Lavender Orpington Roosters

[Sprather88]

I have 4 lavender Orpington Roosters from the summer. I plan on keeping one. How do i decide which one. Also, I struggle with culling a rare breed like this. How do i look about rehoming the other three or should I just turn them into meat birds? A separate rooster coop is not an option for us.

 

[Dottie the Chicken]

@aart

 

[CluckerFamily]

You can base your choice off of the ladies.
Since you have 4, the 3 on the lower end of the pecking order will seem calmer and quieter but once you remove the lead rooster and the other 2, he will be just as loud; so don’t go by noise.
Do you have an ordinance that says you can’t have all those roosters? If not, some people do a bachelor pad for all their roosters.
Another option would be to post the rehoming opportunity on BYC, Craigslist, local feed store, or maybe contact the 4H leader or a local farmer that had chickens.

 

[aart]

I have 4 lavender Orpington Roosters from the summer. I plan on keeping one. How do i decide which one. Also, I struggle with culling a rare breed like this. How do i look about rehoming the other three or should I just turn them into meat birds? A separate rooster coop is not an option for us.

How old are they?
It's really hard to tell the best one by behavior because they can act differently once the others are gone.
If your goal is to breed more pure breeds to the SOP, pick the on with the best conformation.
Because they are 'special' you may be able to sell them, but that would depend on your area.
Craigslist, local poultry facebook groups, flyers at farm stores, etc.

 

[Sprather88]

How old are they?
It's really hard to tell the best one by behavior because they can act differently once the others are gone.
If your goal is to breed more pure breeds to the SOP, pick the on with the best conformation.
Because they are 'special' you may be able to sell them, but that would depend on your area.
Craigslist, local poultry facebook groups, flyers at farm stores, etc.

They are 5 months. Two are going after my girls alot. The other two are very docile. None have attacked me or my kids.

 

[Sprather88]

You can base your choice off of the ladies.
Since you have 4, the 3 on the lower end of the pecking order will seem calmer and quieter but once you remove the lead rooster and the other 2, he will be just as loud; so don’t go by noise.
Do you have an ordinance that says you can’t have all those roosters? If not, some people do a bachelor pad for all their roosters.
Another option would be to post the rehoming opportunity on BYC, Craigslist, local feed store, or maybe contact the 4H leader or a local farmer that had chickens.

My coop size and flock size just can't take 4 roosters. I have 8 girls. We do not have any plans to build a seperate coop. We do not really have a space to do that.

 

[Sprather88]

Thank you everyone. We ended up processing two of them today. So now I have two roosters. I will either try to rehome the other one or see how it goes with two roosters.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

I have 4 lavender Orpington Roosters from the summer. I plan on keeping one. How do i decide which one. Also, I struggle with culling a rare breed like this. How do i look about rehoming the other three or should I just turn them into meat birds? A separate rooster coop is not an option for us.

I wouldn't fret, or really consider then too rare to butcher. I can get 10 from TSC for 60 including shipping.