Is this bad luck or lucky experience???

[NatJ]

So I called the farm back this morning and the guy said he meant crowing.

Now that makes a lot more sense!

Ironically, I looked up what a young cockerel sounds when they are crowing and right after I played the sound this guy (see picture) immediately started crowing.

I also noticed that he is the only one with an “extra” wattle. I don’t know if that is a significant observation to the topic.

Also this morning, I noticed that he is more assertive than the rest of the Buffs.

He is definitely the most obvious of the lot.

I'm not sure what you mean by an "extra" wattle. Each chicken should have two wattles (left and right), dangling under their chin. He also has large red earlobes (should be one on each side of his head). They are more obvious on him because he is developing more quickly, but should eventually show up on all the other males, and a few months later on any females.

Being assertive is partly a matter of individual temperament, but it's partly a matter of how quickly the bird is developing. In general, the male that matures fastest will be the most assertive, at least for a while. Once the others catch up, a different one may take over as most assertive.

Since you are not allowed to have roosters, I'm guessing you will take this one back to the farm, and when another one starts crowing you will take him back, continuing until you run out of males and finally have just pullets.

 

[Apis mellifera]

There is no way the biggest of the combs & wattles are females at 8 weeks old. (Especially going by some of the other photos for extra detail.)

I didn't say they are all hens. What I'm trying to point out is that they may not be all roosters like you and others have suggested. That's all.

 

[HollowOfWisps]

I have had over 40 Orpingtons and every one that I can see their head is a cockerel in your picture. There are two in the one picture that are hard to see so I can’t comment on those, but if they look like the others then they are also indeed cockerels. At 8 weeks an Orpington pullet will have minimal comb with no redness to it or the wattles.

 

[NatJ]

I didn't say they are all hens. What I'm trying to point out is that they may not be all roosters like you and others have suggested. That's all.

And I never said they "all" were males. I certainly did say "a bunch" of males, meaning quite a few of the total. I have not seen any buffs that I think are females in the photos posted by OP. I see males, I see probably-males, and I see fluffy backsides. But no definite females and no probably-females.

When I zoom in on a particular one of the pictures, I think it highly likely that all 7 buffs with visible combs are males, although I wouldn't be certain without closeups of some of them. That leaves one that I just can't tell in that photo, which is my main reason for hesitating: there might be a female who managed to hide her head in all the photos.

I thought you were trying to say they could all be females. And you thought I was trying to say they all must be males. I'm thinking neither one of us was communicating (or reading?) as well as we'd like.

 

[Enzo93]

Just a quick update! I went and switched out the cockerel for a hen that was already laying and within the first 30 min of joining the rest of the “girls” she laid an egg!

As far as the other Orpingtons no one has crowed so fingers crossed they are girls! Also chicken math is definitely a thing because I ended up with 7 more chickens!

Time for a coop extension!