Cuckoo Lav. Orpington and Gang

[BadMammoth]

Background:
-I have a Cuckoo Lav. Orpington Roo, seven lavender hens, and one buff rooster I plan on keeping together in the same pen next year.

Why the buff roo?
-This is my and my girlfriends first time to raise chickens together. I've had chickens before growing up and love the Orpingtons. We purchased three buff chicks. Then decided to get some lavs. Then later comes the cuckoo roo. We grew very attached to the buffs because we raised them from day olds. We ended up with 2 roos and a hen. One of the roos migrated to the lavender gang. (They free range and segregated) This roo is interesting to say the least. You can tell by the photo he is a roo, but he doesn't crow (not that I've seen/heard) and he tried to mount some hens but it looked unsuccessful. He has done this with the other roosters as well. While raising him we kept going back and forth if he was a hen or a roo, it was really up in the air for the longest time. Anyway... we call him Hermaphrodite and he is here to stay... with his lavender gang.

I want to play with the cuckoo genetics with my lavender hens so I isolated them into a 12' x 12' pen I built when I was a kid.

A few questions...

Q1:
Will hermaphrodite "spread his genes" to these hens?
& if he does, will his chicks be distinguishable from the cuckoo roos?

Q2:
Do I breed the next generation roos to old hens, next gen. hens to cuckoo roo, or next gen. hen to next gen. roo?

I've read about Q2 before but didn't save the thread and don't remember.

 

[Welshies]

Beautiful birds...

 

[BadMammoth]

Beautiful birds...

Thank you! Hoping to have some more soon

 

[Mrs. K]

I think you have 4-6 roosters in there? That is going to be way too many roosters, and will run those pullets ragged.

Any rooster exposed to a hen, will spread his genetics. Hens store the sperm, so if you have more than one rooster, then you can easily have hens lay eggs fertilized by any of the roosters she has been exposed to. If you want to do a specific cross, then you need to separate your hens and that rooster for 3 weeks, and by that time, his should be the only fertilized eggs.

Not sure, but you really need to pull most of those roosters off by themselves in a bachelor pad. Too many roosters causes a whole bunch of problems will highly stress your pullets.

Mrs K

 

[BadMammoth]

I think you have 4-6 roosters in there? That is going to be way too many roosters, and will run those pullets ragged.

Any rooster exposed to a hen, will spread his genetics. Hens store the sperm, so if you have more than one rooster, then you can easily have hens lay eggs fertilized by any of the roosters she has been exposed to. If you want to do a specific cross, then you need to separate your hens and that rooster for 3 weeks, and by that time, his should be the only fertilized eggs.

Not sure, but you really need to pull most of those roosters off by themselves in a bachelor pad. Too many roosters causes a whole bunch of problems will highly stress your pullets.

Mrs K

Hello Mrs. K,
Thank you for your response. That is very helpful information. I have pulled the other three lavender roos. I had no idea then hen could hold the sperm for up to THREE weeks. That is amazing really.

I know if i have two roos in the pen with the hens they would both pass their genes on to all the hens but i ask this specific case of a quite unusual rooster. As i said before he doesn't crow. I can't recall ever seeing him mount a hen, whereas i see the lavender roo do it regularly.

I know it seems i'm being complicated. Why not just throw the buff roo out? Problem solved. But he would be a loner and he has very much been accepted into the lavender gang.

I am wondering if anyone has had a roo similar to this and has the information they would share.

Maybe some roos don't breed?
Maybe there is truly a hermaphrodite chicken(and again he can't breed or just doesn't)?

Thank you for your help. Truly appreciated.

 

[Mrs. K]

I see and understand your question now, and the answer is maybe... maybe for a while. Individual animals have varying amounts of hormones, and therefore varying amounts of fertility. It could be you have more of a natural eunuch. Where as that rooster has not developed into a mature rooster. He may do so with time. He might never do so.

What are you risking? Hatch some of the eggs, you should be able to be pretty positive which chicks are which. Cull by selling, or giving away or eating the birds that do not fit your project.

Another option, would be to casterate him. There are videos on the net showing you how to do it. I have never done it, but it would solve your problems.

Mrs K

 

[BadMammoth]

I see and understand your question now, and the answer is maybe... maybe for a while. Individual animals have varying amounts of hormones, and therefore varying amounts of fertility. It could be you have more of a natural eunuch. Where as that rooster has not developed into a mature rooster. He may do so with time. He might never do so.

What are you risking? Hatch some of the eggs, you should be able to be pretty positive which chicks are which. Cull by selling, or giving away or eating the birds that do not fit your project.

Another option, would be to casterate him. There are videos on the net showing you how to do it. I have never done it, but it would solve your problems.

Mrs K

I see and understand your question now, and the answer is maybe... maybe for a while. Individual animals have varying amounts of hormones, and therefore varying amounts of fertility. It could be you have more of a natural eunuch. Where as that rooster has not developed into a mature rooster. He may do so with time. He might never do so.

What are you risking? Hatch some of the eggs, you should be able to be pretty positive which chicks are which. Cull by selling, or giving away or eating the birds that do not fit your project.

Another option, would be to casterate him. There are videos on the net showing you how to do it. I have never done it, but it would solve your problems.

Mrs K

Okay. I'm going to let him live with the lavenders for now.

Thank you!

 

[aart]

The buff is probably not crowing or mounting because he is subordinate to the lav male. I doubt he is a eunuch or hermaphrodite.

If you're serious about breeding pure, get him out of there, he could be sneaking in some 'shots'. Getting rid of extra males can be the worst part about breeding/hatching. Every hatch can be 50% males, need to prepare how you will deal with them. They are delicious on the grill before 16 wks.

How you breed further generations may depend on your goals.
There are many different scenarios.
Might want to peruse this sub forum and research lav's in particular:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forums/exhibition-genetics-breeding-to-the-sop.16188/
I use the same cockbird for 3 years, parent over offspring, then bring in fresh blood,
but I'm just hatching replacement layers and some OE's.

 

[BadMammoth]

The buff is probably not crowing or mounting because he is subordinate to the lav male. I doubt he is a eunuch or hermaphrodite.

If you're serious about breeding pure, get him out of there, he could be sneaking in some 'shots'. Getting rid of extra males can be the worst part about breeding/hatching. Every hatch can be 50% males, need to prepare how you will deal with them. They are delicious on the grill before 16 wks.

How you breed further generations may depend on your goals.
There are many different scenarios.
Might want to peruse this sub forum and research lav's in particular:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forums/exhibition-genetics-breeding-to-the-sop.16188/
I use the same cockbird for 3 years, parent over offspring, then bring in fresh blood,
but I'm just hatching replacement layers and some OE's.

aart,
Thank you for the response. I'm building a butcher station right now actually. I have an outdoor sink, killing cone, shrink bags, etc. I'm prepared to deal with these roos that are to come and that is part of the reason i'm doing this. I really don't like purchasing meat at grocery stores so my biggest goal in this is to have 'farm raised' birds i butcher myself. Second goal, to make a tri-purpose bird while im at it. A bird that puts meat on the table, eggs in the fridge, and visually appealing. In that order.

I appreciate the link. I haven't had the chance to look through it yet but I thank you for helping me navigate to the right threads.

 

[aart]

Thank you for the response. I'm building a butcher station right now actually.

You're Very Welcome.
Sounds like your all set...
...subtraction is a very important and maybe most difficult part of chicken math.
Where are you located?
Putting your location in your profile is easy and most helpful.