a Lavender Orpington rooster...If we bred our current Buff ladies with him we would get???
Black chicks, carrying the recessive gene for lavender.
As they grow up, they may have some gold or other color leakage, rather than being solid black.
Is it seen as unacceptable to not allow them to breed right away?
What do you mean by "breed"?
He will mate with the hens. There is no way to prevent this, unless you keep him separate from them.
The hens will lay fertile eggs.
But there will be no chicks unless the eggs get incubated (under a broody hen, or in an incubator.)
Eating fertile eggs is fine. Only incubate the eggs if you do want chicks. If a hen goes broody, keep taking the eggs away every day, unless you want chicks.
When you do want chicks, collect the right number of eggs (may take several days), and put all the eggs in the incubator on the same day. Or put them all under a broody hen. That way they will develop at the same time, and will all hatch at the same time (which makes it easier for you or the hen to take care of them.)
And is there a reason I wouldn’t be able to introduce 5 new ladies to the flock next year still?
Introducing more hens later should be fine. Having a rooster should not make that harder.
Know nothing about roosters so appreciate any insight!
One possible problem: roosters mate a lot. If this is spread among a large number of hens, things usually work well. But when a rooster has a small number of hens, he will tend to mate with each one quite frequently. This can be hard on the hens. He may pull out some of the feathers on the back of their heads, or wear off the feathers on their backs, and may hurt them with his feet (especially after they have no feathers left.)
Some roosters mate more often than others. Some roosters are more rough or more gentle than others when they mate. Roosters often have favorite hens, and mate with those hens more often than the other hens. These differences mean that some roosters cause bare backs on their favorite hens even when they have a large flock (20 hens or more.) Some other roosters are fine with just a few hens (2-3), or even with just a single hen.
You will not know for sure about this rooster unless you try him and see.
If he does overmate the hens, you may need to put aprons on them to protect their backs, or keep the rooster in a pen next to them instead living with them. (Next to them, so he can see them and "talk" with them, instead of being completely isolated.)
Our main reason currently to add a rooster is for protection during free ranging
A rooster does not add all that much protection. At best, he is still a chicken. Any predator that likes to eat chicken will happily eat a rooster or a hen.
Personally, I might wait and get a rooster later, when you have more hens and are interested in hatching some chicks. You could get this one now, I just think it might be overall more convenient to wait.
