42 



THE ORPINGTONS 



and probably place it near the top of the leading six. It 

 is a fowl for the fancier, the egg farmer, and, as the 

 popular prejudice against the white skin and legs dis- 

 appears it will be a very popular fowl for the broiler and 

 the capon man. 



Some Experiences with Buff Orpingtons 



>Vhy I Selected the Baffs and How I Started— 

 SaoccBs in the Show Room 



Miss Henrietta E. Hooker 



MY first experience with poultry began about ten 

 years ago as a necessity or rather economy, in 

 disposing of table waste from a. large family. 

 They were a mongrel collection of twelve, purchased at 

 auction for 48c each. A cousin of mine, a fancier of Buflf 

 Rqcks, approved my venture, but urged that I keep some- 

 thing in fowls that my relatives would not be ashamed of 

 as they neared my house, and generously proposed if I 

 would eat what I had, to start me with six good Buflfs. 



This proposition was accepted and my flock was soon 

 all buflf. 



A Matter of Sentiment 



In company with a friend of mine I made a walking 

 tour in England a few years ago and was so charmed with 

 the region about the little town of Orpington, that when 

 after my return home I began to see Orpington fowls 

 mentioned in the poultry papers, without knowing any- 

 thing further about them than what the name suggested, 

 I decided to own some — for there is something in a name. 



A Start 



I sent to a man in the Middle States who advertised 

 imported stock for a sitting of eggs, paying what seemed 

 to me then the enormous price of five dollars for twelve 

 eggs. These eggs were put with eggs from my own flock 

 under two hens and though the Rock eggs all gave me 

 chicks, not an Orpington peeped. On opening the eggs, 

 only one chick, a monstrosity, was to be found. In reply 

 to my report the shipper said he had broken up his breed- 

 ing pens but would sell me chicks cheap in the fall. This, 

 followed up, brought the report that his brooders had 

 burned, leaving him no surplus for sale. Thus vanished 

 my first five dollars. 



When the first eggs failed I wrote to a New Hamp- 

 shire breeder advertising for three dollars a sitting and 

 soon had eggs going with the same result as the first. 

 The sender said that I must in some way be at fault but 

 I could have another sitting at half price which I took, 

 getting therefrom a cockerel and a pullet, the former with 

 fully feathered shanks, the latter with as much white as 

 buff and about equally distributed and my labors for that 

 season ended by finding that the pullet laid well and the 

 cockerel was fine eating. 



About this time I chanced to see in a poultry paper 

 the question answered as to whether it was practicable to 

 import eggs, the reply being that the writer knew of 

 seventeen Buff Orpington chicks hatched from two im- 

 ported sittings. Here was my opportunity and I impor- 

 tuned the writer to secure for me a pair of these chicks. 

 The importer, it proved, was not a dealer and hesitated to 

 spare a pullet as nine were cockerels, but finally sold me 

 a pair, five months old, for $6.00. 



They were from the yards of the originator, Mr. Wm. 

 Cook, and were duly named William and Lady Glad- 

 stone. 



I bought a hen from a well known breeder for $3.00 

 and felt that I was on my feet; but the hen died two 

 weeks later and the eggs from my pair did not hatch. 

 Perhaps I should not expect it now from a six months 

 old pair with no others in the pen. 



I knew nothing of "points" at that time, only what the 

 papers mentioned in descriptions, but I am sure that the 

 pullet I should today consider choice and also that "Wil- 

 liam" had some white flight feathers. 



Some people might have been discouraged. Some 

 might have had other feelings. But for years the motto 

 in my laboratory had been: "Keeping everlastingly at it 

 brings success," and in this spirit I determined to per- 

 severe until I had Orpingtons. 



Soon, however, the eggs from my pair began to pro- 

 duce results and I was encouraged. A year later Mr. Cook, 

 Senior, came from England with 103 birds. 



"PERTELOTE" 



First Prize Hen New York, 1908. Owned by Miss Henrietta 

 E. Hooker. 



One of these, a cockerel, I purchased and mated with 

 a part of my pullets, bringing reasonably good results. 



I had no thought of exhibiting birds until a year or 

 two later. Indeed, I am sure that my attitude toward 

 what used to be called "hen shows" has materially changed 

 or I should not now show birds. 



Making Headway 



After a little I needed new blood, I was told. I pur- 

 chased a cockerel for $15.00 at a Connecticut show and 

 felt that I had gone beyond all limits of extravagance. I 

 ascertained that this cockerel was sired by the first New 

 York cock in 1903. This bird was beautiful as lie de- 

 veloped and I declined an ofifer of fifty dollars for him. He 



