The Orpington breed of chicken was created in the later part of the 1800’s by a man named William Cook, who was from Orpington, Kent in England. Contrary to normal breeding practices of the day, Mr. Cook decided to introduce other kinds of chickens into an already existing breed. His goal was not to come up with an entirely new breed of chicken but to improve an already existing one. While he was criticized for this approach at the time, it is now a normal practice used in improving breeds today. The Black Orpington was the first of the Orpington breed of chicken and was quite popular in England and later the US. Improvements continued to be made to the breed until we have what we know of the Orpington today. When the Buff Orpington was later introduced, they became wildly popular and have remained the Orpington favorite ever since The Lavender Orpington is a beautiful  breed and is a good layer and is becoming a very sought after variety.  They are a solid, muted violet or blue. ‘Lavender,’ also known as ‘self-blue’ Orpingtons, tend to be very friendly and have a pet-like demeanor.