BREEDING FOR PRODUCTION...EGGS AND OR MEAT.

[AnthNDacula]

Haven't been here in a while... too busy with chicks. Long awaited chicks are starting to arrive, and I'm very grateful to the committed breeders who have provided them.

10 White Dorkings from Yellow House line via J. Woeppel
(15 more coming soon)
10 Silver Gray Dorkings from P. Allen Smith's line via a local breeder
(24 more eggs in the incubator)
13 New Hamshires from Good Shepherd/German breeding also thanks to J. Woeppel
(an unexpected treat used as "packing peanuts" with the White Dorkings)
Lots of random Marans chicks
(will be laying hens and capons)

Plans have changed due to fewer chicks of each breed than I had hoped for, but I'm crossing my fingers that more will come. The White Dorkings will all be saved for pure breeding after a cull at one year. The Silver Grays will be grown out the same way and crossed with the Whites to create an alternate white bloodline... will take a few years to clean up the color but with so few Whites out there we need some fresh genetics. The New Hamps will replace my older hatchery laying hens to keep us in eggs. Whew! Spring is busy!

 

[CanadianBuckeye]

Congratulations! Those are a lot of projects. Those yellow house dorkings are awesome, I've seen photos of those, I'm not familiar with the other ones- but they sound like a very well bred group of chicks.

 

[DesertChic]

Haven't been here in a while... too busy with chicks. Long awaited chicks are starting to arrive, and I'm very grateful to the committed breeders who have provided them.

10 White Dorkings from Yellow House line via J. Woeppel
(15 more coming soon)
10 Silver Gray Dorkings from P. Allen Smith's line via a local breeder
(24 more eggs in the incubator)
13 New Hamshires from Good Shepherd/German breeding also thanks to J. Woeppel
(an unexpected treat used as "packing peanuts" with the White Dorkings)
Lots of random Marans chicks
(will be laying hens and capons)

Plans have changed due to fewer chicks of each breed than I had hoped for, but I'm crossing my fingers that more will come. The White Dorkings will all be saved for pure breeding after a cull at one year. The Silver Grays will be grown out the same way and crossed with the Whites to create an alternate white bloodline... will take a few years to clean up the color but with so few Whites out there we need some fresh genetics. The New Hamps will replace my older hatchery laying hens to keep us in eggs. Whew! Spring is busy!

Very nice! Please be sure to post photos of the Dorkings, especially the SGD as they grow. That's the first breed I ever truly coveted and I've never been able to successfully acquire any, so I'm quite jealous right now.

 

[varidgerunner]

Snow birds.


Always amazing to see what is possible when you leave nature alone. These are week old chicks. It's 25 out. They have mom's oil to help insulate their feathers. They have been learning to regulate their own body temperature from day one. If they get "too" cold, they only have to make a different sound, and they will get warmed up immediately. Had some three day olds, they needed it to hit about 35 before they were comfortable scratching around.

 

[DesertChic]

Snow birds.


Always amazing to see what is possible when you leave nature alone. These are week old chicks. It's 25 out. They have mom's oil to help insulate their feathers. They have been learning to regulate their own body temperature from day one. If they get "too" cold, they only have to make a different sound, and they will get warmed up immediately. Had some three day olds, they needed it to hit about 35 before they were comfortable scratching around.

That is so awesome! I recently spoke with a woman who asked when it was safe to move her birds from the house out to their coop....they were 8 weeks old and her daytime temps were in the 60s. She was shocked when I told her I'd moved my 2-week old chicks out to their pen already. I know we humans can never be as good of caretakers of baby chicks as a mother hen can be, but nature certainly shows us that chicks are much more resilient than we realize.

 

[jbkirk]

That is so awesome! I recently spoke with a woman who asked when it was safe to move her birds from the house out to their coop....they were 8 weeks old and her daytime temps were in the 60s. She was shocked when I told her I'd moved my 2-week old chicks out to their pen already. I know we humans can never be as good of caretakers of baby chicks as a mother hen can be, but nature certainly shows us that chicks are much more resilient than we realize.

I decided to move mine out to the shelter as soon as they were finished in the incubator. I don't want the house smelling like chicks, and I don't have a tub to put them in right now, so out they go. Don't worry they have a heat lamp set up warm.

 

[lpatelski]

I decided to move mine out to the shelter as soon as they were finished in the incubator. I don't want the house smelling like chicks, and I don't have a tub to put them in right now, so out they go. Don't worry they have a heat lamp set up warm.

I use a 55 gallon fish tank to hold mine until 18 days.

 

[Mini Meat]

Quote: It would be cute to paint a lil' scene on the back of that tank. Maybe a barn yard or city scape.

 

[CanadianBuckeye]

I use a 55 gallon fish tank to hold mine until 18 days.

lpatelski, at the rate your chicks grow, I'd guess they would be jammed in there like corks and you'd have to pry them apart with a crowbar to get them out at 18 days!! ( Just teasing a little!)

I was wondering, do you feed medicated chick starter, or non-medicated? Have you ever tried a comparison to see if the medicated feed retards their growth rate?

 

[lpatelski]

lpatelski, at the rate your chicks grow, I'd guess they would be jammed in there like corks and you'd have to pry them apart with a crowbar to get them out at 18 days!! ( Just teasing a little!)  
I was wondering, do you feed medicated chick starter, or non-medicated? Have you ever tried a comparison to see if the medicated feed retards their growth rate?

I have tried both. I have not seen a difference. But the feed comparison is not apples to apples. My medicated feed is a 30%, the nonmedicated was a 20%. And yes, there are chicks that have to go out of the tank early. TANK is an appropriate discription for them.