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Welcome to our website, and a very heartfelt hello from both myself and my husband.
The news that the three colours of Orpingtons we have been crusading for, for the past four years to regain their standards
has come through with mixed elation and a slight disappointment.
Whilst we are over the moon at the large fowl Jubilee,
Cuckoo and Spangled varieties have been excepted, and now are standard colours in Orpingtons, we were a bit disappointed that
the bantam versions of these 3 colours didn't.
Although i can actually see the points the Poultry Club Council
have made regarding them not being accepted, and fully understand their view. The bantams weren't around originally, and
have a relatively small following at the moment. If we want to see these as a standard alongside their larger counterparts,
then more work has to be done, not just to improve them generally, but also larger numbers being reared and shown is a must.
More support is needed to do what the Poultry Club require to even consider them as a standard bird.
But, lets not focus
too much on the upsetting news the bantams didn't make it, we know what we have to do to put that right.
Let us take
stock of the enormity we have created within the poultry world, and revel for a second in the triumph of getting the large
fowl Jubilee, Cuckoo and Spangled birds back their standards!! None of which could have been done without the tremendous support
of us all who have the pleasure in keeping and breeding these colours of Orpingtons. We can now, from this moment on, show
them alongside the previous standard colours, and most importantly of all, have our ''blue-prints'' to work
to in helping us breed better quality birds. Now the real hard work starts. These particular coloured birds have been very
popular over the years, but not being a standard for over 80 of those years, have been consistently been bred badly, out-crossed
to other breeds to improve colour etc. This isn't going to be put right over night, and will need alot of dedicated breeders
to be strict with both culling and out-crossing. But most of all it's going to need patience and time. Naturally slow
maturing these breeds of birds need patience and time to grow, to see if any subsequent out-crossing or improving has worked,
culling the hatched chicks when signs are not good, and growing on the better stock to maturity is a must. If you are not
prepared to cull, then perhaps these colours aren't for you. Strict quality control is paramount.
I have written
the standards set out to the Poultry Club under the various headings through-out the website for you to familiarise yourselves
with. These won't be printed in the PCGB book of standards until they make a new copy, which is a few years away yet.
Please feel free to copy it and print it for use in breeding these colours, and pass it on to as many people who also have
an interest in them as you can, including spreading the word they are now standard coloured Orpingtons to judges and show
organisers.
Thank you all for all your kind emails, and words of encouragement over the past four years to help us make
this possible, we couldn't have done it without you all.
Jane & Nigel Allman.X
***We
are very sorry, but we DO NOT send birds or hatching eggs to countries outside the UK. DEFRA regulations state this is against
the law without all the correct veterinary paper work, which involves blood testing of our entire flock, quarantine of the
birds at the Country of destinations border, this all adds up to a very expensive, problematic and very long experience
for the birds or eggs. One we are not prepared to undertake.We also do not post hatching eggs, but a limited few are
for sale by COLLECTION ONLY. Sorry.
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