...

There is more about Orpingtons (and other chicken breeds) on the chicken breeds site.