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Orcs breed after the manner of Elves and Men, albeit rather quickly and maybe more like bunnies. (Durelen)
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*shudders at the thought of orcs being compared to rabbits!* [img]smilies/evil.gif[/img] [img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img]
I believe that if Tolkien had the chance, he would lay out in more detail the true origins of orcs, which I believe would be somewhere along these lines
-Morgoth bred the Captains of the Orcs by corrupting lesser Maiar (I have read in several forums that the leader of the orcs in the First Age was a Maia, and still others have suggested that the first orcs were all Maiar)
-At the awakening of the Elves by Cuivenen, many were ensnared and corrupted into lesser orcs. At this point their fear (that is, their spirit) became enslaved to the will of Morgoth, and thus they lost their identities as the Firstborn, losing their immortality.
-I think Tolkien wished later for readers to consider all orcs as corrupted Men, but since that was impossible based on his already published writings, I think he would have given the impression that many men had been assimilated by Morgoth and corrupted into orcs after their birth, and that they made up the largest part of Morgoth's orkish hosts in the battles of the First Age. This would leave the impression that orcs were by and large corrupted Men (which was the Professor's intention later in life), (almost) dismiss the idea that orcs are immortal, and still have it all make sense in context of his earlier works (since there would still be some Maiar and Elven orcs).