C H A PT E: R III 



Black Orpingtons 



Exhibition and Market Qualities— Mating for Size and Shape— Breeding for Color— Comments and 

 Contributions by Noted English Authorities and American Breeders 



J. H. Drevenstedt 



,HE Blacks being the first of the Orpingtons to 

 arrive in the poultry world, they must be 

 accorded the priority claim in the chapters 

 on the different varieties of Orpingtons, re- 

 gardless of their rank in popularity among 

 Orpington breeders. They gave the family 

 name to the breed -and deserve the honor. 

 When vire first judged and handled Orp- 

 ingtons some eight or nine years ago, the Blacks im- 

 pressed us the most, being distinct in type, grand in size 

 and beautiful in the color of the plumage, the latter, at 

 least in the best specimens, we handled at that time, hav- 

 ing the rich beetle green sheen so much fancied by all 

 breeders of Black Hamburgs and Black Langshans. A 

 Black Orpington cockerel and pullet hatched in April, 

 and exhibited by Mr. Kerr at Newark, N. J., in December 

 of the same year, filled their cages, so to speak, the im- 

 mense size of these massive youngsters being a revelation 

 to all poultry breeders present. There has been no diminu 

 tion in size since that early period, the Black Orpingtons 

 of today being fully as large and massive, if not larger, 

 than the early comers from across the seas. Their im- 

 mense size and beautiful color caught the fancy of many 

 conservative breeders, the plack plumage being no handi- 

 cap in this instance. The importations grew in volume 

 and it did not take long before the choicest feathered 

 specimens from the yards of Cook, Partington and Bell 

 found their way to the United States and Canada. 



Exhibition and Market Qualities 



The origin of Black Orpingtons has been given in a 

 previous chapter, but the evolution of the different strains 

 and the value of the breed as a utility fowl remain to be 

 presented. We can seek no better source for authentic 

 information relating to the matter than in the land of its 

 birth. The late Lewis Wright, in his great work "The 

 New Book of Poultry," treats this subject in a clear and 

 authoritative manner, so that the following extracts from 

 his comprehensive chapter on the Orpington fowl will 

 prove valuable and interesting to American breeders: 



"There is no doubt that some original Black Orping- 

 tons were produced as stated; but there is as little doubt 

 that the breed has since considerably changed in two dis- 

 tinct directions. As stated in our next chapter, there 

 is little question that one of the components of the Ply- 

 mouth Rock was the Black Java fowl; and as stated in the 

 preceding, it is equally obvious that this Black Java has 

 much in common with the Langshan, however that fact 

 be interpreted. This darker and more typical component 

 in the Asiatic blood had thus a double prepotency, and its 

 predominance over the more Shanghai component would 

 be intensified by breeding for clean instead of feathered 

 shanks. This doubly strong element therefore rapidly 

 overpowered the Minorca element, and the Orpingtons 

 quickly became to all intents and purposes clean-legged 



Langshans, taking the place of that shorter-legged, sym- 

 metrical type once popular, but subsequently discarded by 

 the personal feeling of the Langshan breeders. In ad- 

 dition to this mere tendency, however, it is within our own 

 personal knowledge that clean-legged pure Langshans, 

 from perfectly orthodox sources, were sold to Orpington 

 exhibitors, and appeared immediately in exhibition pens. 



, "LADY WASHINGTON" 



Black Orpinrton hen, winner of first prize at Madison 

 Square Garden, New York, 1909-10, pronounced by Judge Oke 

 the most typical Orpington in the show. Reproduced from 

 photograph furnished by Black Diamond Poultry Farm. 



as well as being used for breeding with their stock. This 

 still further strengthened and hastened the reversion to 

 Langshan type, which has been so pronounced that at 

 ,many shows only one claSs for 'Langshan or Orpington' 

 (or the converse) has been provided for the two breeds. 

 The index of this change has lain chiefly in the size of 

 the eggs, which has somewhat lessened since the Minorca 

 element lost power; and in the color of the eyes, which 

 was often red while any foreign element remained, but 

 has now almost everywhere reverted to the Langshan 

 brown or black. 



