B.Y.C. Dorking Club!

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ok, noob speaking up again LOL

can anyone post pics of the different varieties of reds and show which one the standard is about? i can't seem to picture these in my head to know for sure...
 
oh and another noob question...

at what age do dorkings start laying? and how old would they be to evaluate for culling (first cull?) I'm thinking if I do a rough cull first, wait a month or 2 (?) and evaluate again... would you have a good enough guesstimate by the time the hens are laying as to which ones are better quality? what is considered 'mature'?

ok i'm sure I repeated myself in there somewhere, but would greatly appreaciate some answers... yeah i like to plan ahead. I did find some silver-grey hatching eggs, 2nd gen from mcmurray, but at least it's a place to start. (tho i'd prefer colored or reds if anyone's got extra eggs hanging around.
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or better quality silver greys for that matter.)
 
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Jim Parker, in the Dorking Club, raises the little ones.
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ki4got, all chickens usually start laying around the same time- 5 or 6 months old. Maybe cold weather or the change in season is delaying them from starting to lay.

Kim
 
They don't belong together. At a certain point, cocks need to be free-range where they can give way to each other. If you're beginning to breed you'll need separate facilities/pens for matings/trios/pairs. if your plan is to keep cockerels together into maturity until penned for breeding, you must raise them together and never separate them or they will take to fighting whenever repenned together. Once you separate cocks for breeding, they can't be put back together without fighting, unless they're free-range, when they'll still fight, but the lesser will be able to effectively flee. All of this also supposes that you have a breed that will tolerate staying together. Dorkings will. Games will not. Mixing breeds is touchy at best. Even then, they must have plenty of floor space. Regardless, the lesser in the pecking order will never fill out well while under the shadow of a dominant cock/cockerel.
 
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For obvious, unforgivable flaws, the cockerels can be culled whenever. They make great 12 week spatchcocked broilers for grilling.

Toherwise, it's best to wait until 24 weeks, and then another couplle of months for finer points.
 
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It's generally not the time to be hatching chicks, especially if you live anywhere in the North. It's better to hatch in the early spring--especially if they're to be breeders. You;ll be able to get reds in the spring from Roger Tice in Kansas.
 
Well, I'm sorry to say it looks like our breeding program may be set back by a year. The cockerel jumped at my 3-year-old from behind today, and I can't have an aggressive male around with small children. He hasn't shown any aggression whatsoever to me or the older kids -- I'm pretty sure it's just my littlest, since he's so small and not as intimidating to the bird. He's actually quite tame around me, lets me pick him up and handle him, etc. Anyway, I'm going to give him one more chance, since I didn't actually witness the event, but I'm leaning toward selling him with 2 of the pullets as a trio and placing another order from McMurray for the spring. If I order 6 or 7 males maybe I can pick out a good one.

Anyone in the VA area want a young Silver Gray cockerel and 2 pullets? No shipping, sorry. And we're an NPIP flock, if that matters to you.
 
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