Rooster doesn’t mate.

[azygous]

Kyle sort of reminds me of my Black Cochin hen Morgan. Morgan was l-a-z-y. I called her "Slo-mo". One time we had a sudden punishing hail storm. All the chickens ran back to the run to get under cover. Not Morgan. After the storm moved on, here comes Morgan, drenched, but unperturbed. Slowly, she came into the run as if nothing had happened. She would spend her later years until she died a week ago on a feed sack cushion, getting off only to eat when I served up the fermented feed. She was nearly eleven. This was always her temperament.

Kyle is a mellow dude by temperament. He's a large breed, and it does take them until they're nearly two until they fully mature. I think the short winter days are delaying the onset of his hormones. I predict Kyle will take a sudden interest in the hens long around late March.

Kyle may just be a late bloomer. I hope he remains a nice guy.

 

[Artichoke Lover]

Whatever the problem is he’s clearly not good breeding stock at all.
Obviously you don’t want more chickens with these traits and even if it is a hormone imbalance that can be fixed then that’s an issue that you don’t want to risk passing on. If it’s just his personality do you really want more chickens with that kind of personality? Get a different rooster for breeding. Beyond that you can choose to keep him, cull him, or rehome him to someone who just wants a pet.

 

[Painted Calls]

Poor Kyle.

I can't offer any help, but just had to comment on how cute Kyle is. I have a soft spot for the dumb ones.

 

[RoostersAreAwesome]

I don't know much but dose an orpington have other than white legs? I have a lavender with dark lavender lacing you can have.

Orpingtons of certain color varieties will have slate legs with white foot bottoms.

 

[589205]

Shoot, it sounds like your roo Kyle is very similar to one of my past young roos that I had nicknamed Fat B. He was more of a darker lav shade with small comb/wattles & black feather streaking inconsistencies. We ended up eating him for dinner a couple months ago & kept our other rooster who looks & acts like a total gentleman.

 

[589205]

Even then, I know I have lots of work to do with my roo Teddybudz to make sure to continue progress of breeding structure

 

[My2butterflies]

Another thing to consider is are the hens older than him? Mature hens are usually unimpressed with cockerels and will even beat them up.

This is so true. Half my girls are older then my roo and they are very mean to him. Most refuse to let him breed. Yet all the hens his age lay fertile eggs and breed with him no problem.

Poor Kyle does look pretty and sounds like a nice enough boy, but I’d likely replace him.

 

[sourland]

Just as day light period impacts hormone levels and egg laying in hens it impacts testosterone production in cockerels/roosters. My guess is that come spring and longer photo period he will find his mojo. Another more dominant rooster will only further testosterone suppression.

 

[Amurr]

Thank you all for your feedback. I’ll give him more time to mature, and we'll make a final decision this spring. We may just end up raising another rooster this spring in the hopes Kyle can continue to be part of the flock even if he’s not contributing.
My husband is voting for a cull. I believe his exact words were “I think we should eat him. Do you really want a defunct rooster for a flock sire?”

blah blah blah. He’s always gotta be the logical one blah. But the jokes on him. Wether or not Kyle ends up making babies he’s still my fluffy handsome moron bird and I love him even if he’s useless. Besides, I’ve put so much extra work into him I can’t just quit on Kyle The Useless Floof.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

I had a rooster similar to Kyle. His name was Freddy, based off the fabulous singer.

This rooster was the type that probably would have watched as something came up, grabbed him and walked away. Like Hei Hei.

And that's about what happened. Neighbors dog got out, the birds scattered to safety and Freddy just kept pecking at ants.

But he did breed. He learned that while his dad would chase him away from most hens, the ones brooding were fair game and they wouldn't leave for obvious reasons to get away