Rex & His Girls: Our BBS Orpington Flock

 

Rex is our English type blue orpington rooster.  Rex is a large fluffy bird.  He weighs in at over 12 pounds! But he never throws his weight around.  He is the calmest, sweetest rooster on the farm.  He heads a small flock of three oprington hens: Rita, Abby and Sasha.

Rita is a blue Orpington hen.  She is a large, fluffy hen who is always at the front of the line. She is brave and curious and loves to receive treats.  She is the alpha hen of this flock, and is the one most often found side by side with Rex.

Abby is a splash orpington hen.  She is the adventurous hen in this flock.  Second in the hen pecking order, she is always eager to get out and forage.  Abby can often be found a litte further from the rest of the flock, scratching around at the edge of the woods or beneath a thicket of blackberry brambles.  She also enjoys digging through the insect rich compost pile.

Sasha is our black orpington hen. She is the youngest hen in the flock, and the lowest in the peck order.  She is a quiet, reserved hen who is a little shy but still very sweet.  She enjoys human interaction quite a lot.  She is usually at the back of the line, and last to the food dish.  However, Rex loves her as much as his other girls and often reassures her with his sweet cooing noises and gentle clucks.

These are such wonderful birds! Big, fluffy, gentle chickens.  They are a breeze to care for, and the hens lay 5 to 6 huge brown eggs every week. And Rex is such a devoted rooster.  He loves his girls, and they absolutely adore him, following him everywhere.  Rex finds treats for for his hens every day, calls them to the the feed dish when we fill it, and always lets his girls eat first. He also fluffs up the straw in their nest boxes for them and often sorts the straw piece by piece to make sure it is just right.  And of course he also does his one-wing-down spinning rooster dance for them to win their affections.

Rex is so gentle.  He is even good with very young chicks.  Even when the chicks are from another flock.

We recently hatched the first test batch of eggs from this lovely flock.  Rex and his girls are now the proud parents of six healthy orpington chicks! They hatched out four blue and two splash orpington chicks.  We are very excited to watch these little ones grow up and see how they develop.  Hopefully they will be as big and sweet and fluffy as their parents.