B.Y.C. Dorking Club!

[Mrs MIA]

Quote:
I have 7 LF Varieties right now and a couple more that are sub-varieties (as in, I don't spend as much time on them). If I don't hatch quite a few, I get nowhere. The key to hatching lots is hatching when the males are fertile or having an extra male at all times. It's chicken insurance for the price of feed. I can afford to feed a few extra males. I can't afford to lose a year of hatching.

I'm up to 4 males now. I had one all year, and he wasn't fertile until late summer.

I always try to keep extra males, but with the cold and predators, they don't always survive to reproduce. I'm looking forward to next year.

 

[greenhorn]

OK, eventually I want to keep at least 100 dorkings after culling the smaller birds etc. How much area would be sufficient for a run to allow adequate space for 100 dorkings? I have a field that's big enough to make a run at least 200 foot long and 60 feet wide. That would allow for 120 sq foot of "free range" area per bird. Would that be enough?

I can eventually make more area for more birds. I know a huge part of breeding is selection and the bigger the selection the better the chances of finding premium specimens.

I still am reading this thread when I have time and am learning quite a bit. Thanks YellowHouse and others for all the great information about culling. I never thought about culling for weight. I have a lot to learn and can't wait to get some birds.

We're also going to build a new coop to accommodate a big flock of dorkings and some other birds we have been talking about getting for years like ducks and turkeys. Any suggestions for setting up breeder coops?

I also made up some checks and envelopes and am sending membership fees to the Dorking Breeders club and the S.P.P.A. tomorrow. I'm not just a noob blowing a bunch of hot air, I'm very serious about getting involved in preserving white and other colored dorkings. I want to do it right and provide an environment that suits the Dorking line properly while carefully selecting only the best birds for breeders.

Here is a video of the area we plan on keeping our Dorking flock,

 

[Mrs MIA]

Welcome, Greenhorn.

200 x 60' would actually be 12,000 sf, and more than enough for 100 birds. Shoot, I keep about 75 birds in an 8x8' coop, with a 16x24' run and they do just fine.

 

[greenhorn]

Mrs. AK-Bird-Brain :

Welcome, Greenhorn.

200 x 60' would actually be 12,000 sf, and more than enough for 100 birds. Shoot, I keep about 75 birds in an 8x8' coop, with a 16x24' run and they do just fine.

Thank you AK-Bird_Brain. I was actually saying that each dorking would have 120 sq feet but I really appreciate your input.

We have kept over 50 birds in our 10x20 coop with a run about 40 x 20. Never had any problems but I was reading where Yellow House was saying that Dorkings need a good area to free range. I want our birds to be able to score a good part of their feed off the land. Also want to have enough area for a flock big enough to allow for a good selection of quality birds. Don't want to have to muddle through birds that are stressed and all pecked up.

I've never raised Dorkings and want to get fully prepared for them. We are getting 25 Dorking chicks from Sand Hill in the spring (hopefully) and hope to get a couple trio's from Yellow House. The chicks will start in the brooder coop, then to the 10x20 coop if I don't have the Dorking coop finished yet. There will be plenty of room in the 10x20 coop if the trio's come in early spring. This brings me to another question. How many sq feet is adequate per Dorking for inside the coop? How big should I make the breeding pens?​

 

[gallorojo]

Mrs. AK-Bird-Brain :

Welcome, Greenhorn.

200 x 60' would actually be 12,000 sf, and more than enough for 100 birds. Shoot, I keep about 75 birds in an 8x8' coop, with a 16x24' run and they do just fine.

I'm sorry, that sounds like factory farming/broiler houses to me. Are those numbers correct? Are those mature, full sized birds? Something is not adding up here to me? I have a 10 x 12 coop with an acre of pasture, currently with 50 birds a third the size of a Dorking, and they seem horribly overcrowded to me. I'm not sure how they can stay healthy in those conditions-maybe Dorkings are tougher than my breeds, but mine would be sick, stressed and quality, fertility, etc, would all suffer if I did that. I've always heard 3 sq. ft as a minimum for healthy large fowl, so, I can keep 40 birds in my space, in theory, but, in practice, I like it to be only 20 large fowl in the winter. I'd love to know what you are doing to keep your birds alive, mine would be dead I think if I crowded them that way. Are your numbers a typo? Maybe the breed is that tough? Just wondering?​

 

[rtroxel]

Quote:
I'm sorry, that sounds like factory farming/broiler houses to me. Are those numbers correct? Are those mature, full sized birds? Something is not adding up here to me? I have a 10 x 12 coop with an acre of pasture, currently with 50 birds a third the size of a Dorking, and they seem horribly overcrowded to me. I'm not sure how they can stay healthy in those conditions-maybe Dorkings are tougher than my breeds, but mine would be sick, stressed and quality, fertility, etc, would all suffer if I did that. I've always heard 3 sq. ft as a minimum for healthy large fowl, so, I can keep 40 birds in my space, in theory, but, in practice, I like it to be only 20 large fowl in the winter. I'd love to know what you are doing to keep your birds alive, mine would be dead I think if I crowded them that way. Are your numbers a typo? Maybe the breed is that tough? Just wondering?

Per your own 3 feet required, these 75 would have 100% more space than that requirement. This is 448 sq feet for 75 birds, or about 5.97 sq feet per bird.

And one other thing, please be careful about your use of words like "factory farming" etc. I'm sure you didn't mean to be offensive, but it came off as rather offensive, at least to me, and I'm not even the person you were asking. A little more careful selection of words and a little deeper look into the actuality of the matter will save a lot of trouble in the long run. As the old carpentry saying goes: "Measure twice. Cut once."

 

[ki4got]

Quote:
I'm sorry, that sounds like factory farming/broiler houses to me. Are those numbers correct? Are those mature, full sized birds? Something is not adding up here to me? I have a 10 x 12 coop with an acre of pasture, currently with 50 birds a third the size of a Dorking, and they seem horribly overcrowded to me. I'm not sure how they can stay healthy in those conditions-maybe Dorkings are tougher than my breeds, but mine would be sick, stressed and quality, fertility, etc, would all suffer if I did that. I've always heard 3 sq. ft as a minimum for healthy large fowl, so, I can keep 40 birds in my space, in theory, but, in practice, I like it to be only 20 large fowl in the winter. I'd love to know what you are doing to keep your birds alive, mine would be dead I think if I crowded them that way. Are your numbers a typo? Maybe the breed is that tough? Just wondering?

if you were keeping the birds in the coop 24x7 that would be crowded, but my birds go in at night and out at daybreak so really all they need in the coop is roost space. i've got my 11 bantams and 3 dorkings sleeping in a 3x3 mini coop overnight, and they're all out free ranging at dawn. no feather picking, no health issues. and fertility isn't an issue either. just put 4 dorking eggs in the 'bator and have hatched 17 bantam eggs in the last week, with 100% fertility/hatch.

 

[Mrs MIA]

Quote:
I'm sorry, that sounds like factory farming/broiler houses to me. Are those numbers correct? Are those mature, full sized birds? Something is not adding up here to me? I have a 10 x 12 coop with an acre of pasture, currently with 50 birds a third the size of a Dorking, and they seem horribly overcrowded to me. I'm not sure how they can stay healthy in those conditions-maybe Dorkings are tougher than my breeds, but mine would be sick, stressed and quality, fertility, etc, would all suffer if I did that. I've always heard 3 sq. ft as a minimum for healthy large fowl, so, I can keep 40 birds in my space, in theory, but, in practice, I like it to be only 20 large fowl in the winter. I'd love to know what you are doing to keep your birds alive, mine would be dead I think if I crowded them that way. Are your numbers a typo? Maybe the breed is that tough? Just wondering?

Well, yes and no. The dimensions I gave you were for my general layer flock, which are not all large fowl (various breeds) and are only in there for the duration of the winter. I do not add heat in the winter, and rely on only body heat to keep the coop comfortable so there is no wasted space. I personally have a hard time with the whole "square foot per bird" thing. When it comes to COOP space, you only need enough roost space for each butt that will be sleeping in the coop. Have you ever seen the birds sleeping? Head-to-butt, right next to each other, and my birds are only in the coop when they're laying or sleeping. My coop is all roosts, with one wall of open nest boxes (no dividers). As for the runs, give them as much space as you want to. But I don't have room for a 200x60' run., nor do I have an acre to free range. I do not have any symptoms of overcrowding with that size coop/run, my birds are very healthy, happy, and I've been told many times that my coops are the cleanest people have ever seen. I WISH I had an acre to pasture them in, but an acre for 50 LF birds (IMHO) is not crowded in the least. I have to keep everyone in a covered run due to predators (eagles, owls, hawks, bears, lynx, yada yada). In the spring, half of the birds will be sorted out into their breeding pens in the breeder coop. Sure, with that many birds in one coop, I have to work a little harder to keep things clean, which I do. The "4sf" per bird is the total space, coop and run. If I take the entire run, plus the coop, I have 448 square feet. Divide by 4, and that's 112 birds. I don't have nearly that many birds.
If you go by the 4sf rule, a 200x60' space could hold 3000 birds.

Edited to add that I type slow, and y'all figured out all that stuff while I was typing...

LOL!

 

[rtroxel]

Quote:
It seems like you are doing some good research.

Here are a couple of things you will want to plan for:

You will need to separate the sexes of the birds you raise at about 8-10 weeks. Therefore, you will need at least two runs.

Second, unless you can hatch all 2-300 birds in one group, you will either need runs to raise ages separately or you will have to mix ages. While possible, this is never optimum as the youngest always get pushed away from the food and end up very seldom growing well. Even the best of these usually end up looking like culls. My advice: You will need more than 2 runs.

Third, different strains, varieties and breeds all have different tendencies. You may or may not be able to raise them together. It will be a trial and error thing. But in the long run, you will be much better off if you can raise each strain/variety/etc. individually. This will also make your ability to interpret any data you gather much easier and make your data much more reliable by reducing environmental factors.

There are hundreds more details to consider

 

[gallorojo]

8 times 8 feet is 64 square feet.

http://www.squarefootage.org/square-footage-calculator.php#square_footage_results

448 would be cubic feet. 64 square feet is too small in my opinion for 75 birds, but, if it works for all of you, that's great. I know it would never work for me. Sorry to butt in your thread, I will go back to lurking now.