The Dorking Breeders thread

[pigsflyacres]

MacCana, sorry for your mutt dorkings. How frustrating. I wouldn't cull down to just one of those cockerels. I'd save both of them and if they are equal, use both. Extra cockerels are not a bad thing.

I do not know what quality Dick Horstmann's SGs have. I can tell you that his Reds that I got from him this spring are really pretty good. I think I'm going to have several to choose from when I set up my pens. I do not know if he ships eggs. I can't recommend shipped eggs. Better to put the money into chicks. Dick will ship as few as 15, if money is an issue. Get on his list for early spring shipment.

My Reds really are developing nicely. I'm not going to get the size out of them that I might have. I didn't get them separated soon enough. A few elk flattened my pens. That's what happens when you think you're going to calmly move them out of the area they've gotten themselves into. You build a nice sturdy structure and then find out its not elk proof. So it goes. I got some of them moved, but not all of them. The rest are moving in the next week.

Jennifer

 

[Sydney Acres]

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I know, those darn girls can be so uncooperative at times. I send out brooding schedules and they shred and eat the paper before reading it!!

But yes, that is what I did this year, and it worked out wonderfully. Basically I dated and stored every egg that was desirable (i.e., from the right hen, proper shape, size, shell porosity, etc). Then I just waited. When an egg hit the 2 week mark it was taken out of the storage area and rotated into the refrigerator for immediate use. So when a hen of appropriate temperament went broody I always had eggs available to start incubating. I put the hatching eggs in the incubator, and some ceramic eggs under her. If she held her brood for the first 4-7 days, then I put hatching eggs under her. Since I was hatching eggs from five different hens and needed to know which chick came from which hen to track pedigrees, all the eggs I put under the broody came from the same hen. Eggs from the other hens stayed in the incubator and were hatched in pedigree cages. The moment the chicks were half dry they were leg banded and grafted to the broody, who had chicks hatching under her at the same time (or realistically, 12-24 hours earlier, because even the best incubator isn't quite as good as a good broody, so the eggs tend to hatch just a little earlier, usually on day 18-19). So I got the benefit of using a broody, plus pedigree identified chicks.

Now admittedly, this method is hugely inefficient. There were lots of eggs that I could have hatched and brooded that went into the refrigerator. But at this stage I'm not wanting to hatch huge numbers. By waiting for the perfect hens to go broody, I hatched out enough chicks to max out my infrastructure, and got test-matings from each of my hens with any breeding potential at all. And that was my goal for this year. I had lots of hens go broody that I didn't use because I didn't think their temperament was ideal, or because the timing wasn't right, and in those cases I just broke their brood. So with a frequently broody breed like Dorkings or Silkies or several others, you probably could have broodies going almost throughout the spring and summer if you wanted that many chicks. You'll never get the high numbers that you can with an incubator, but I don't envision ever wanting more than 100 chicks at once, which I can easily get with 7-8 LF broodies (which I had at two points this year).

It's definitely not for everyone. Broodies do take the work load off raising the chicks, but they can also be hormone-crazed possessive little mama lions with feathers that require some forethought and infrastructure to manage properly. Some people have broodies that co-brood peacefully together and it's one big happy family, but mine absolutely do not!! So admittedly I'm trading one type of workload for another. But from my point of view, hobbies have to be enjoyable. And there's nothing that brings a smile to my face quicker than seeing a tiny chick pop its head out from under a hen's wing, or listening to a hen talk to her chicks as they trail behind her through the grass, first picking up one thing and then another, teaching them what to eat. Or the first group dustbath, broody in the center and all the little down-covered miniatures flailing about, trying to figure out what in the world mom is doing. Or the best thing of all -- the first time I go into the broody pen and sit on the floor and the hen jumps on my lap. The chicks are scared at first, but she coos and chirps as I pet her, and pretty soon the whole clutch is crawling all over me like I'm some kind of portable mountain range playground, completely fearless because the hen has given me her personal endorsement. And all the chicks are instantly tame. Again, not what everyone wants, as it's difficult to cull tame birds. But I'd rather have to cull tame birds then fight with a bird that's terrified because the first time I'm handling it is to take it to the killing cone, so everyone gets tamed down as tiny chicks and handled daily.

There's so many different ways to manage chickens, and each method has it's pros and cons. I know I'll never hatch out 1000 chicks a year with this method, but that's ok with me. I'd rather spend time with smaller numbers of chicks, and watch them try to ride on the broody's back.

 

[ki4got]

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I hatch weekly, so broodies are a convenience to me. I don't wait for them, but I do put them to work ASAP. usually i'll let them set the dudds (wooden eggs) for a week or so, then sneak in a few chicks at a time till they have all they can handle. my red girl on her last brood kept taking chicks from other hens, at one point she had about 40. LOL AND raised them all successfully.

 

[Yellow House Farm]

If, instead of eating them, at 2 weeks you put them to the incubator, you could cull for toes upon hatch, and then cull all of the cockerels for comb points at 4 weeks old. You wouldn't end up with a ton of chicks because you'd only retain the best of the best, and they were destined for being scrambled anyways.

 

[Sydney Acres]

If, instead of eating them, at 2 weeks you put them to the incubator, you could cull for toes upon hatch, and then cull all of the cockerels for comb points at 4 weeks old. You wouldn't end up with a ton of chicks because you'd only retain the best of the best, and they were destined for being scrambled anyways.

That is an excellent strategy for hatching out large numbers of chicks to select from, leaving only the best to keep. But if I'm going to kill a bird, it needs to be big enough to make at least one meal, and preferably 3-4 meals. So I like to keep even the obvious culls until they're dinner sized.

But I have to admit that sometimes when I put eggs in the refrigerator, I look at them and wonder if one of them contains the perfect chick, if only I could hatch them all. Maybe in a few years I'll hatch out more, and keep the culls out in the back pasture to grow out and fill the freezer. As long as I can afford the food, there's no reason to get rid of chicks prematurely when they'll be so delicious in a few months.

 

[Yellow House Farm]

That is an excellent strategy for hatching out large numbers of chicks to select from, leaving only the best to keep. But if I'm going to kill a bird, it needs to be big enough to make at least one meal, and preferably 3-4 meals. So I like to keep even the obvious culls until they're dinner sized.

But I have to admit that sometimes when I put eggs in the refrigerator, I look at them and wonder if one of them contains the perfect chick, if only I could hatch them all. Maybe in a few years I'll hatch out more, and keep the culls out in the back pasture to grow out and fill the freezer. As long as I can afford the food, there's no reason to get rid of chicks prematurely when they'll be so delicious in a few months.

That's a perfectly understandable space to be in. If you start to feel otherwise, don't be hard on yourself, though. Every single breed that exists in the SOP and that has attained levels of excellence has done so via breeders who cull quickly and without hesitation. It's part of the whole picture, yet in the mind of each individual it takes a personalized route and period of time to develop.

 

[MacCana]

Sorry for the delay, I'm not online often enough lol! Yes, it's very unfortunate, but I've actually decided to keep the Cali mutt dorks for a while for eggs&/or meat for us. That way, I won't feel bad about eating eggs from my "good stock" once I get them up & going. Unfortunately for the poor Cali cockere, he'll probably hit the dinner table as soon as he's remotely large enough. I've decided to keep my 2 best MCM cockerels, and I'm going to put one of them with the group of mutt ladies.
I will separate them soon from my MCMs & move them into the other pen, soon as I get the rest of the hardware cloth & the wheels on it. Then once the little Cali cockerel is big enough to eat, I'll put one of the best MCM cockerels in with them. Not sure yet what I'm going to do with the 3rd MCM cockerel.. He's not a bad looking bird by any means, he's just not quite up to par with the other 2 boys, who are evenly matched so far. He'll prob be a dinner bird too.
Speaking on broodies, the "mini" MCM SG hen wouldn't stop following me around today. Whenever I asked her what she wants, she'd just cluck & coo quietly, like "I don't know what you're talking about...". Took about 3 times of me taking her to the part of the yard where the rest of my flock was before she'd stay over there with them & let me clean the coop lol!
I laughed to myself thinking she knew I had been discussing her fate & wanted to be sure I knew she wasn't going anywhere ha! I definitely couldn't use her for breeding with my MCMs though, bc she has very few black feathers mixed into her salmon breast. I'd take that as a fault correct? I'm assuming so.
I do have incubators though, so I will try to encourage her to brood, but if she wont, I can just use them.

If, instead of eating them, at 2 weeks you put them to the incubator, you could cull for toes upon hatch, and then cull all of the cockerels for comb points at 4 weeks old. You wouldn't end up with a ton of chicks because you'd only retain the best of the best, and they were destined for being scrambled anyways.

What do you mean "cull for the comb"? I haven't even thought of that. Mine all have small combs. They haven't even begun turning red yet, even though they're getting quite large. I hope mine's combs aren't bad.

 

[Sydney Acres]

Sorry for the delay, I'm not online often enough lol! Yes, it's very unfortunate, but I've actually decided to keep the Cali mutt dorks for a while for eggs&/or meat for us. That way, I won't feel bad about eating eggs from my "good stock" once I get them up & going. Unfortunately for the poor Cali cockere, he'll probably hit the dinner table as soon as he's remotely large enough. I've decided to keep my 2 best MCM cockerels, and I'm going to put one of them with the group of mutt ladies.
I will separate them soon from my MCMs & move them into the other pen, soon as I get the rest of the hardware cloth & the wheels on it. Then once the little Cali cockerel is big enough to eat, I'll put one of the best MCM cockerels in with them. Not sure yet what I'm going to do with the 3rd MCM cockerel.. He's not a bad looking bird by any means, he's just not quite up to par with the other 2 boys, who are evenly matched so far. He'll prob be a dinner bird too.
Speaking on broodies, the "mini" MCM SG hen wouldn't stop following me around today. Whenever I asked her what she wants, she'd just cluck & coo quietly, like "I don't know what you're talking about...". Took about 3 times of me taking her to the part of the yard where the rest of my flock was before she'd stay over there with them & let me clean the coop lol!
I laughed to myself thinking she knew I had been discussing her fate & wanted to be sure I knew she wasn't going anywhere ha! I definitely couldn't use her for breeding with my MCMs though, bc she has very few black feathers mixed into her salmon breast. I'd take that as a fault correct? I'm assuming so.
I do have incubators though, so I will try to encourage her to brood, but if she wont, I can just use them.

Quote:
Your birds are still chicks, so you expect the combs to still be small. But you should be able to count the number of points at a fairly young age.

 

[MacCana]

here's a picture at "dinnertime" today, when I put them up from free ranging. You can see 2 of my MCM's closest here.

Here's my current set up. It's kinda shabby & simple right now, given that they aren't laying yet, I've just got a wooden box propped up on a cinderblock with a piece of tin on top. Along the bottom of the kennel, I ran chicken wire. I've also got a couple of plant baskets in there growing herbs, but they've mostly destroyed those & scratched all the soil out lol. So much for that. The piece of wood bock the door is bc I didn't get the chance to run chicken wire along the bottom of it yet. It's been too dang hot & humid here to do much of anything! Once everyone starts laying, I will have to upgrade their housing. But this will be done at the same time I separate my MCMs from my mutt birds.

 

[MacCana]

Your birds are still chicks, so you expect the combs to still be small. But you should be able to count the number of points at a fairly young age.

How many "points" should they have? They're not really babies anymore...