B.Y.C. Dorking Club!

[Mickey Lou 04]

Anybody know anything bout Sandhill birds? Just found 'em online and would love top hear y'all's opinions.

 

[Mickey Lou 04]

I mean the APA recognized varieties

 

[Sydney Acres]

Most or my Red Dorkings are now third generation, but a few are second. The rooster shown is third and from my hatching this season. I purchased eggs from a friend that purchased the chicks from Sandhill and the eggs were from her first laying season with the birds. That said I wonder if the size of my birds, I hatched, are bigger due to age of my hens. I am not sure how old her birds were when I purchased eggs from her but I did not keep and hatch eggs from my birds until they had laid for about 4 months or more and their eggs had gotten pretty good size. Yes, I do know that the darker birds from Sandhill have Colored Dorking in them and those do tend to be and produce the nicest birds. I know of several people that have culled the darker hens but I am going to work with them a while before I worry about the colors.

I have been told that it is best to hatch chicks from a hen's second laying season, but have never been told why. I always assumed that it is because the eggs are larger, and therefore the chicks will be larger at hatch and have an overall better survival rate. Logically, however, I would not think that would produce a larger adult in the end, as any healthy but slightly smaller chicks should catch up within a few weeks. If all chicks are equally healthy, the final size should be determined by genetics, assuming that nutrition and management are optimal for all. (But I've been around long enough to know that reality sometimes laughs at logic. Those of you more experienced in this breed -- do I have it right, or did I miss something??)

I would think that your later-generation birds are better quality because you are actively selecting the right breeding pairs to produce offspring that are better than their parents. That should be the goal of every good breeder.

I totally agree with keeping the best quality hens, regardless of color. Once I get the conformation and weight where I want it, then I'll work on the superficial issues.

 

[Sydney Acres]

Anybody know anything bout Sandhill birds? Just found 'em online and would love top hear y'all's opinions.

Hi Mickey Lou 04,
If you go back a few pages there are some nice pictures of some second and third generation Sandhill Reds.

I have posted a number of comments about my Sandhill Reds over this last year. If you place the cursor over my name you wil be given the option to select all of my posts. I do not have any experience with any of their other colors. I know that Rockashelle has some of the SCCDs from this year, so if that's the color you're interested in you might PM her.

 

[RedBugPoultry]

I have been told that it is best to hatch chicks from a hen's second laying season, but have never been told why. I always assumed that it is because the eggs are larger, and therefore the chicks will be larger at hatch and have an overall better survival rate. Logically, however, I would not think that would produce a larger adult in the end, as any healthy but slightly smaller chicks should catch up within a few weeks. If all chicks are equally healthy, the final size should be determined by genetics, assuming that nutrition and management are optimal for all. (But I've been around long enough to know that reality sometimes laughs at logic. Those of you more experienced in this breed -- do I have it right, or did I miss something??)

I would think that your later-generation birds are better quality because you are actively selecting the right breeding pairs to produce offspring that are better than their parents. That should be the goal of every good breeder.

I totally agree with keeping the best quality hens, regardless of color. Once I get the conformation and weight where I want it, then I'll work on the superficial issues.

I think the second laying season is a bit of over kill but I do think smaller eggs produce smaller chicks that may not compete well with the larger chicks thus producing smaller birds. Competition is pretty much everything in the life of a chicken....

 

[sandiklaws]

Part of the reason the old timers in many breeds say to only breed from second year hens is because a second year bird has all it's merits and flaws fully realized. A pullet might look like she is going to fill out and never quite get there. You just don't know for certain... but a second year hen has no secrets left.

 

[har]

 

[cukooformarans]

I have my first dorking broody! She is a tad over 35 weeks old and has only been laying for about five weeks!!!!!!!!! Broodiness is one thing that attracted me to this breed, but this is unbelievable! She has been on the nest for almost a week now, so she went broody after only about four weeks of laying!! She seems pretty settled, too! Looking forward to seeing how this goes! I am just letting her sit on random mixed eggs since it is so early. I think there is one dorking egg, but the rest are random Mixes. We will see how she does!

 

[kimberly35042]

That's great!

I had a hawk problem earlier in the month, and he took some younger chicks that I hatched

just to test out fertility (which was great btw), and I thought he took one of my older (but

smallish) SG pullets. Come to find out, she had ideas about setting up housekeeping UNDER my husband's shop in a pile of leaves.

Well I'm not crawling under there to get her, so she gets to have her way this time. She isn't

large enough for the breeding program, but I must say I'm looking forward to growing out

more egg layers and freezer birds if she successfully hatches them.

I am hooked on the dorking meat over store bought!!!! That long breast full of tasty white

meat and a REAL wishbone *lol* You don't find that in store bought chickens today. Can't

wait to get them at weights feasible for earlier processing.

 

[cukooformarans]

Sorry about the hawk but congrats on the broody! We have really enjoyed the meat, too!