White Orpington

[BRoo]

I have this beautiful boy. At close up he is pure white (feather shafts) with slight yellow bleeding. My daughter says he looks like BUTTER. LOL! I was told he was a purebred White English Orpington. IDK???
He is very large, very sweet & docile, and a very good Roo. He guards the ladies with much attention. He also has proven fertility, although the breeder did not share with me the color combos she got. He is about 1 year old.

I am looking for information on breeding/color charts, etc. I haven't found much so far.

I will take all the info I can get. TIA!!!

 

[Sally PB]

@ColtHandorf, you're the English Orpington person. Take a look!

 

[ColtHandorf]

I think he's very handsome. With spurs that long, I'd say he's over a year. The off-color to the feathers look like sun damage to me. It's fairly common in white birds. He's not super floofy and you can see quite a lot of his legs. He's probably from English lines, though, unless he came from APA White Orpington lines; hatchery-quality birds tend to be much thinner and tighter feathered. You can see my male has a bit of that yellow in the saddle and hackle feathers.

 

[BRoo]

Great notes. Thanks @ColtHandorf , I appreciate the feedback.
So - I think you are saying that he is not full English, which is a bummer - because I was told he was. I think the breeder told me he was about 1 1/2 years. He is the sweetest boy...sits in my lap and guards the girls very well.

 

[ColtHandorf]

Great notes. Thanks @ColtHandorf , I appreciate the feedback.
So - I think you are saying that he is not full English, which is a bummer - because I was told he was. I think the breeder told me he was about 1 1/2 years. He is the sweetest boy...sits in my lap and guards the girls very well.

He could be "full English"... lol

<--- Full English Breakfast

I couldn't help the giggle. Different lines will look different, but in general the floofier the better.

All my English Orpingtons are very sweet. They are a good breed.

 

[BRoo]

@colthado you sell EWO chicks or fertilized eggs?

 

[ColtHandorf]

@colthado you sell EWO chicks or fertilized eggs?

I do. I only have a trio currently, so I'm not selling any at the moment until I know I've got some more pullets. They are fertile, though. I should have eggs hatching this weekend, I think from them.

 

[BRoo]

Awesome. When you get some chicks available, please let me know.
I do have a question. You said that the EWO covers all the others, meaning if I breed him to any of my EO hens, I will get the color of the hen most likely? Is there a %breakdown? I know what recessive means - that the hens would also need the EWO recessive gene to make the chicks white -- so most likely in the 2nd generation. Is that all correct - or have a missed it entirely?

 

[ColtHandorf]

Awesome. When you get some chicks available, please let me know.
I do have a question. You said that the EWO covers all the others, meaning if I breed him to any of my EO hens, I will get the color of the hen most likely? Is there a %breakdown? I know what recessive means - that the hens would also need the EWO recessive gene to make the chicks white -- so most likely in the 2nd generation. Is that all correct - or have a missed it entirely?

Let's not make things more confusing than they need to be. Recessive White is the color/gene. There's no point in putting English in front of it.

Do you know what variety he is under the white? For instance, my original Recessive Whites came out of my Silver-laced flock. I could breed a SLO male over White hens or a White male over SLO hens and get Silver-laced chicks, provided the hens or rooster weren't carrying a copy of the recessive white gene. My current male came from a flock of Lavender/Black Orpingtons. I would never take him back to my SLO hens or any of his offspring.

So if, for instance, he came from a Silver-laced flock and you bred him back to Silver-laced birds, you'd get Silver-laced chicks. 100% of those chicks would carry a single recessive white gene (provided mom doesn't also have it).

If you bred him to his daughter you'd get 50% Recessive White chicks and 50% that carry the gene but look SIlver-laced.

Now let's say he's out of Silver-laced breeding but you only have Blue or Buff hens.

It rapidly becomes much more complicated because he still genetically carries something under that white. Think about it like stripping the paint off a wall or pulling up the carpet that Boomers put over hardwood floors. Once you start digging, you find stuff underneath.

If you just want to produce more Recessive White chicks, it doesn't matter what he is really. Just cross his daughters back to him and the white will cover up whatever the mess underneath is. RW to RW will always be RW.

 

[BRoo]

oh...that makes it so much easier to understand. THANK YOU! You are a wealth of information and it is greatly appreciated. I have no idea what is parents were or what lies underneath - but I will see if I can get that information...I'm just so curious!
IT's all starting to make sense!

Thanks again. Have a great day!