Lavender Orpington Rooster help!

[LBraden]

This is one of the roosters that I acquired when a lady a few towns over was selling her entire flock. She told me "if someone offers you less than $150 for this rooster, laugh in their face and walk away." So... Being a newbie to the chicken world, I thought I was getting a heck of a deal and gladly loaded them all up (including the 3 roosters) and headed for home. 3 days later, the confirmed rooster count is now up to 9 and they're beating up on my girls.

So... Should I keep him? Should I eat him? What makes him special or he's just another testosterone filled teenager that needs to go??? Thanks y'all!

 

[sourland]

If someone offers you $150, take the money and run.

 

[enola]

Yep! Run really, really fast. And try not to laugh too hard!

 

[Wyorp Rock]

This is one of the roosters that I acquired when a lady a few towns over was selling her entire flock. She told me "if someone offers you less than $150 for this rooster, laugh in their face and walk away." So... Being a newbie to the chicken world, I thought I was getting a heck of a deal and gladly loaded them all up (including the 3 roosters) and headed for home. 3 days later, the confirmed rooster count is now up to 9 and they're beating up on my girls.

So... Should I keep him? Should I eat him? What makes him special or he's just another testosterone filled teenager that needs to go??? Thanks y'all!

I don't know a thing about expensive roosters. He is handsome. Am I understanding that you have 9 roosters in with your girls of how many? General rule of thumb is one roo per 8-10girls. I would separate all the roosters, give the girls a break, determine which rooster you want to keep, sell, give away or eat the rest, unless you want to have a separate bachelor coop.
Good luck!

 

[LBraden]

Thanks for the feedback.. I will definately let someone have him for a lot less than $150 at this point! The seller gave me this big spill about his lineage and his fancy tail feathers being a recessive gene and very desirable... Someone else can desire them!

I don't know a thing about expensive roosters. He is handsome. Am I understanding that you have 9 roosters in with your girls of how many? General rule of thumb is one roo per 8-10girls. I would separate all the roosters, give the girls a break, determine which rooster you want to keep, sell, give away or eat the rest, unless you want to have a separate bachelor coop.
Good luck!

I was supposed to pick up about 23 hens and ended up with 31 total and 9 of those are roosters. I was just in a hurry to get home and get them unloaded before it started sleeting and I didn't get to see everything myself before it got loaded up so it was another 2 days before I got a complete head count. They are ganging up on the poor hens and I need to do something ASAP. I have posted them 3 different times on a couple of different sites and haven't had any luck selling them or giving them away. I have such a conglomeration of breeds, I don't even know where to start as far as deciding which one to keep so I was hoping that he would rise to the top by being something special or unique and help make my decision easier! Guess I'm out of luck!

 

[junebuggena]

While Lavender Orpingtons aren't exactly common, to get $150 bucks for a rooster, he would need to be the absolute best example of a Lavender Orpington ever bred; but he's not. His conformation isn't even close to the breed standard. He's pretty, but he isn't breeding quality.

 

[donrae]

I sure hope you didn't pay that much for him....

I agree his coloring is nice, but as far as Orpington body shape, he's really not close to show quality.

The thing with keeping a lavender bird for a breeding rooster in a mixed flock is, that pretty lavender is recessive. Unless you breed him to another lavender bird, he's going to throw babies as if he's a black bird. Fine if you like black, not so good if you want other colors.

 

[LBraden]

I sure hope you didn't pay that much for him....

I agree his coloring is nice, but as far as Orpington body shape, he's really not close to show quality. 

The thing with keeping a lavender bird for a breeding rooster in a mixed flock is, that pretty lavender is recessive. Unless you breed him to another lavender bird, he's going to throw babies as if he's a black bird. Fine if you like black, not so good if you want other colors. 

Thanks for the help! Luckily, I did not pay much for them... I paid $350 for 31 so something like $11 each. I was supposed to have 8 Lavender hens and 3 ended up being roosters. I wanted to keep one around because I think they're so pretty but I have no idea which ones need to go! I was hoping he was a clear cut winner but apparently I'm not that lucky! Haha. Either way, I love my new babies and am so excited to finally get chickens again after a 10 year break from them. I think I'm obsessed, Im always looking for hens for sale on different websites and reading up on raising chickens.

Can you tell me if maybe the Roo on the right is a better keeper... The one on the left is a goner, he's a little feisty sometimes! And is that a Cuckoo? I'm not real sure on that stuff either! Thank you!

 

[junebuggena]

Yes, that's cuckoo, but his Lavender isn't uniform like it should be, and he's got yellow leakage. Your feisty one looks to be a bit closer to the proper Orpington-type build, but he's still not great.

 

[donrae]

I would go with which one has the best temperament, both towards you and the hens.

The bird on the right in the last pic is cuckoo. I'm honestly not sure how to tell lavender cuckoo from blue cuckoo or blue barred. I know "good" blue birds are supposed to have lacing on the feathers, but the barred/cuckoo (same thing, basically) birds I've seen don't tend to have that lacing. From what I can see, that's the bird I would keep, but I'm a sucker for barred roosters

. He does look to have a nicer type than the first bird, though.

Is that a little Fayoumis cockerel in the front? He's a cute little guy.