Hi everyone, I have been away for a LOOOOONNNNGGGG time but I am back! Been incredibly busy, but now that I have the Internet at the house I should be able to keep up with the forum again.
Without further ado I present for your consideration:
The Salmon Faverolles X Dorking breeding project. TADA! Basically I am taking a trio of Dorkings that have been bred for quite a few years for their meat and farm qualities and general hardiness (Thanks again Joseph of Yellow House Farm in NH), and crossing them into the best lines I could get my hands upon- Dick Boulanger and Peter Merlins blood-lines. I will be selecting stock from these breeding's based on growth, size, meatiness, and hardiness, using electronic calipers for measuring and digital scale to weigh so I can be as scientifically accurate as possible about the selection process.
This (and I cannot stress this enough) will be a separate effort from my, just beginning to develop, show flock. I hope to be able to bring them gradually up to the standard (comb, beards, wing and tail and color, toes are already great), then begin to introduce them into my regular flock in about 5 years or so. My goal is to improve the farm and meat qualities of the show stock, while also improving the general hardiness. The Dorkings have been bred strictly for their performance as meat birds, with utility being the prime concern. If a bird was even close to unthrifty it was culled. I feel that the Faverolles breed desperately needs this back-crossing to one of their foundation breeds, and I went with the birds from Yellow House Farm because I felt the birds that are thriving in the harsh conditions of NH (In semi-open buildings too) will be the key to bring the vigor and farm qualities back into this great breed.
And if I fail miserably... well, at least we will have some darn good eating around my house the next few years or so. Wish me luck! And anyone who wants to offer some hatching eggs to widen the gene pool will be welcomed with open arms- I will gladly pay shipping. Likewise, if any serious breeders out there want some of the eggs from this experiment, I will be glad to send you some for the cost of shipping only, but there will only be a small amount available after I hatch what I need to select next years trio from. My only long term goal is to improve the breed overall.
I hope to document much of my journey into this project on this forum. I will try to post as often as seems warranted, and I will also try to put up as many photos as possible. I plan on beginning to photo document all of the birds in my breeding program starting this weekend, I will post as many as I can on Sunday or Monday.
Without further ado I present for your consideration:
The Salmon Faverolles X Dorking breeding project. TADA! Basically I am taking a trio of Dorkings that have been bred for quite a few years for their meat and farm qualities and general hardiness (Thanks again Joseph of Yellow House Farm in NH), and crossing them into the best lines I could get my hands upon- Dick Boulanger and Peter Merlins blood-lines. I will be selecting stock from these breeding's based on growth, size, meatiness, and hardiness, using electronic calipers for measuring and digital scale to weigh so I can be as scientifically accurate as possible about the selection process.
This (and I cannot stress this enough) will be a separate effort from my, just beginning to develop, show flock. I hope to be able to bring them gradually up to the standard (comb, beards, wing and tail and color, toes are already great), then begin to introduce them into my regular flock in about 5 years or so. My goal is to improve the farm and meat qualities of the show stock, while also improving the general hardiness. The Dorkings have been bred strictly for their performance as meat birds, with utility being the prime concern. If a bird was even close to unthrifty it was culled. I feel that the Faverolles breed desperately needs this back-crossing to one of their foundation breeds, and I went with the birds from Yellow House Farm because I felt the birds that are thriving in the harsh conditions of NH (In semi-open buildings too) will be the key to bring the vigor and farm qualities back into this great breed.
And if I fail miserably... well, at least we will have some darn good eating around my house the next few years or so. Wish me luck! And anyone who wants to offer some hatching eggs to widen the gene pool will be welcomed with open arms- I will gladly pay shipping. Likewise, if any serious breeders out there want some of the eggs from this experiment, I will be glad to send you some for the cost of shipping only, but there will only be a small amount available after I hatch what I need to select next years trio from. My only long term goal is to improve the breed overall.
I hope to document much of my journey into this project on this forum. I will try to post as often as seems warranted, and I will also try to put up as many photos as possible. I plan on beginning to photo document all of the birds in my breeding program starting this weekend, I will post as many as I can on Sunday or Monday.
