lavender d'uccle roosters....which one to keep?

I was blessed with 3 sweet little roosters from my early April hatch. I would like to keep them all but I probably need to narrow it down to one. One little fellow has no beard (right) so not a keeper for breeding, he also developed the yellow in his hackles a couple weeks ago. Of the other two one is super tiny (middle). No yellow on the hackles of either one of the bearded fellows yet.


Opinions? Who do I keep? If I keep two with they fight or could i have two roosters?

I would keep the 2 boys until they start doing some serious fighting. By then some obvious faults may have surfaced. Today I put 2 bantam roosters with their 4 hens together in a 6x8 area and everyone is getting along well.

Dump the little guy.

I will trade you for a mille fleur? I think I have 3 roos they are only 7 weeks old now so I have a bit to wait to see how they turn out but I will be in the same boat as you. I want to keep one to replace their daddy in the future. They are so mild mannered hopefully you could keep two!

Anne

Poplar Girl, if you are planning a breeding program never and I repeat never limit yourself to 1 cock bird even if the extra as long as he is a quality reperestation of his breed is kept in a pen of his own. As we all know birds will pack her in at the worst time and running around at hatching time trying to find a quality cockbird is not the time to be doing it as you always end up settling for something less than you normally would and likely setting back your breeding program. Just my thoughts

Heather

Definitely more is better...your opinions can change and then there is always temperament to consider, you don't want to keep the perfect one only to find out he has a nasty temperament....

This spring huge prices were being paid at auction and elsewhere for roosters in Alberta. Why? I think it was due to our long cold winter. Many people lost their one and only 'stud' and were hooped. No boys...no breeding.

I am a little limited in building space here so I am being creative with my chicken arrangements this winter. One building for boys, one for girls. I find the roosters, all together, tend to sort out their differences and live more or less in harmony. Any troublemakers will be living with the goats and the LGD.

Sue

You all are a bad influence (admittedly I know you are right though). I cannot breed these until I get new blood. Too much inbreeding already and things like crooked beaks showing up. I was hoping for a rooster and some pullets (these fellows have two sisters) from KRL this year but so far it hasn't worked out.

Being so tiny I could likely squish another little roosters in the winter coop though. Or the garage!

Can you guys even see them in that picture? If you click on it does it get to be a decent size?

poplar girl wrote:You all are a bad influence (admittedly I know you are right though). I cannot breed these until I get new blood. Too much inbreeding already and things like crooked beaks showing up. I was hoping for a rooster and some pullets (these fellows have two sisters) from KRL this year but so far it hasn't worked out.

Being so tiny I could likely squish another little roosters in the winter coop though. Or the garage!

Can you guys even see them in that picture? If you click on it does it get to be a decent size?

Yes, it goes to your pic account and you can see it bigger...

A long the way I have found that you should keep two roosters. As soon as you get down to one that one will develop something fatal, will develop a disqualifying fault or will decide that breeding is not his thing right now. I'm now trying to have two roosters now although perhaps from different sources. And I have had to settle for something less than I would like when in a pinch.

From the picture I think I perfer the shape and look of the rooster on the left.
Although nothing wrong with the one in the middle either.

I just have to comment what a great comparison pic. To get all three boys looking the same way at the same time is an impressive feat in itself.

Flicker Chick wrote:I just have to comment what a great comparison pic. To get all three boys looking the same way at the same time is an impressive feat in itself.

Thanks! But it was not skill, mostly luck. But still, thanks!

Just saw these PG! Very cute! Tough choice. I think I'd plan on breeding the left guy and keeping one of the others as a spare. Middle guy, though small has "a great big bushy beard" (for those who have seen the Movie Hot Fuzz ),and a more upright stance. They really don't take up much room and get along pretty well usually. I kept 2 last fall for my 3 girls and they were housed together for months and were fine, then I let someone (Youngrooster21 from ACE/Poultry Swap) have one that wanted a nice quality roo, let them have the best one and kept my Blue Boy pet, the two at either end are built like their dad! I need new blood here badly too and won't be breeding them til I have more, we have had cross beaks multiple years even with the purchased siblings from Performance. They are such sweet little birdies though. I often have them tangled in my hair....are your 3 boys friendly? You can always go based on that too!

All 5 of my purples, that's what I call them have pretty sweet personalities. The friendliest rooster is the cull of course but the other two are pretty good so far. The middle guy is more upright and has really feathery feet. I am watching them for cream in the hackles or any sign of character flaws. So far so good at 17 weeks.

The girls are both sweeties. June Bug is a bit slow, not breeding material I would say. But sweet and cute and lots of personality. Cricket i think is pretty awesome, she is so smart and quick, loves to fly to my head! Both have the cutest beards and muffs!! I will have to get a picture...

Really though, who can resist tiny purple chickens

These were supposed to be just pets...but I may not be able to resist doing more with them.

I totally agree Poplar! They are endearing little creatures that fit in your hand! I had gotten two black D'Uccles last year to cross them with but they didn't work out. Jaehovius on Poultry swap Ontario has some from the same source them though, (show ones they were) and some of his lavenders came from us. He has tons of colours! They are certainly sweet birdies.

Looking forward to pics of the girls!