Introduction
Whether you're determining what breeds/breed to get for your backyard flock or you're simply reading to learn more about this wonderful breed, I hope you enjoy the article and can learn some valuable things about the Buff Orpington!What is a Buff Orpington?
Technically a Buff Orpington is just an Orpington. However, we like to further classify this breed into color categories, which is why we call the Buff Orpington the Buff Orpington, buff describes the color of the Orpington. What Color is Buff?
Buff is a golden-yellow color. Below is a picture of one of our Buff Orpingtons, Moo Cow. She is a great example of the buff color.
History of the Buff Orpington
William Cook developed the Orpington chicken in the late 1800's in Orpington, Kent, England. He crossed Minorca roosters with Black Plymouth Rock hens and then bred the offspring to clean-legged Langshan chickens. Cook's goal was to create a hardy, fast growing chicken that laid well and still had the qualities that the British table market wanted. Later, Cook decided that he would create color varieties of the Orpington. The Buff Orpington was the third color variety to be created. Today they are the most popular color variety of all the Orpingtons.What are Some Buff Orpington Traits?
Buff Orpingtons weigh between 7.5 to 10 pounds. However, they are loosely feathered, which makes them appear much larger than they actually are. All these feathers make them very hardy in the cold, but they might not do as well in the heat because of this. They are dual-purpose birds, which means they can be used for egg-laying and for meat production. Buff Orpington's eggs are brown in color and large to extra large in size. They lay between 3-4 eggs each week. Buff Orpingtons have white skin and a single comb.What is the Personality of Buff Orpingtons?
Buff Orpingtons are calm, patient, and easy-going birds. Many people (and I agree) say that their Buff Orpingtons will follow them around like little dogs! Buff Orpingtons are a great choice for first time chicken owners or chicken owners with children because of their great personality which was explained above. Buff's are sure to be a favorite among your visitors too! Buff Orpingtons are among one of the broodiest of the standard breeds and make excellent mothers. They stand confinement well and will rarely try to escape from their coop/run/pen.Cons About the Buff Orpington
Since the Buff Orpingtons have such a docile temperament, they tend to be on the lower end of the pecking order and therefore get pecked and "bullied" more often by the other chickens. Buff Orpingtons get along great with other Buff Orpingtons though, so a solution to this problem is to have an all Buff Orpington flock. Another solution is to get docile breeds similar to the Buff Orpington to keep with the Buff Orpington. By doing this, it creates less of a need for the birds to be in charge because they are all just easy-going birds. Some breeds of chickens that are similar to the Buff Orpington and get along well with the Buff Orpington are Black Australorps, Brahmas, Faverolles, Cochins, Sussexs, and Buckeyes. Rhode Island Reds are not suggested to keep with Buff Orpingtons because they can be very aggresive.Keep in Mind
Earlier in the article I explained about the Buff Orpington's personality, which is tame, easy-going, etc. Please keep in mind that for any bird to be social and tame they need lots of socialization as chicks. Don't expect to not have to do anything with a Buff Orpington as a chick and have it be the "tamest chicken there ever was" when it is full-grown.
This is Buttercup, our other Buff Orpington. (Don't
mind the Black Australorp in the background.
Thanks everyone for reading, I hope you enjoyed it! And I hope you learned something about this great breed too! henny1129
Sources:
1. https://www.livestockconservancy.org/index.php/heritage/internal/orpington
2. http://www.pickinachicken.com/2010/05/buff-orpington.html
3. https://www.meyerhatchery.com/productinfo.a5w?prodID=BUOS
4. http://www.mypetchicken.com/chicken-breeds/Orpington-B80.aspx
For this article I gathered together information from these four sites. I also used my prior knowledge of Orpingtons from reading about them through the years, so I know these four sites are not all the sites I have gotten information from, but it would be really hard to copy all the links. So I just added these four links that I used while writing the article.
