Farming and Homesteading Heritage Poultry

[ronott1]

Yes, they are slow developing, which is why this years breeders are adults, (birds from Urch,) and the juveniles (chicks from McMurray,) are just hanging out and growing. I am NOT culling for size at hatch, just bad feet and lack of vigor. (Sorry, I thought of puny as weak/sickly rather than small.)

I am hoping to build up to a clan breeding scheme, but don't yet have enough decent birds to constitute a clan . I have birds from 2 of the best widely available strains (Urch and McMurray.) I am planning to breed each strain separately for 2-3 seasons each to see what I can make of them, then re-assess.

It is good that you are not culling for size. My DW uses Puny to mean sickly. My family always used Puny to mean small.

I hatched out a lot of SG Dorkings this year. There were not too many feet issues and there were several that were not thriving. I did not help any hatch but the ones that did hatch and thrived were very healthy.

I hope that next years SG Dorking hatches will have a better fertility rate though. If they were fertile they hatched well but there were a lot removed on day 14 or so. I force myself to crack open each and every egg that does not hatch and it is a chore sometimes but worth it for the learning experience.

 

[Math]

These are our just processed Kathyinmo F4 Delawares. I posted it in the other thread but thought I would share here also because I feel its a true Homesteading breed. Not unhappy about the first round Further details at Kathyinmo thread https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/777172/delawares-from-kathyinmo/570

Those are beautiful birds. How old were they? How much did they weigh dressed?

 

[finnfur]

Those are beautiful birds. How old were they? How much did they weigh dressed?

Math
The details were at the link thread;
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/777172/delawares-from-kathyinmo/570

 

[cybercat]

Looks like our sink right now. We processed 4 cocks all weighing in at 5lbs after dressed. Our largest was the oldest we did early this year but he was 3 years old and came in at 8 lbs. Nothing like homegrown chicken. The 4 were 7 months old so I still have work in my breeding program yet to get them larger.

Two will go into chicken corn soup made in iron kettle. One went to my dog and the other will be a roast.

 

[mamashomestead]

I love my copper marans and cayugas but things don't always go to plan smh!

http://sterlingcenterfarm.com/Marans/hens.htm    is in NY and she has lovely Marans.

Personally, my favorite Back Copper Marans breeder is Ernie Haire at 2xl Marans.
http://marans2xl.com/awards.html
He breeds year round, sells eggs and chicks and grown birds. Shows extensively
and wins consistently in quality competition. If you want to upgrade your stock
or add a top show quality flock, Ernie can help you out.
 Best,
 Karen

Thanks Karen!!! Soo much!!!

I just recently had gotten a hold of Sue, as she has beautiful eggs as her avatar! She lives and 1.5 hrs from me near one of the most beautiful lakes and one of our favorite camping stops in our state my plan for spring buying chicks or eggs and camping!!!

As for Ernie I am going to check his site out right now!!!!! Exciting to hear your recommendations!!!

Thank You soo much

Mo

 

[RiddleMe]

So if you started with two pair, would you jump straight to your four pens year two and start rotations year three? And in year two would you keep two lines between the four pens to set traits further or rotate? Ie
Year One:
Pen A - Cockerel, Pullet
Pen B - Cockerel, Pullet

Year Two:
Pen A - Cockerel from Pen A, Hen from Pen A
Pen B- Cockerel from Pen B, Hen from Pen B
Pen C - Cock from Pen A, Pullet from Pen A
Pen B- Cock from Pen B, Pullet from Pen B

-OR-

Year Two:
Pen A- Cockerel from Pen A, Hen from Pen B
Pen B- Cock from Pen B, Pullet from Pen A
Pen C- Cockerel from Pen B, Hen from Pen A
Pen D- Cock from Pen A, Pullet from Pen B

Year 3- relabel and start rotation

Either would work, I would do the first one, making sure either that year four that I've either replaced the males or females that would end up in pens C and D. Because otherwise you'd end up with a brother sister pairing which I try to avoid.

You could also do:

Year two
Pen A- Cock from B, pullets from A
Pen B- cockerel from A, Pullets from B
Pen C- Cockerel from B, Hen from A
Pen D- Cock from A, Hen from B

Which would give you a full four year rotation before you had to worry about running into a possible brother sister mating and honestly you probably should have replaced some breeders by then I would think.

Thank you!

 

[neopolitancrazy]

So, you are not using the smaller hen at all? Your entire breeding is going to be out of a pair?

I would use both hens, just so the offspring are not so tightly related.
I don't know why I bother saying this, but be careful about culling just for size. My initially largest cockerels never end up being the largest by 7 months - a year. My largest cockerel this year was the smallest chick in his batch.

I am keeping the smaller hen, ( who is also much less intelligent than the other 2,) so if I am not happy with results from this pair, will breed "little Lucy" with the cock bird next spring to see if her progeny is better than "big Bertha's." I hate to waste feed and time producing something I expect to do relatively poorly, so Lucy is in the "egg" pen at this time.

(I also have McMurray pullets and cockerels just in case 2 hens from Mr. Urch do not provide enough vigor in my stock.)

I think I worded my previous post poorly, because "size" is the 3rd thing I am culling for; poor vigor and skeletal deformities are more important to me. Temperament/intelligence is a very close 4th place trait. (I personally cannot tolerate livestock with the "crazy-stupid gene.") I want to keep size/growthiness near the top of my culling criteria since I ultimately want this flock to be strong in production qualities.

Thanks,
Angela

 

[neopolitancrazy]

It is good that you are not culling for size. My DW uses Puny to mean sickly. My family always used Puny to mean small.

I hatched out a lot of SG Dorkings this year. There were not too many feet issues and there were several that were not thriving. I did not help any hatch but the ones that did hatch and thrived were very healthy.

I hope that next years SG Dorking hatches will have a better fertility rate though. If they were fertile they hatched well but there were a lot removed on day 14 or so. I force myself to crack open each and every egg that does not hatch and it is a chore sometimes but worth it for the learning experience.

Thank you! Mr. Urch denied having foot/toe issues, so I hope I will not discover a problem there. I am worried about vigor/hatchability, and have been giving the breeders Calf Manna and Red Cell hoping to prevent any nutrition-related infertility. I, too, will make myself open every "failure to hatch" and thanks for reminding me.
Angela

 

[BGMatt]

I am keeping the smaller hen, ( who is also much less intelligent than the other 2,) so if I am not happy with results from this pair, will breed "little Lucy" with the cock bird next spring to see if her progeny is better than "big Bertha's." I hate to waste feed and time producing something I expect to do relatively poorly, so Lucy is in the "egg" pen at this time.

(I also have McMurray pullets and cockerels just in case 2 hens from Mr. Urch do not provide enough vigor in my stock.)

I think I worded my previous post poorly, because "size" is the 3rd thing I am culling for; poor vigor and skeletal deformities are more important to me. Temperament/intelligence is a very close 4th place trait. (I personally cannot tolerate livestock with the "crazy-stupid gene.") I want to keep size/growthiness  near the top of my culling criteria since I ultimately want this flock to be strong in production qualities.

Thanks,
Angela

Because you want to have strong production qualities in your flock, I'd advise going against the BYC Dorking hive mind, cull for fast growth. (Which I guess technically is part of vigor) Even if slow birds catch up size wise at a year or so, or even slightly surpass the quicker growing offspring (which might be due to different treatment), the point is to have a functional and productive birds in a usable amount of time. Cockerels to be used for meat are not cost effective or as tender if you have to let them grow for so long, 22-24 weeks should be more than enough time to reach a good butcher weight.

I offer this advice because I'd hate to see a breed that should be fantastic dual purpose wise, suffer those qualities when they don't have to. Yes Dorkings as a whole are on the small side right now but if you give up reasonable growth rates to chase growth...it doesn't make a lot of sense.

 

[ronott1]

Because you want to have strong production qualities in your flock, I'd advise going against the BYC Dorking hive mind, cull for fast growth. (Which I guess technically is part of vigor) Even if slow birds catch up size wise at a year or so, or even slightly surpass the quicker growing offspring (which might be due to different treatment), the point is to have a functional and productive birds in a usable amount of time. Cockerels to be used for meat are not cost effective or as tender if you have to let them grow for so long, 22-24 weeks should be more than enough time to reach a good butcher weight.

I offer this advice because I'd hate to see a breed that should be fantastic dual purpose wise, suffer those qualities when they don't have to. Yes Dorkings as a whole are on the small side right now but if you give up reasonable growth rates to chase growth...it doesn't make a lot of sense.

Back 100 years ago, how quickly did Dorkings grow?

If you want a fast producing meat bird to eat, cross a Dorking with a Barred Rock. The eggs will be large and they are fairly good layers too.