ABOUT BUFF ORPINGTONS AND HOW TO CARE FOR THEM

Buff Orpingtons are a wonderful breed for first-time chicken owners.
If you are just starting out, read on for some hints and tips to make your
chicken experience even better while raising a healthy, happy flock.

About the Breed

Orpington (not Orphinton or Orphington - there is no H in the name) chickens were first bred and introduced to the world by a man by the name of William Cook of Orpington, Kent, England in 1886.  His goal had been to produce a practical chicken -- one which was hardy and fast-growing without giving up the qualities of good egg laying nor the ability to dress a nice supper table.  Mr. Cook first brought Orpingtons to the United States in 1903 where the Buff variety of his chicken became quite popular due to both its quality meat and unique color.

The Buff Orpington chicken was recognized as a standard breed by the American Poultry Association in 1902.  The breed maintained popularity until the advent of production farm breeds at which time various heritage breeds began to fall by the wayside.  Showier and more exotic breeds were all the rage at small farms and in backyards -- so much so that for a time the Buff Orpington was on the Livestock Conservancy's list of endangered poultry breeds.

A resurgence of popularity among backyard enthusiasts and back-to-the-land smallholders created a demand at hatcheries around the country which ultimately graduated the Buff Orpington from the endangered breed list in 2016.

Today the Buff Orpington is still prized for its unique color - ranging from a subdued buff color in hens to a blazing golden color in mature roosters.  Offset by large red combs and wattles - they are a sight to see on a sprawling green lawn in the springtime.   They are ideal chickens for first time chicken-owners due to their extremely docile - even friendly - nature and ease of care.  They are extremely tolerant of cold weather and often continue to lay eggs well into the short days of light in winter.  

They are excellent layers of large, light brown eggs. Statistically, their rate of egg laying per year as a breed only comes in at around 180 eggs per year per bird, but this is actually due to their tendency to go broody during the summer months.  If you are looking for a bird which will automatically increase your flock size each year with no effort from you - then this may be a good trade off.  However, if you are vigilant enough to stop the determined Buff Orpington from her broody cycle during the hot months - then you will be buried in eggs before you know it.

Broody Hens & Egg Incubation

Buff Orpington hens will go broody.  This is not a question of if - but when.  As soon as the weather starts to warm up a bit, you may find one or two hens who never seem to leave the nesting box.  

Managing broody hens is not as easy as you think.  In our experience, the sight of a broody hen is usually enough to get a few more hens thinking about going broody themselves.  Before you know it - you have a chicken coop full of panting broody hens on the hottest day of the year and no one is laying any eggs.

What is worse is that broody hens can and will steal one another's eggs and even switch entire nests throughout the day while the non-broody chickens come in and lay new eggs right on top of them until each broody nest is full of eggs of different ages - which will lead to disaster come hatch time.

If you want to allow your broody hen to hatch some eggs, we recommend carefully moving her to a safe spot where the other chickens do not have access to her.  Broody Buff Orpingtons can be moved without breaking the broody trance.  Take her eggs if you have no idea how long she has been setting on them and replace them with a number of eggs that you are sure about.  Make a nest in the new safe spot with the new eggs.  Then wait until early evening when it is still bright enough out to see and put on some gloves to move your broody hen.  She will be angry and broody hens pack a mean peck.  Carry her at a slow but steady pace to the new area, but pay close attention to her eyes.  During the entire trip her pupils should remain dilated.  If at any point during the trip her eyes focus - she is not ready.  Set her free and try again the next day.  Once you can make the trip without any change in her eyes, you should be able to place her near the new nest and observe her behavior.  She should keep her feathers fluffed out with her wings slightly extended downward. Upon seeing the egg nest she should begin making the distinctive broody hen sound: cluck cluck cluck cluck.  If all of this happens, you will find that she will settle down on the new nest right away and you both will have brand new chicks in twenty-one days.

Provide some food and water for your broody hen where she can get to it outside the nest area.  Do not add food or water to the nest itself as this attracts mice and bugs.  Your broody will leave the nest once per day for about an hour to take care of her basic necessities.  Close to hatch day you will find that she does not leave the nest at all - that is when you know to be on chick watch!

If all of this broody hen business is just too much for you, then you might want to consider incubating some eggs yourself.  It does not take expensive equipment to hatch a few eggs and the process is fairly simple.  It is true that you probably will not get one hundred percent hatch rates using a cheap incubator you can find in Tractor Supply, but you will definitely get some chicks and the experience is worth it.  Follow the incubator manufacturers instructions and if you have any questions or concerns, there is plenty of information on basic incubation available online.  Most importantly, have fun.

Do you have any questions?

Are you looking for specific information about Buff Orpingtons, or maybe just want to know more about raising chickens in general?  Feel free to contact us with your questions or let us know what other information we should add to this page in the future.  Good luck with your birds!

Feed & Supplements

We start all of our Buff Orpington chicks on 20% non-medicated chick starter crumbles in the brooder.  They are also provided with chick grit and plenty of fresh water during the brooder stage.  We brood our chicks for four weeks in summer before putting them on the ground in grow out pens.  During the winter months, this time is usually extended to about six weeks and a heat lamp using a regular incandescent 100w light bulb is provided in the grow out pen until the birds have feathered out completely.

Our grow-outs are fed high-protein pellets or crumbles at a rate of 1  lb per 4 birds per day.  They are provided with greens, seeds, grasses, and kitchen vegetable scraps as a supplement.  

Once feathered out, our grown birds are free-ranged all day and the majority of their diet is forage.  In winter we provide an automatic feeder inside the chicken coop which we keep full at all times.  We purchase seeds, grains, and pelleted feed formula to fill the feeder based on the rate of 1 lb per 4 birds per day - however most of the time the feeder is left untouched as the birds find plenty to eat outside even when the weather is quite cold.  We also sprout fodder from oats during the sparsest months so they continue to have fresh greens in their diet. During the warmer months we do not fill the automatic feeder at all, but instead feed kitchen scraps and sunflower seeds as treats.

We have no need to supplement our birds with grit for their gizzards or oyster shell for calcium due to their full access to our property hill in the rocky hills of NE Oklahoma.  We do, however, periodically scramble eggs and cook them along with the crushed shells to feed as a treat.

Mixing flocks

Many people keep a couple of Buff Orpingtons in a flock mixed with various breeds of birds without a problem.  However, we do often hear from people who are having issues with their Buffs in this setting.  Therefore, we do not recommend keeping these birds in a pen with other chickens.  If you do, you may not be able to experience the best traits of this breed or, even worse, they could be bullied or injured.

The Buff Orpington is an incredibly docile and laid back bird.  It really does not stand a chance with other more aggressive birds.  They may do well with bantams or with particularly docile individuals of other large fowl breeds.

-For certain do not add a Buff Orpington rooster to a flock with a rooster of another breed.  The Buff rooster will be hopelessly bullied and you will find yourself needing to re-home him for his own safety.  

Sexing Buff Orpingtons

Buff Orpington chicks all look exactly the same at hatch.  At this stage, if you had the skill, you could tell the males from females through the process of vent-sexing.  Considering that vent-sexing experts are paid a good salary at hatcheries around the world, I would guess that most of us probably lack the skill.

We once entertained the theory that we could accurately sex our hatchlings by comparing wing tips between one to three days of age.  While it is true that some buff chicks do have very distinctive wing tip patterns at this age and it is possible to make a better than fifty-percent guess using this method - our hundreds of tests using this method proved that it is unreliable in situations where it is vital that you do not end up with a rooster in the batch.  Disappointing, I know.

At about one week of age, the chicks will begin to develop tail feathers.  It is true that at this stage it will be the pullets who grow tail feathers first.  The problem is that it is not long before the cockerels catch up and there is no longer a distinction.  However, if you are vigilant and move the first featherers into their own batch within the first 24 hours of feathering, you stand a good chance of having an all pullet batch.  However, this does not mean that you will not end up with a few surprise pullets in your rooster batch... so again.. not 100%.  

At three weeks and beyond, the cockerels will begin to develop bright pink to red combs and, most importantly, dark red wattles.  Though the pullets are also developing combs at this stage, you will find that they are usually a fleshy to yellow color and do not stand out much from their other facial features when viewed at a distance.  Again, most importantly, the pullets will NOT have particularly discernible wattles.  In the picture above, there are three cockerels among the three week old pullets.  Can you spot them?  This method is the most reliable, which is why we do not offer sexed chicks for sale until at least three weeks of age.  Mind you, it does require a little experience and a good eye to catch the differences - but they are there.