A Black Orpington Rooster

I have this Black Orpington for sale, but know little about the standard for this breed. I would like some comments about him.

I was hoping to get some feedback on this fellow. He is about five months old. He has some new feathers coming on his neck and some fluff showing through his feathers.

Rosewood, I have a comment to make, he looks nice, but really, until the bird is mature, you need to be patient to judge what they will really be like. One thing that I do see that may not conform to the "standard" for orpington, is the angle of his tail. I will quote from what the standard of perfection 2010 says below. His tail is showing an upright angle, it should be more smooth and even with his back. This is the only comment that I can make, because I am not anywhere even close to knowing a whole lot about stuff, but something I did notice on your cockerel. Don't want to sound critical, but you asked for comments to help you out. Nice looking fellow though, have a wonderful day, CynthiaM.

Standard of perfection, 2010

"TAIL: Moderately long, well-spread, carried at an angle of twenty-five degrees (25) above the horizontal; forming no apparent angle with back where those sections join."

The picture in the standard shows a back that has the tail looking like there is no join between the back and tail, the back flows right through to where the tail begins to angle upwards. Wish you had a standard to see, it is a very slight curve to the tail going up. It looks in the picture like the tail and back are one. Best way that I can describe it. You will hear more comments I am sure of that.

Thanks for your comments, Cindi. I had someone contact me about buying this rooster. After several email messages they suddenly bailed claiming the rooster to be of poor quality. I'm interested in some other opinions.

rosewood wrote: I had someone contact me about buying this rooster. After several email messages they suddenly bailed claiming the rooster to be of poor quality. I'm interested in some other opinions.

Well....I hope that they said that in a nice way. I really don't think he is of poor quality, far from it, from what I see anyways. He is young, too young to really judge as far as I am concerned . I have seen some lavender orpingtons with some tails that would make ya eyes bop right out of your head, so far from what the standard requires, I think it would have taken years to fix that -- think they call them squirrel tails, oooh, probably gonna ruffle some feathers here, again my inner voice speaking out. I had some, so can speak to ones I had grown out. Since that time, the lines have improved drastically with this colour, thank goodness. His tail looks not really that bad. I don't know. I am not a judge, but to me he doesn't look all that bad to say that he is "poor quality", that just didn't sound right to me. Sorry, need to speak with my inner voice sometimes and that is what it was saying inside me body...yep. Would be nice to hear some comments from others, maybe he is poor quality, if so, I would love to hear that spoken to....good luck, let's listen, have a great night, CynthiaM.

I thought I had this fellow sold about three times now, but he is still here. He has matured some from the above photos. He is getting along nicely with the other roosters.

Hi Rosewood,

It is a bit hard to tell from the photos, particularly because it looks like he is in that awful "gangly" stage that orps can go through. The second photo looks like he is reaching upwards, so while the tail doesn't look ideal it could just be the photo rather then his conformation. With the orps it can be hard to tell until they are about 8 months old, or older. I have kept about 8 orp roosters past the "butchering age" to see how they have matured and am finally now narrowing down who I'd like to keep and who I'm willing to part with, but it does take a while. His head and comb look nice though

Rosewood, try to gt another picture of him so we can see him again, he may have come out of the gangly stage for sure. Get one that is a profile of him so we can see the angle of the tail and how much fluff he has. That would help alot. Frustrating when one can't sell a bird, which is a very popular breed. Have a wonderful day, CynthiaM.

I would be happy to comment but, alas, it was Australorps I used to have. I just don't know much about these.

Also I can't see his head in the second pic. I doubt it's you, I find a lot of photos cut off the edges for me. Don't know if it's my settings or what.

To me he looks pretty decent. Yes, he may be a little gangly right now but he is young and should fill out. Excellent color. The tail a little high but again as the tail convert feathers come in and the tail lengthens out it should fill that that gap in. He looks to have good size. In general to me he looks promising.

Thanks for the comments. Sebas49's comments certainly run contrary to the put down comments I got from the east. Now if we could just find an Orpington home for him.

I know Jonny Anvil is raising Black Orps, maybe contact with. I really think he will turnout to be good bird.

rosewood wrote:Thanks for the comments. Sebas49's comments certainly run contrary to the put down comments I got from the east. Now if we could just find an Orpington home for him.

The east? How far were they going to transport this bird?

I e-mailed on this guy.

Fowler, It was someone from the Halifax area.

HOw come I only see half a rooster. MOst picture I get on here are cut off any idea why?
Geri

Rasilon, go up to the top horizontal bar of your computer and look for the word 'View' and click on it. Then scroll down to 'zoom out' and you should be able to see the whole picture.

We do have some half roosters here, but they are in the freezer. There is a sale pending on this fellow. Actually I think he is going back home.

[quote="Fowler"]

Also I can't see his head in the second pic. I doubt it's you, I find a lot of photos cut off the edges for me. Don't know if it's my settings or what.[/quote

Same for me. I figured out what to do. Right click on the picture and it will say view image and it will show you the whole picture. You have to hit your back button to get back to the post.
Geri

rosewood wrote:Fowler, It was someone from the Halifax area.

Wow!

From Halifax, and they were complaining about the bird, weird. Oh well. So you think he is going back home eh? That even is a long ways, smiling that big smile. I wish you could get another picture, just to show us Rosewood, I am sure he has changed alot since that picture was taken. If I was not only raising buffs, I would have taken him in a heartbeat, too bad. Hoping it all works out for you, think he will be good. I know I have to rehome one of my buff orpingtons, he beat the crap out of the other one yesterday, not damaging, but they don't like each other anymore , they were such good friends , guess spring has taken its toll . Think spring is coming on really hard now. I just don't have room to separate roosters like that. The young lad is in the chick grow out pen all by himself, distressing for me to see this...Have an awesome day, CynthiaM.