Reviews by Oldallamerican

There were two Buff Orpingtons among the first dozen or so birds I bought when I started raising backyard chickens back in 2015. I found one dead in the chicken yard about six months later for no apparent reason (at that time I didn't see any point in sending her off for an autopsy). The other one in that bunch is still alive and well and one of the queens of my roost.

They've been great layers and some of the friendliest birds in my flock - and that has led to some heartbreak.

I've had some girls I've really loved. We name our girls and color-code band them so we can tell them apart more easily. There was "Goldie" a Golden Orpington we got as a complimentary chick from our hatchery. She was my shadow when I was in the yard and sometimes would get in front of me wanting to be picked up and held. I found her a couple summers ago during our heat wave dead trying to get into our laying area. She was about a year and a half old.

Buffy was our drama queen. When she would lay an egg the entire area knew of it. I had to cull her when I caught her egg eating.

Then we had the Lavender Orpingtons - Lilac and Iris. I had to cull Lilac for egg eating (we had a bad outbreak a couple summers back - it cost us about a dozen birds); Iris got Bumble Foot. My brother is a vet and came over and helped me treat it doing surgery I didn't have the heart to do. We nursed her back to health just to have to cull her when I caught HER egg eating.

Since then, I have about a half dozen Buff Orpingtons who are doing well and are productive members of the flock. They have been lovable birds and productive birds with great personalities, but if and when something happens to the ones I have now I probably will not replace them with Buff Orpingtons.

Shortly after I got into raising backyard chickens I found out about Wyandottes. I saw some silver laced at a local feed store, but they were straight run and I have found roosters to be more trouble in my flock than they're worth; so that summer when I ordered some more chicks to add to the dozen or so pullets I already had I included both Silver Laced and Gold Laced Wyandottes in my order (along with my first Easter Eggers). Boy, was I in for an experience!

As they grew they were the funniest things. Opening the coop I had built for them (to keep them from the older girls for awhile) was an adventure each morning. The Silver Laced Wyandottes would come out flying as if they couldn't wait to get out into the world. Some overshot the fence they flew so high and I would have to go retrieve them (I described how one of my Easter Eggers busted a bladder hitting the door elsewhere). I found the Gold Laced Wyandottes to be a bit more docile, though I don't know if this is universal with the breeds. There were two in particular, "Happy" and "Giddy" who loved to be petted and held. I'd be out doing my business in the yard and I'd look down and one or both of them would be bowing down in front of me wanting to be scratched. I have a great pic of my wife holding Happy. The Silver Laced Wyandottes didn't seem as friendly, but they've been a riot to watch around the yard. Pure personality.

We happily discovered them to be prolific layers and were getting eggs from them at about six months. Good quality large eggs, too.

We originally ordered eight girls - four of each. The hatchery sent us an extra Silver Laced as insurance so we had nine. That was in the Summer of 2015. We have three of the Silver Laced and one of our original Gold Laced girls left. We lost a bunch to heat the last two summers in spite of our best efforts - thankfully we lost none this year. Overall, I would say they are hardy and well-behaved and long-lived. I can't judge by the deaths as the heat wave did a number on a lot of folks' birds. This year I doubled the number of fans in my coops and didn't lose any.

Having said all that, in this year's crop of girls I ordered three more Gold Laced Wyandottes to "replace" the girls we lost - if you can really replace a pet (we keep our chickens as pets with benefits - eggs). At the same time, I received some Blue Laced Red Wyandottes. Next year, depending, I will probably get a few more Silver Laced Wyandottes.

The bottom line is I have experimented with this or that breed over the years; some have worked out and others haven't for my purposes. I've decided that as long as I am able to raise backyard chickens I will have some sort of Wyandotte in my flock.

As I said, Easter Eggers have become one of my favorite breeds in my flock; I definitely have more of them than any other breed. My grandkids love the colored eggs (they recognize the green and blue as "Grandma and Grandpa's" eggs). They are great layers with funny personalities.

I have one girl, "Amelia" who earned her name because she was what I call a "high flyer" who would come flying out of her coop every morning and would almost fly over our fence out of the chicken yard.

Sadly, one morning she got too rambunctious and took off before I had the door to her coop open; she'd done this before but this time she busted one of her air bladders in her chest. Folks - including our vet - recommended me "putting her out of her misery." I didn't have the heart. So we nursed her hoping on the outside chance her bladder might heal. It never did, but that hasn't slowed her. She started laying eggs again and is the last surviving member of her brood. Needless to say she is a special bird.

They aren't my friendliest breed in that I have others who love to be held, but they like to follow me around in the yard as I go about my business. More importantly, they get along with others in the flock and are good producers. As I said, they are one of my favorites.