Farming and Homesteading Heritage Poultry

[capayvalleychick]

I know I'm late to the party but I am SO relieved to have found this thread! I just started raising chickens after spending more than a year researching the various breeds, methods of caring for them, setting up a place on my property for them, etc., and once this first flock matures and I have some experience under my belt I'd like to begin focusing pretty exclusively on heritage breeds, specifically the Dorking. I've spent the past week reading various threads on this bird and have been terribly disappointed in the discussions I've found, which all focus on aesthetics and show quality. What about egg production? What about meat? What about bird hardiness and overall health and disposition? I was beginning to think there was something seriously wrong with my perspective on raising chickens, and I'm terribly relieved to discover that there are others who, like me, appreciate what those wonderful heritage breeds have to offer the small-scale homesteader.

I raise Dorkings and the productivity is a priority. If I just wanted pretty show birds, I would have chosen a different breed. I do a lot of talking about breeding to the SOP because the Standard for Dorkings is written for a bird to produce meat and eggs.

 

[DesertChic]

Thank you so much for the feedback! I know I still have a lot to learn before working on conserving a heritage breed and I really do appreciate all the help.

 

[DesertChic]

I raise Dorkings and the productivity is a priority. If I just wanted pretty show birds, I would have chosen a different breed. I do a lot of talking about breeding to the SOP because the Standard for Dorkings is written for a bird to produce meat and eggs.

The Silver Grey Dorking is actually the one I'm favoring right now for when I begin raising heritage birds. Everything I've researched has indicated that not only will these provide some exceptionally flavorful meat, but may also provide a nice supply of eggs, some foraging tendencies, and a favorable disposition. I have also looked at Buckeyes, Delawares, Wyandottes, Dominiques and the Speckled Sussex, but something about the Dorking keeps drawing me in.

Right now I have three breeds of chicken I purchased to help me get used to having them since I've had no experience in this field whatsoever: 4 Australorps, 3 Barred Rocks and 3 Silkies. I was able to acquire them locally rather than ordering online and they've supplied me with hours of joy while I learn how to be a "chicken lady". I had considered raising exclusively Barred Rocks, as there are a few decent breeders of them nearby, but....there's just something about the Dorking.

 

[bnjrob]

The Silver Grey Dorking is actually the one I'm favoring right now for when I begin raising heritage birds. Everything I've researched has indicated that not only will these provide some exceptionally flavorful meat, but may also provide a nice supply of eggs, some foraging tendencies, and a favorable disposition. I have also looked at Buckeyes, Delawares, Wyandottes, Dominiques and the Speckled Sussex, but something about the Dorking keeps drawing me in.

Right now I have three breeds of chicken I purchased to help me get used to having them since I've had no experience in this field whatsoever: 4 Australorps, 3 Barred Rocks and 3 Silkies. I was able to acquire them locally rather than ordering online and they've supplied me with hours of joy while I learn how to be a "chicken lady". I had considered raising exclusively Barred Rocks, as there are a few decent breeders of them nearby, but....there's just something about the Dorking.

Just jump in and do it. I was chatting online the other day with someone that was worried about being able to do a breed justice and was so worried about getting it right. Thing is, you just gotta do it.. And just when you think you've got things worked out and everything is going smoothly, then some little variable will change and you have to redo how you house them, how you feed them, how you do all kinds of things. You do eventually get into a rhythm the more birds that you hatch, raise, choose for breeding, and butcher, but there are still little things that happen and you go back to the drawing board again sometimes. If the Dorking calls to you, then try it out. There is that little bit of heart pounding when you think "I can't kill these birds by accident because it's too hard to get more of them", but if you buy healthy birds and you practice decent husbandry, those birds are going to be hardy and the ones that might die while you're learning are probably ones you didn't want to breed anyway. So start looking now about getting Dorkings if you want them. Sometimes you have to get on a waiting list to get birds and if you keep putting it off, it gets easier to continue to put it off. You CAN do this!

 

[DesertChic]

LOL! If it were up to just me I'd have already ordered about 30 Dorking chicks from at least three different hatcheries, but I promised my husband that I would wait until 1) I finish building the modular style chicken run I've designed, 2) I build a second coop to accommodate all the new hatchlings so they don't live in our office ever again, and 3)...we collect our first egg from my existing flock.

Luckily for me I'm the woodworker/carpenter in the family, so I don't have wait on anyone to do the building for me. Unluckily for me I'm the woodworker/carpenter in the family, so if I don't have the time to build it just doesn't get done. I'm pretty sure I'm going to fudge the last requirement and order chicks before my first egg appears. (My Australorps are only 6 weeks old.) I've already filled shopping carts and I'm just itching to press that "checkout" button. Starting with hatchery chicks may not be ideal, but there are no breeders in my area and I'm trying to work with what I have access to. Who knows...maybe I create an "desert" breed of Dorking.

 

[finnfur]

What does desertmarcy raise ? she's in dry country out there .

 

[bnjrob]

LOL! If it were up to just me I'd have already ordered about 30 Dorking chicks from at least three different hatcheries, but I promised my husband that I would wait until 1) I finish building the modular style chicken run I've designed, 2) I build a second coop to accommodate all the new hatchlings so they don't live in our office ever again, and 3)...we collect our first egg from my existing flock.

Luckily for me I'm the woodworker/carpenter in the family, so I don't have wait on anyone to do the building for me. Unluckily for me I'm the woodworker/carpenter in the family, so if I don't have the time to build it just doesn't get done. I'm pretty sure I'm going to fudge the last requirement and order chicks before my first egg appears. (My Australorps are only 6 weeks old.) I've already filled shopping carts and I'm just itching to press that "checkout" button. Starting with hatchery chicks may not be ideal, but there are no breeders in my area and I'm trying to work with what I have access to. Who knows...maybe I create an "desert" breed of Dorking.

Yes, I know all about trying to find the chickens you want. It's a pain sometimes.

Found these folks if you hadn't found them already - perhaps you can ask them if they know of anyone that ships Dorkings if they don't know of anyone within driving distance of you : https://www.facebook.com/ECDBC

http://dorkingbreedersclub.webs.com/apps/forums/show/583634

Could also contact www.LivestockConservancy.org and see if they can point you in the direction of breeders. You can definitely work with hatchery birds, but I can tell you that it is easier to start with better birds when you can.

 

[Yellow House Farm]

I know I'm late to the party but I am SO relieved to have found this thread! I just started raising chickens after spending more than a year researching the various breeds, methods of caring for them, setting up a place on my property for them, etc., and once this first flock matures and I have some experience under my belt I'd like to begin focusing pretty exclusively on heritage breeds, specifically the Dorking. I've spent the past week reading various threads on this bird and have been terribly disappointed in the discussions I've found, which all focus on aesthetics and show quality. What about egg production? What about meat? What about bird hardiness and overall health and disposition? I was beginning to think there was something seriously wrong with my perspective on raising chickens, and I'm terribly relieved to discover that there are others who, like me, appreciate what those wonderful heritage breeds have to offer the small-scale homesteader.

Not many of the breeders want to discuss those traits as they are all working on getting the type and feathering right, etc. THEN, and only then, will they think about the rest of it. The only problem I can see is that they never seem done with getting just the right looks and when they do, they don't want to mess with all that perfection to work on the more important traits of production, feed thrift, and health.

There are a few ol' boys working on both but they are a rarity, from all I've been reading. To me, function should follow form and if it doesn't, then maybe that's not the formula any longer. In the end, if they aren't producing eggs and meat in a big way, they are just a glorified feather duster to me.

Okay...I'm going to reveal just how inexperienced I am right now, but...what does SOP stand for? I keep seeing references to "SOP" breed standards, but I don't know how to find info on such standards.

The SOP is the end all be all of heritage poultry. In many ways, it is the reason the breeds we have exist.

There are fours kinds of birds:

1) The most productive poultry in the world, that have ever existed, are the products of Western industry in Europe and North America.

2) Hatchery stock: Birds that are bred to color (broadly speaking) and comb with a kind of middle of the road egg production. When they are handled, be they "Sussex", "Dorkings, "Rocks", "Reds", "Wyandottes", or what have you, they all have the same, lean frame, and possess precious little of anything approaching true breed type.

3) There are the myriad backyard projects, all of which are touted by the owner as a worthy project, most of which have very little substantial backing whatsoever.

4) Then there are standard-bred, aka heritage fowl. The vast majority of them are held by breeders who breed to the standard with concern for type, feather, and symmetry. They are rare as all get out, and most large fowl breeds are holding on by a thread. Very few--exceedingly few--ever rise to the ranks of knowledge and passion manifested by these breeders, and I've met relatively few--none, really--breeders outside of these ranks who understand traditional poultry in a broadly experienced, meaningful way.


Production in non-industrial flocks has a rather impenetrable glass ceiling. Egg production without strict records and trap-nesting is unquestionably limited. Feed conversion rates in any modern sense of the word is impossible for the backyard breeder to work on. It requires sophisticated technology, and few if any non-industrial breeders have the finances or time necessary to follow this route.

Weight, however, is a breed characteristic, and that can be chases with a fair level of success in the back yard.

The first requirements for which I breed are weight, type, feather quality and symmetry. They are the foundation of any breed. There are basic phenotypical indicators for egg-production, of referred to loosely as the Hogan method, that can be followed, and the birds that score well in this fashion will maintain an appropriate level of production egg-wise and possess much of the abdomen quality that is necessary for a dual-purpose breed.

Remember that "production" is not a fixed trait; it is a level that is attained and must be maintained with every single generation. It is very quick to spiral to the center. A flock is only as productive as this year's breeding, and every flock is a closed book. There is no such things, in real time, as a productive breed. There are only productive strains, and most folk level out a strain in the first five years of working with it because it takes that much time to learn the strain, and by the time they do, it has changed. Then they begin again.

The best hope any strain of standard-bred poultry has is to be the object of a breeder's specialization and developed for appropriate levels of healthy productivity with the frameworks of the SOP. "Heritage" large fowl are threatened on all fronts, the thought that the folks who have brought them forward to this point and have kept them from disappearing all together were wrong is misguided. If one is going to engage heritage poultry on a meaningful level, one needs to acquire stock from a breeder who has underscored with insistence weight, type, feather quality and symmetry, and then, as one begins to understand poultry breeding, which will take a long time, one will learn how to select for the best and, hopefully, most productive birds as one goes.

It is,at any rate, no small feat.

 

[Fred's Hens]

This is the Standard of Perfection, It not only contains the "standard" or detailed description for each breed, but the first 40-50 pages are absolutely the encyclopedia of the chicken and these pages alone are worth the price of the Standard.

This is the hardcopy version, because I prefer hard bound books, but there are inexpensive spiral bound versions sold by the APA as well. Beware of Ebay sellers and internet sellers of "fake" versions. The book can only be purchased from the APA.

 

[Arielle]

Always good stuff to mull over. THanks Yellow house.

I was searching out info on the JErsy Giants last night. MOstly because I stumbled upon an article by DOn Schrider,and this is a breed that continues to haunt me. IN a good way. THe Jersey Giant is interesting on a couple fronts. A bird bred as a roaster; very large size; comes in blue black and white; the blue was developed from a sport. Don described them as quiet almost lazy birds ( compared to leghorn and buckeyes, lol )

Perhaps a good breed for someone looking for a meat bird that needs to keep them penned.