How many Lavender Orpington Roosters?

[Pukkits]

Hi my beautiful chicken people,
Some of you may have seen my rant that it seems about half of our "pullets" from feed stores appear to be roosters. I would really appreciate help confirming who is a rooster (as opposed to just developing differently) so I can start rehoming. I had to separate the suspected roosters, as they were protecting the hens by herding them away from me and screaming, panicking everyone. Now that they are separated, they aren't afraid anymore.

I apologize for just the headshots, everyone is very wiggly today. I can try to get better body shots on questionable birds.

Lavender Orpingtons. 5 weeks old (yes, they are huge).

Birds 1 and 2 have basically no tails at this time and are built like tanks. I'm pretty confident they are roos. 3 has a tail and confuses me in body type. 4,5,6 I'm pretty sure are hens.

The sooner I can rehome even some of the confirmed roos, the happier I'll be. I'm struggling to have enough space for the groups and it's really hard to not get attached to them.

 

[500Chickens]

i agree with your guesses 100%

 

[OrpingtonManiac]

Agreed

 

[Tookie]

1, 2, and 3 are cockerels.
4, 5, and 6 are pullets.

 

[Pukkits]

i agree with your guesses 100%

Thank you!

I'm still not sure about 3. It has a big comb and wattles, but it's smaller and grew it's tail already. I think I have a roo in my chocolate orps (argh), so I might keep number 3 and move my chocolate roo in with him (so no one is alone) until I'm certain of both. I'll see if I can get local takers for 1 and 2 as soon as I can.

 

[DSJMHenDen]

Did your hens develop little combs pretty early? I have a 2 week old which I know is very young to tell, but she (hopefully) has much shorter tail feathers and has a comb that is bigger than the others (but not red). I'll be so bummed because I paid a pretty penny for her since I really wanted a lavender orpington and we can't have roosters

 

[Pukkits]

Did your hens develop little combs pretty early? I have a 2 week old which I know is very young to tell, but she (hopefully) has much shorter tail feathers and has a comb that is bigger than the others (but not red). I'll be so bummed because I paid a pretty penny for her since I really wanted a lavender orpington and we can't have roosters

One of the roosters I've been pretty sure since day one. Watched people, first to figure out eating and drinking, deliberately showed the others eating and drinking and noticably heavier at all growth stages. He's a feathered brick. No bad manners, just built.

It's definitely easier when you have the same breed to compare to. At two weeks, I definitely couldn't tell most of the roosters (aside from our little beefcake, mostly on behavior). They seemed to trade who had the biggest comb as they grew, including the little hens.

My biggest indicators didn't happen until they had most of their adolescent feathers. The boys have bigger, fluffier chests and were heavier when picked up. As they feathered, two of three have had super slow growing tails. They still have round butts. They also have thick thighs. The girls combs have been a peach color, though occasionally there was a pinkish tinge, I'm guessing blood flow while growing. The boys combs grew slow, but the bright red wattles were visible on their chains as red smudges before the wattles dropped. We have some chocolate Orpingtons, and in the past few days one has gotten a very puffy chest and now has red chin smudges. Argh.

Please note, our batch of lavender Orpingtons has been some of the fastest growing laying breed chicks I've ever had. I'm guessing it's the line from the hatchery our feed store got them from. Please don't assume your lavender will be as mature as this age. Our chocolate Orpingtons are only one week younger, and are literally half the size of the lavender roosters, 2/3 size of the hens. One week apart. My lavenders have some crazy growth genetics.

Good luck on your little lavender. While I love colors, we were going to be content with buff Orpingtons as we could get them this spring, as competition here is fierce. On the days we showed at opening and waited in line, they got in different chicks than expected and we just got whatever color Orpingtons they had, so lavender and chocolate it is. I dream of a rainbow of Orpingtons in our coop.

 

[ChaosMom]

A question about Orp tails: Our 11 week old Buff is definitely a pullet, but she has an absurdly small tail. (She’s a terrible flyer, too.) 2nd pic is more like 8 weeks)

Is this short tail typical?

 

[Pukkits]

A question about Orp tails: Our 11 week old Buff is definitely a pullet, but she has an absurdly small tail. (She’s a terrible flyer, too.) 2nd pic is more like 8 weeks)

Is this short tail typical?

View attachment 4088463
View attachment 4088472

I give you: a parade of Orpington butts.

Red lit are all little roosters. Note two have very little to no tails at this age. The center one has a tail. (They are overnighting in a trough, as I'm having a housing issue. I promise they will have space, or preferably new homes. They are good boys.)

Second lavender pic is my little lavender hens butt.

Third is our five year old buff Orpington hen Lucia, for comparison her best friend Barred Rock Becky. (They love to sit on shoes until you give them attention. I bribed them with treats for this pic.)

Is the next step we start a website OnlyOrps?

 

[Pukkits]

I just realized what the fluff at the base of Orpington tails reminds me of: bustled dresses.