Orpingtons

     Mr. William Cook of Orpington, England developed the Orpington breed in 1886.  As a successful poultryman, Mr. Cook authored a book titled The Poultry Keeper's Account Book.  He was also the publisher of a periodical, The Poultry Journal and sold poultry supplies for a living.  Mr. Cook first developed the Black Orpington and won grand prize with a pullet at the Chrystal Palace Poultry Show.  The Black Orpington was developed by breeding Black Minocras to Black Plymouth Rocks.  The first generation of this cross were then bred to clean legged Black Langshans.  The first Orpingtons were excellent egg production birds especially in cold climates.  The appearance of the Orpington soon became priority and by the turn of the century, the breed soon dropped in egg production and fertility.  Mr. Cook and his family after him stayed active in breeding Orpingtons and many more color varieties were developed.  The varieties include white, buff, cuckoo, red, partridge, jubilee, and blue.  The most popular color variety of Orpington is the Buff. Mr. Cook developed the buff variety by crossing Golden Spangled Hamburg, Buff Cochin, and Dark Dorking.  The Orpington breed is a fair layer of light brown eggs. They are a dual-purpose fowl producing a heavy carcuss. While their feathers are broad and full, they have a light fluffy appearance against their full deep body. These are docile birds that do well in both free range and confinement conditions. The hens do go broody and are excellent mothers. This bird is a very cold hardy breed and mature quickly. The Orpington was admitted to the American Poultry Association in 1902 and only the black, blue, buff, and white are currently recognized.
 

     

The stunning White Orpingtons in the above photos are of the Korfus Line.  These birds belong to Tom & Christina Korfus of Korfus Kluckers Exhibition Poultry in Cle Elum, WA.  Ms. Christina Korfus is the Secretary of the United Orpington Club.  Christina arrived at the Korfus Line by crossing birds from Mr. Cecil Moore, Catalpa Grove Farms, & a bit of blood from English Lines.  As you can see from the pure white color of the birds above, Christina puts the Exhibit in Exibition.  The handsome Black Orpingtons in the photos below are also of Korfus Line & do belong to Ms. Christina Korfus as well.  Notice the amazing contrast between the white and the black hens in the photo to the bottom left.  HPBAA is very happy to have an exhibitior like Christina as one of our Members.

     

  

The Lavender Orpingtons seen in the above photos were developed by Charlie and Jodie Hinkle of Hink-jc Mountain Poultry in Pennsylvania around 2005. The full details of how this color variety was bred is unknown. However, the Lavender Araucana is one of the breeds that was used to develope this color variety. Lavender is a recessive gene and more can be learned about it on this site's Genetic Page. Regardless of the full details of how this color variety of Orpington was bred, HPBAA wants to sincerely thank the Hinkle's for this contribution to the Orpington family and the poultry world.  The Hink JC Line of Lavender Orpingtons in the photos above belong to Ms. Corrie Willis & Ms. Angela Selman of Happy Girls Farm in Missouri.

Ms. Debie Stuhr of Heaven Sent Ranch obtained some Blue Orpingtons from Charlie & Jodie Hinkle of Hink-jc Mountain Poultry in PA.  It is unclear how the Blue Orpingtons were bred by the Hinkles.  As with any blue genetic, the birds produced some Splash colored offspring seen in the photos to the far left and to the right above.  Ms. Stuhr is crossing these Splash offspring with her Line of Black Orpingtons(seen in the middle and far right photo).  She refers to as the HSR Line.  She has been breeding these Black Orpingtons selectively for ten years now.  The Black Orpingtons were obtained from a breeder in Redding CA.  The result of crossing the Black with the Splash is all Blue Orpingtons of which is being referred to as the HSR Blue Line.  When Debi feels these Blue Orpingtons are ready, she will share some photos with us.  HPBAA says thanks for the hard work Debi.

      

The gorgeous Black Orpington Hen in the photo to the above right and the handsome Black Orpington Cockeral in the photo to the above left are of the Christina Krofus Line.  Christina Krofus is from Cle Elum, WA.  These two birds are owned by Ms. El Morse of Cane Creek Mountain Farm in Tellico Plains,TN.  El obtained her birds from Ms. Darlene Hobbs of Chickens In The Garden of South Carolina.  This is no information known about this particular line of Orpingtons at this time.  HPBAA hopes to learn more and update our viewers accordingly regarding this line of Orpingtons.  The beautiful Pair of Blue Orpingtons in the photos below are also of the Christina Krofus Line and belong to Ms. El Morse of Cane Creek Mountain Farm.  These birds too were obtained from Ms. Darlene Hobbs of Chickens In the Garden.

This is the Dr. Lewis Clevenger Line of Buff Orpingtons.  They were developed by Dr. Lewis Clevenger of Princeton, MO.  This line goes back for 60 years although the details of Dr. Clevenger's breeding is unknown.  When Dr. Clevenger could no longer care for the birds, they were passed on to Mr. Rolla Henry of Mercer, MO.  Mr. Bob Coulter obtained the line from Mr. Henry in 1972.  Linda Hamid of Roseville, CA obtained this line in 2008.  The photos above are of Mango the rooster and his flock of ladies at Sweetwater Poultry.  HPBAA would like to thank Linda for preserving this breed.

         

The Buff Orpingtons in the photo above are from the Fred Farthing Line.  Mr. Fred Farthing obtained birds from Mr. Terry Britt of OK.  The birds obtained contained a male from Mr. Tony Ewert and females from Ms. Betty Alexander.  HPBAA is unclear where Mr. Britt, Ms. Alexander, or Mr. Ewert obtained their birds.  However, Mr. Farthing also had the Dr. Lewis Clevenger Line.  He crossed the three lines of birds together to get this line.  Ms. Debi Stuhr of Heaven Sent Ranch has this line of Orpington.  She is also working closely with Ms. Linda Hamid of Sweetwater Poultry in preserving the Dr. Lewis Clevenger Line.  HPBAA says way to go ladies for your work with these beautiful birds.

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