- Cuckoo Stud
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Orpingtons '101'
- Orpington Club Membership
- Orpington Type and Main Colours
- Non APS colours - new and pre-existing but not approved Orpington colours
- Blue Cuckoo Colour Standard
- Lavender & Lav Cuckoo Colour Standard
- Buff Cuckoo Colour Standard
- Red Barred (Cuckoo) Colour Standard
- Chocolate Orpington colour Standard
- BREEDING SPLASH to carry the silver gene >
- Buff Orpington improving Type
- White Orpington improving Type
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- the Stud colours/breeds
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- Breeding Cuckoo Orpingtons >
- Cuckoo and Black original lines
- Blue Cuckoo Orpington development
- Buff Cuckoo Orpington development
- Crele, Partridge and Gold Barred Buff Orpington development
- New Colours, acceptance of the colours
- Lavender and Lavender Cuckoo Orpingtons in the backyard
- the Chocolate Orpington >
- Cuckoo Double Bar and Single Bar factor
- the Blue Gene - theory of Mendel's Law
- Blue Cuckoo and Mendel's Law
- Developing multiple related lines
- Orpingtons - larrikin mateship = our first birds
- Our Cuckoo Silkies
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- Lavender & Lavender Cuckoo Orpington, bantam and large >
- Crele, Partridge Orpington
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- Buff Cuckoo Orpington, large >
- Cuckoo Orpington, bantam
- Black Orpington large
- Splash Orpington, large >
- Choc, Choc Cuckoo & Mauve Orpington large
- Choc Crele, Choc Partridge and Choc Birchen large size
- Black Orpington, bantam
- Gold Barred Buff Orpington
- Phoenix
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- Acquiring and caring for your Orpingtons
- Feeding - what we feed our birds
- Heat waves, hot days, Summer and Liquefaction
- Artificial UV lighting
- Chook Saddles
- Fertility and my secret recipe
- Posted chickens - how to make them
- Embryonic developmental stages of a chick
- Mareks Disease
- Hatching larger std size birds
- Size = breeding down
- Brooder - recycled and effective
- Growth patterns and assessing birds
- Microchipping your birds
- Secure housing
- Lime - Hydrated and Garden (AG) Lime and their uses in the chook pen
- MOUSE/RAT TRAP chook friendly
- Appraisal pictures of your birds
- Showing - training your birds
- Coccidia Oocyst cycle and treating Coccidiosis with Baycox
- Lymphoid Leukosis – Avian (The Wasting Disease)
- Coryza Avibacterium Paragallinarum
- Crop problems in poultry
- Mosquito control
- Maremma - training a pup
- Fox Traps
- Snake Bite
# update = as of 2018 this colour is still not recognised in the APS* for Orpingtons and is not in the APS* for any breed
* Australian Poultry Standard
Buff Cuckoo development
(referred to as Lemon Cuckoo in the UK)
# pale, medium or dark they are all referred to as Buff Cuckoo in Australia
there is no genetically correct 'Lemon Cuckoo' in Orpingtons in Australia at this time
as the colour is genetically correct to Buff and Cuckoo with the original development using
pure Buff and pure Cuckoo Orpingtons in the development
in Australia we refer to it in its genetically correct form
by the Cuckoo Stud
the original and first lines of this colour in large in Australia were started at the Stud last century with the F1 mating in 1996
only Cuckoo and Buff Orpingtons were used in the development
a bantam version was started in 2006 using Buff Cuckoo Pekin and Buff Orpington < bantams are an ongoing project
They are referred to as Buff Cuckoo as they are genetically Buff and Cuckoo, also as there is genetically correct Lemon Cuckoo in Australia, but NOT in the Orpingtons.
I have been involved with the Cuckoo Orpington (APS colour) my entire life and one day decided to start making other colours in the Cuckoo pattern. To date the Stud has made a number of new colours in Cuckoo Orpingtons.
I had bought a Buff 1st year hen as an 'oddity' for my yard = she was a most impressive bird with a wonderful gentle personality.
As we experienced below zeros temperatures each Winter I put her in one of the Cuckoo pens her first Winter at my place to help her stay warm. I knew her eggs and collected them for the table until one day I thought "why not hatch some of her chicks to see what I get".
The chicks were very distinctive to say the least, and I quickly realised I had F1 chicks for Buff Cuckoo. I decided then and there to go ahead with the project and develop the Buff Cuckoo in Australia.
# note at each cross birds were chosen for Type, pattern clarity and personality, all birds had to be calm and easy to handle.
All chicks were tagged and toe punched at hatching for record purposes and the birds eventually chosen for breeding the next generation were micro-chipped with those details being added against their hatch records.
Also note that when mentioning Buff (carrying Buff Cuckoo) all these birds are/were female.
ONLY the original Buff hen mentioned in the first cross has NO Cuckoo in her. # updated to include the Buff hens to be introduced at generation 20.
F1 mating =
A cross between an APS recognised Cuckoo colour rooster and the Buff hen.
All of these F1 chicks displayed a combination of both the APS Cuckoo and Buff Cuckoo markings with the Buff Cuckoo mainly across the wings and in the saddle/rump feathers of both sexes. The pattern was strikingly bold in the colour of the Buff Cuckoo. Even at this first cross the Buff Cuckoo sections displayed as Buff and White. I noted that the red eye of both the Cuckoo and the Buff came through in every chick. The Buff white legs and feet were at 50% and the remainder had some degree of mottling on the legs as per the APS Cuckoo.
The beaks were 75% horn 25% white. All these features indicated that the Buff genetics was potentially dominant over the Cuckoo for skin and beak.
Due to the Buff Cuckoo component being Buff and White I started wondering if the Buff genetics was dominant in the feathers and what that would mean to the colour in Australia.
F2 matings =
2 pens - 1 rooster and 2 hens per pen
This was a brother sister mating of the best Orpington Type F1 birds resulting in some 'frightening looking' offspring, some Buff females and 3 pale Buff Cuckoo cockerels, also 2 pale Buff Cuckoo pullets and 1 very pale but near perfect to Type Buff Cuckoo pullet, all of which had no APS Cuckoo colour in their feathering = F3 chicks.
These F3 chicks had the red eye, white skin, white legs and feet as well as the Buff and White Cuckoo patterning.
F3 matings =
3 pens - one on one matings with the roosters moved monthly to get as many combinations as possible. With careful records kept as to each hatchlings parents. Only the pale Buff Cuckoos from the F2 mating were used.
The offspring were all Buff Cuckoo (Buff and White Cuckoo pattern) all had white skin, legs and feet,
50% had horn beaks 50% had white beaks. = generation 4 chicks.
I chose the best Type birds for the next mating and 2 more pens were set.
Generation 4 matings =
5 pens - 1 rooster and 4 hens per pen
All birds chosen for this generation were crossed with birds from another pen/different parents.
I now had a good number of birds to choose from and was careful in my selection of the breeder birds choosing
to use at this cross the Buff (carrying Buff Cuckoo) from the F2 to increase the depth of colour in the Buff Cuckoo pattern and those that displayed the Buff Cuckoo patterning well and were as close to Type as possible. Of the 5 pens set 60 to 100 chicks per pen were hatched with 10% from one pen displaying a small amount of APS Cuckoo mainly down the thighs, these were culled early on, as it was obvious by this stage that the Buff and White pattern was dominant over the APS pattern. A few Buff only females were hatched; these were kept as future out-crosses as they carried the Buff Cuckoo genetics.
The large numbers of chicks were hatched to allow for merciless culling = all chicks chosen for generation 5 matings were Buff Cuckoo only = generation 5. Another 2 pens were set.
Generation 5 matings =
7 pens - 1 rooster and 4 hens per pen
Each pens breeder birds were carefully chosen for Type, pattern and personality. By this cross I was thinking of another set of brother sister matings to test the pattern. So each pen was set with birds from the same parents. All chicks hatched were Buff Cuckoo (Buff and White pattern) only, confirming to me that the Buff was dominant over the APS Cuckoo colour.
The number of pens was reduced down from the next cross.
Generation 6 matings =
5 pens - 1 Buff Cuckoo rooster, 4 Buff Cuckoo hens, 1 Buff (carrying Buff Cuckoo) hen per pen.
Each pen produced all Buff Cuckoo hatchlings; all had white skin, legs and feet. 90% had white beaks, 10% had horn beaks. Only the very best were kept, all horn beak chicks were deleted.
From generation 6 to generation 10, only 5 pens of the very best birds were kept, absorbing the best of the 2 excess pens evenly across the remaining 5 pens. All hatchlings that were Buff Cuckoo, had red eyes, white skin, white legs and feet and white beaks.
Generation 7 matings =
5 pens - 1 Buff Cuckoo rooster, 5 Buff Cuckoo hens per pen.
All hatchlings were Buff Cuckoo, both sexes.
Generation 8 matings = the use of 2 males per pen was introduced.
5 pens - 2 Buff Cuckoo roosters, 5 Buff Cuckoo hens, 1 Buff (carrying Buff Cuckoo) hen per pen
An infusion of the Buff (carrying Buff Cuckoo) hens was done in each pen. Producing some Buff (carrying Buff Cuckoo) hens which were grown out as the next out-crosses.
Generation 9 matings =
5 pens - 2 Buff Cuckoo roosters, 6 Buff Cuckoo hens per pen.
All Buff Cuckoo to Buff Cuckoo producing all Buff Cuckoo.
At this point I confided in Dallas Smith, the Secretary of the Orpington Club of OZ.
I also confided in an at the time friend regards what I had started and was hoping to achieve.
generation 10 matings =
5 pens - 2 Buff Cuckoo roosters, 6 Buff Cuckoo hens per pen.
All offspring Buff Cuckoo both sexes. This cross the offspring were paler than the last cross. I decided that at each generation I would have one Buff (carrying Buff Cuckoo) hen in each pen at each generation to keep the depth of colour.
The number of pens was reduced at the next cross.
Generation 11 matings =
3 pens - 2 Buff Cuckoo roosters, 6 Buff Cuckoo hens, 1 Buff (carrying Buff Cuckoo) hen per pen.
Each pen produced a combination of Buff Cuckoo 90% and Buff (carrying Buff Cuckoo) 10%
Generation 12 to generation 17 matings =
3 pens - 2 Buff Cuckoo cockerels, 6 Buff Cuckoo hens, 1 Buff (carrying Buff Cuckoo) hen per pen.
All offspring a combination of Buff Cuckoo 90% and Buff carrying Buff Cuckoo 10% each generation.
Generation 18 matings = (was held over 2 years due to a double family tragedy)
3 pens - 2 Buff Cuckoo cockerels, 5 Buff Cuckoo hens, 1 Buff (carrying Buff Cuckoo) hen per pen
All offspring in pens 1 and 2 were Buff Cuckoo indicating that those cockerels are double bar factor birds. Offspring in pen 3 were 85% Buff Cuckoo, 15% Buff (carrying Buff Cuckoo) indicating the cockerels in that pen are single bar factor. Some cockerels displayed horn beaks.
The number of pens reduced down from the next cross
# update 2015
Generation 19 matings =
2 pens - 2 Buff Cuckoo roosters, 2 Buff Cuckoo hens, 2 Buff (carrying Buff Cuckoo) hens per pen
Outcome to be advised as this is the 2015 mating
Generation 20 matings =
2 Buff hens will be introduced as unrelated out-crosses < these Buff hens have NO Cuckoo in them
# update 2016 = generation 22 chicks growing out
by 2022 there are good numbers of the Buff Cuckoo throughout Australia
# all content in 'Buff Cuckoo development' is documented, is all The Stud's work, and subject to copyright laws of Australia
* Australian Poultry Standard
Buff Cuckoo development
(referred to as Lemon Cuckoo in the UK)
# pale, medium or dark they are all referred to as Buff Cuckoo in Australia
there is no genetically correct 'Lemon Cuckoo' in Orpingtons in Australia at this time
as the colour is genetically correct to Buff and Cuckoo with the original development using
pure Buff and pure Cuckoo Orpingtons in the development
in Australia we refer to it in its genetically correct form
by the Cuckoo Stud
the original and first lines of this colour in large in Australia were started at the Stud last century with the F1 mating in 1996
only Cuckoo and Buff Orpingtons were used in the development
a bantam version was started in 2006 using Buff Cuckoo Pekin and Buff Orpington < bantams are an ongoing project
They are referred to as Buff Cuckoo as they are genetically Buff and Cuckoo, also as there is genetically correct Lemon Cuckoo in Australia, but NOT in the Orpingtons.
I have been involved with the Cuckoo Orpington (APS colour) my entire life and one day decided to start making other colours in the Cuckoo pattern. To date the Stud has made a number of new colours in Cuckoo Orpingtons.
I had bought a Buff 1st year hen as an 'oddity' for my yard = she was a most impressive bird with a wonderful gentle personality.
As we experienced below zeros temperatures each Winter I put her in one of the Cuckoo pens her first Winter at my place to help her stay warm. I knew her eggs and collected them for the table until one day I thought "why not hatch some of her chicks to see what I get".
The chicks were very distinctive to say the least, and I quickly realised I had F1 chicks for Buff Cuckoo. I decided then and there to go ahead with the project and develop the Buff Cuckoo in Australia.
# note at each cross birds were chosen for Type, pattern clarity and personality, all birds had to be calm and easy to handle.
All chicks were tagged and toe punched at hatching for record purposes and the birds eventually chosen for breeding the next generation were micro-chipped with those details being added against their hatch records.
Also note that when mentioning Buff (carrying Buff Cuckoo) all these birds are/were female.
ONLY the original Buff hen mentioned in the first cross has NO Cuckoo in her. # updated to include the Buff hens to be introduced at generation 20.
F1 mating =
A cross between an APS recognised Cuckoo colour rooster and the Buff hen.
All of these F1 chicks displayed a combination of both the APS Cuckoo and Buff Cuckoo markings with the Buff Cuckoo mainly across the wings and in the saddle/rump feathers of both sexes. The pattern was strikingly bold in the colour of the Buff Cuckoo. Even at this first cross the Buff Cuckoo sections displayed as Buff and White. I noted that the red eye of both the Cuckoo and the Buff came through in every chick. The Buff white legs and feet were at 50% and the remainder had some degree of mottling on the legs as per the APS Cuckoo.
The beaks were 75% horn 25% white. All these features indicated that the Buff genetics was potentially dominant over the Cuckoo for skin and beak.
Due to the Buff Cuckoo component being Buff and White I started wondering if the Buff genetics was dominant in the feathers and what that would mean to the colour in Australia.
F2 matings =
2 pens - 1 rooster and 2 hens per pen
This was a brother sister mating of the best Orpington Type F1 birds resulting in some 'frightening looking' offspring, some Buff females and 3 pale Buff Cuckoo cockerels, also 2 pale Buff Cuckoo pullets and 1 very pale but near perfect to Type Buff Cuckoo pullet, all of which had no APS Cuckoo colour in their feathering = F3 chicks.
These F3 chicks had the red eye, white skin, white legs and feet as well as the Buff and White Cuckoo patterning.
F3 matings =
3 pens - one on one matings with the roosters moved monthly to get as many combinations as possible. With careful records kept as to each hatchlings parents. Only the pale Buff Cuckoos from the F2 mating were used.
The offspring were all Buff Cuckoo (Buff and White Cuckoo pattern) all had white skin, legs and feet,
50% had horn beaks 50% had white beaks. = generation 4 chicks.
I chose the best Type birds for the next mating and 2 more pens were set.
Generation 4 matings =
5 pens - 1 rooster and 4 hens per pen
All birds chosen for this generation were crossed with birds from another pen/different parents.
I now had a good number of birds to choose from and was careful in my selection of the breeder birds choosing
to use at this cross the Buff (carrying Buff Cuckoo) from the F2 to increase the depth of colour in the Buff Cuckoo pattern and those that displayed the Buff Cuckoo patterning well and were as close to Type as possible. Of the 5 pens set 60 to 100 chicks per pen were hatched with 10% from one pen displaying a small amount of APS Cuckoo mainly down the thighs, these were culled early on, as it was obvious by this stage that the Buff and White pattern was dominant over the APS pattern. A few Buff only females were hatched; these were kept as future out-crosses as they carried the Buff Cuckoo genetics.
The large numbers of chicks were hatched to allow for merciless culling = all chicks chosen for generation 5 matings were Buff Cuckoo only = generation 5. Another 2 pens were set.
Generation 5 matings =
7 pens - 1 rooster and 4 hens per pen
Each pens breeder birds were carefully chosen for Type, pattern and personality. By this cross I was thinking of another set of brother sister matings to test the pattern. So each pen was set with birds from the same parents. All chicks hatched were Buff Cuckoo (Buff and White pattern) only, confirming to me that the Buff was dominant over the APS Cuckoo colour.
The number of pens was reduced down from the next cross.
Generation 6 matings =
5 pens - 1 Buff Cuckoo rooster, 4 Buff Cuckoo hens, 1 Buff (carrying Buff Cuckoo) hen per pen.
Each pen produced all Buff Cuckoo hatchlings; all had white skin, legs and feet. 90% had white beaks, 10% had horn beaks. Only the very best were kept, all horn beak chicks were deleted.
From generation 6 to generation 10, only 5 pens of the very best birds were kept, absorbing the best of the 2 excess pens evenly across the remaining 5 pens. All hatchlings that were Buff Cuckoo, had red eyes, white skin, white legs and feet and white beaks.
Generation 7 matings =
5 pens - 1 Buff Cuckoo rooster, 5 Buff Cuckoo hens per pen.
All hatchlings were Buff Cuckoo, both sexes.
Generation 8 matings = the use of 2 males per pen was introduced.
5 pens - 2 Buff Cuckoo roosters, 5 Buff Cuckoo hens, 1 Buff (carrying Buff Cuckoo) hen per pen
An infusion of the Buff (carrying Buff Cuckoo) hens was done in each pen. Producing some Buff (carrying Buff Cuckoo) hens which were grown out as the next out-crosses.
Generation 9 matings =
5 pens - 2 Buff Cuckoo roosters, 6 Buff Cuckoo hens per pen.
All Buff Cuckoo to Buff Cuckoo producing all Buff Cuckoo.
At this point I confided in Dallas Smith, the Secretary of the Orpington Club of OZ.
I also confided in an at the time friend regards what I had started and was hoping to achieve.
generation 10 matings =
5 pens - 2 Buff Cuckoo roosters, 6 Buff Cuckoo hens per pen.
All offspring Buff Cuckoo both sexes. This cross the offspring were paler than the last cross. I decided that at each generation I would have one Buff (carrying Buff Cuckoo) hen in each pen at each generation to keep the depth of colour.
The number of pens was reduced at the next cross.
Generation 11 matings =
3 pens - 2 Buff Cuckoo roosters, 6 Buff Cuckoo hens, 1 Buff (carrying Buff Cuckoo) hen per pen.
Each pen produced a combination of Buff Cuckoo 90% and Buff (carrying Buff Cuckoo) 10%
Generation 12 to generation 17 matings =
3 pens - 2 Buff Cuckoo cockerels, 6 Buff Cuckoo hens, 1 Buff (carrying Buff Cuckoo) hen per pen.
All offspring a combination of Buff Cuckoo 90% and Buff carrying Buff Cuckoo 10% each generation.
Generation 18 matings = (was held over 2 years due to a double family tragedy)
3 pens - 2 Buff Cuckoo cockerels, 5 Buff Cuckoo hens, 1 Buff (carrying Buff Cuckoo) hen per pen
All offspring in pens 1 and 2 were Buff Cuckoo indicating that those cockerels are double bar factor birds. Offspring in pen 3 were 85% Buff Cuckoo, 15% Buff (carrying Buff Cuckoo) indicating the cockerels in that pen are single bar factor. Some cockerels displayed horn beaks.
The number of pens reduced down from the next cross
# update 2015
Generation 19 matings =
2 pens - 2 Buff Cuckoo roosters, 2 Buff Cuckoo hens, 2 Buff (carrying Buff Cuckoo) hens per pen
Outcome to be advised as this is the 2015 mating
Generation 20 matings =
2 Buff hens will be introduced as unrelated out-crosses < these Buff hens have NO Cuckoo in them
# update 2016 = generation 22 chicks growing out
by 2022 there are good numbers of the Buff Cuckoo throughout Australia
# all content in 'Buff Cuckoo development' is documented, is all The Stud's work, and subject to copyright laws of Australia
