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The main reason we put this website together was to give folks an insight into
this fantastic gentle breed the Orpington. In particular the colours we are promoting, the Jubilee, and the Spangled.
We began keeping this wonderful breed about 5 years ago, when we first saw a pen of Jubilee's at Melton Mowbray, from
then on we were hooked! We weren't lucky enough to win the bid on those first birds, but we had made it our mission to
find a breeder who could supply us with our first trio. We did originally find it quite hard to source some decent birds in
the UK, who hadn't had 'speckled sussex' added into the mix, but eventually found a dedicated German breeder
who provided us with our ground stock, a fabulous flock of good quality Jubilee's which we still own!
It's not
an easy task breeding good quality birds, which measure up to the tough standards set by the poultry club, or the Orpington
club, but we think we are well set on the way now. Carefully outcrossing our Jubilee's to the larger, much more typy Spangled
which we purchased 3 years ago. It's really helped the Jubilee both in size and type to do this, and our progress can
be seen clearly now for the first time in 5 years. The females have much more depth, and fluff, the feather is not so tight,
and not so much leg is showing, but most of all they are gradually loosing the 'speckled sussex' lable which
the jubilee orpington has had over the years. You can now start to see a more orpington type, and size appearing. And after
a few years of battle, we have the Jubilee, spangled and cuckoo colours back in the line for re-standardisation! After an
absence since 1923, hopefully by early 2012, these three colours will be recognised as standard colours once more.
We
love a challenge, and this has been a steep learning curb, with many heart breaks along the way. But we have made many friends,
and have enjoyed every bit of it.
We have a new challenge this next year as we have branched out into not only keeping
large Orpingtons, but also a few Bantams too, in Jubilee,(of course!) White, Chocolate and Lavender!
We love meeting
other like-minded poultry mad folks, so if you catch sight of our mental chook van at a show, please feel free
to introduce yourself, and join us for a coffee, we don't bite!!
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