Lavender Orpington Rooster... Need Advice!

[Lavenderchick15]

I have a problem that I need everyone's opinion on. I have a flock of about 10 birds right now. Two roosters, and eight hens. I have a hamburg rooster who is so sweet and does not hurt anybody, and he does not fight with my other rooster. The other rooster I have is a beautiful lavender orpington rooster, and he is mounting the girls basically all the time. He rips out feathers, but none of the girls have bald spots. My hope for next spring was to have an all-lavender orpington flock, and breed them to sell. The LO rooster was hatched in early February of this year, so he is almost six months old, and he is huge. I am worried that as he gets older, he will get harder on the girls, and start hurting them. At what point do you guys draw the line with an overly-excited rooster? Should I rehome him and try again with another rooster of the same type, put this one in the cooking pot, or pick another breed of chicken entirely to breed. All opinions are valued. Thanks in advance.

 

[CountryFlock]

I draw the line when the hen actually gets hurt.
Rip feathers could only be an issue when you want to take good photos of the hens in my opinion. - unless you show

If you don’t want ripped feathers in photos then I’d get a new lavender Orpington rooster. I wouldn’t get a new breed unless, of course, you want to. With 8 hens established that’s not bad.

 

[Mvan42]

Not sure on the temperament on lavender Orpington roosters. But he is young and should calm down. But if the breed is known to be aggressive he may get worse. If you can separate him from the hen to give them a break may help. Others will know more on this.

 

[R3M1X]

I started out with three Sapphire Gem hens, two Lavender Orpington Hens, and a Lavender Orpington rooster. When they are young they can be a little rough my new hatched roosters that hatched February 22 and March 16 are all in the stage of being a little overly excited and chasing all the females no matter their age or species. If they are like their father they should calm down in a month or two. With their father I did have issue of a bald rump hen but I think that it partially because that is his favorite girl and she is also smaller than him (he is a giant lol). I made aprons for all the hens and that helped a little, but I think I need a thicker fabric (I used two layers of printed cotton since it's hot in the summer). I also made spur covers for my rooster to make them feel padded rather than sharp and pokey. I recommend them because their spurs are as long as to my middle pinky knuckle (°~° ;\)

Photo: LO/SG mixed hen with apron and rooster hatched Feb 22

Photo: daddy LO rooster with spur covers and SG hen hidden behind him. (Photo is a little misleading she is not that small compared to him)

 

[R3M1X]

Oh it may just be my oldest rooster, but I also recommend having everyone in your family help with feeding them or just sit with them for 30 mins to and hour at the least a day. My big boy chases anyone who isn't me or our neighbor (she's family) who feeds them her fruit and veggie scrapes. He chases my mom, little brother (though he antagonizes him daily), my mom's husband, and anyone who gets close to him or tries to touch his hens when he is nearby. Which is another reason for the spur covers. Now that I have more roosters (4 in total with a total of 31 chickens) I think he may have calmed down a bit, but that is to be determined. LO are supposed to be one of the sweetest breeds and my hens are, but roosters obviously have that testosterone problem lol

 

[aart]

I have a problem that I need everyone's opinion on. I have a flock of about 10 birds right now. Two roosters, and eight hens. I have a hamburg rooster who is so sweet and does not hurt anybody, and he does not fight with my other rooster. The other rooster I have is a beautiful lavender orpington rooster, and he is mounting the girls basically all the time. He rips out feathers, but none of the girls have bald spots. My hope for next spring was to have an all-lavender orpington flock, and breed them to sell. The LO rooster was hatched in early February of this year, so he is almost six months old, and he is huge. I am worried that as he gets older, he will get harder on the girls, and start hurting them. At what point do you guys draw the line with an overly-excited rooster? Should I rehome him and try again with another rooster of the same type, put this one in the cooking pot, or pick another breed of chicken entirely to breed. All opinions are valued. Thanks in advance.

I would remove the Hamburg cockerel asap and see if the Lav doesn't settle down.
Had this exact same scenario, good cockerel got really rough with the girls when the other cockerels got 'active', removed the others and he settled down immediately, like within minutes.
Are all the other birds the same age as the Lav?

 

[adickenscoop]

Why not start a separate bachelor flock? http://www.poultrydvm.com/featured-infographic/tips-for-keeping-bachelor-flocks

 

[Folly's place]

Welcome! I agree about rehoming the small cockerel that you don't plan to use anyway, and then see how your Orphington does. He's an adolescent, and could go either way behaviorally. If none of the hens (pullets?) are injured, and he's not showing any signs of human aggression, give him time to mature.
Causing injuries, or any human aggressive tendencies, would cull him from my flock. Good behavior breeds on, and jerks shouldn't reproduce.
Mary

 

[jlwquilter]

I culled my lav Orpington Rooster at about 7 months old. He’d get his eye on one hen for the day and would just chase her endlessly. When he started attacking the hen AFTER breeding, when she was still totally in the submissive pose, I drew the line. He was supposed to be a hen when I bought him. I didn’t want roosters. And I have no plans to raise chicks for at least 6-9 months. I guess I could have given him more time to calm down but I was kinda over chickens causing flock issues and made the cull decision.

You have to decide if he’s worth whatever stress he’s causing the hens. If you want an all lav Orpington flock you might want to try to work with the rooster you have. Take away the other rooster as suggested to eliminate any sense of compensation that might be super charging the lav Orpington Rooster. Have a place you can separate him to if he gets carried away. Cross the bridges as they come! Good luck!

 

[Meg Les]

I started out with three Sapphire Gem hens, two Lavender Orpington Hens, and a Lavender Orpington rooster. When they are young they can be a little rough my new hatched roosters that hatched February 22 and March 16 are all in the stage of being a little overly excited and chasing all the females no matter their age or species. If they are like their father they should calm down in a month or two. With their father I did have issue of a bald rump hen but I think that it partially because that is his favorite girl and she is also smaller than him (he is a giant lol). I made aprons for all the hens and that helped a little, but I think I need a thicker fabric (I used two layers of printed cotton since it's hot in the summer). I also made spur covers for my rooster to make them feel padded rather than sharp and pokey. I recommend them because their spurs are as long as to my middle pinky knuckle (°~° ;\)

View attachment 1870723
Photo: LO/SG mixed hen with apron and rooster hatched Feb 22

View attachment 1870724
Photo: daddy LO rooster with spur covers and SG hen hidden behind him. (Photo is a little misleading she is not that small compared to him)

This made my day! What clever ideas to make the chickens comfortable and as cute as can be!