Blue Orpington or something else?

[Pippin quail]

Hi there, I have a cockerel I hatched this spring who was supposed to be a lavender Orpington. He is clearly different than my other lavenders and I was told by someone on here that he might be a blue Orpington. I'm just wondering what a chicken mixed with a black orp and a lavender would look like? Wondering if he is that because the guy I got the eggs from has black orps and lavenders and I ended up with 3 black chicks, 4 lavenders and this cool looking one that I'm unsure of breed. I'm wondering if maybe his black rooster got in with his lavender hens and this was the result. I have to decide if I try and sell him/find him a home or butcher with the rest of my way too many cockerels. I want to keep a purebred lavender orp since I have a couple lavender pullets. River is just so cool looking I'll be sad if he just gets eaten.

 

[The Moonshiner]

Black Xs Lavender won't produce blue.
It produces blacks unless the black carries a lavender gene and in that case it would produce blacks and Lavenders.
To produce blue one parent would have to be blue or splash.

 

[Pippin quail]

Black Xs Lavender won't produce blue.
It produces blacks unless the black carries a lavender gene and in that case it would produce blacks and Lavenders.
To produce blue one parent would have to be blue or splash.

Very interesting, I wonder if the guy I bought the eggs from has splash orps too... He must if I have a blue one.

 

[Pippin quail]

Very interesting, I wonder if the guy I bought the eggs from has splash orps too... He must if I have a blue one.

Or a blue that he thought was a lavender too...

 

[The Moonshiner]

Blue is pretty hard to confuse with lavender if you breed them.
More common is to have a really dark blue and think it's black. If that was the case there should be other blues hatching so it wouldn't take long to figure it out if you or someone else is hatching its eggs.

 

[Pippin quail]

Blue is pretty hard to confuse with lavender if you breed them.
More common is to have a really dark blue and think it's black. If that was the case there should be other blues hatching so it wouldn't take long to figure it out if you or someone else is hatching its eggs.

Good to know. I did message the guy I bought the eggs from to see if he has any blue or splash orps and he never answered me. He may have knowingly sold me non-lavender eggs or just has no clue. A little annoying but hopefully I will get some more lavenders next year with the one lavender cockerel I'm keeping and the two lavender pullets. The rest of my chickens are pretty much mutts so far, so I'll keep one I know for sure is lavender and poor River will have to go.

 

[Pippin quail]

On a somewhat related note... At what age do people butcher extra cockerels? I have a flock of 15 - 11 are cockerels! They're all 12 weeks old and starting to crow up a storm and some are getting pretty mean to each other. I want them to be big enough to be worth it, but also having so many cockerels in one coop is not going to work for too much longer I'm guessing.

 

[RoostersAreAwesome]

He’s actually blue cuckoo/blue barred, not solid blue. Probably an Orpington cross.

 

[NatJ]

At what age do people butcher extra cockerels? I have a flock of 15 - 11 are cockerels! They're all 12 weeks old and starting to crow up a storm and some are getting pretty mean to each other. I want them to be big enough to be worth it, but also having so many cockerels in one coop is not going to work for too much longer I'm guessing.

I tend to butcher cockerels when they become a nuisance, like yours.

You could butcher one and see if you think he's big enough to be worth it, then decide about the rest. Some people prefer to butcher one at a time and cook & eat them, while some other people prefer to have one big butchering day and freeze most of them.

If you haven't already moved the pullets to a separate coop, you might want to-- that many males will be pretty hard on that few females.

But if the coop is big enough, and the females are out, then I'm guessing that many males will be sort-of fine together. Of course they'll ruffle feathers and spar with each other, but no two will be able to fight for long because the others will get in the way, so that will probably keep them from doing any serious damage to each other. (Comb wounds bleed enough to look really scary, but heal fast and don't seem to bother the chickens much.)

 

[Pippin quail]

I tend to butcher cockerels when they become a nuisance, like yours.

You could butcher one and see if you think he's big enough to be worth it, then decide about the rest. Some people prefer to butcher one at a time and cook & eat them, while some other people prefer to have one big butchering day and freeze most of them.

If you haven't already moved the pullets to a separate coop, you might want to-- that many males will be pretty hard on that few females.

But if the coop is big enough, and the females are out, then I'm guessing that many males will be sort-of fine together. Of course they'll ruffle feathers and spar with each other, but no two will be able to fight for long because the others will get in the way, so that will probably keep them from doing any serious damage to each other. (Comb wounds bleed enough to look really scary, but heal fast and don't seem to bother the chickens much.)

Do they start trying to mate this early? I haven't seen any attempts yet, but a few of the cockerels have been pulling feathers on each other's or the pullets heads, usually just when they're going to eat in the morning and I assume it's a pecking order thing.. I don't really have anywhere I can separate them without building another run, so I guess the solution will be butchering sooner rather than later. I know my hubby is not going to go for building a separate enclosure for them! There's definitely one roo in particular who pecks everyone and just has a mean look all the time. He's not the biggest, but I think he'll be the first to go. Lol