Done With Meat Birds

[dapluma]

Hey, don't give up! I have been raising layer ducks for 8 years now and lost alot of birds to Horned owls and fox but found a solution . Nite Gard . It's a small solar powered blinking light that keeps the owls and fox away. They are only about $20 bucks apiece and work like a charm. 4 lights cover 1/4 acre to an acre. Next we are working on mylar strips for Red Tail Hawks and such. Will let you know how that works. But if your loosing birds look into the nite gard they lastabout 2 to 4 years and I m hooked. Good luck!

 

[LilyD]

So this is my first year with my own breeding stock to try and eat for the Silver Gray Dorkings and Dorking mixes. I have Dorkings over Light Brahma hens and Dorkings over Australorp hens. So far the roosters have been very meaty. Still not as much breast meat as the CRX but I raised Freedom Rangers for a comparison and the Dorkings at 20 weeks are not much smaller from the Freedom Rangers.

As far as feed conversion. Here in Central Vermont I do not use much feed during the summer months. The birds are great at free ranging and have even taught my meat turkeys to free range as well. Once it starts getting really cold and the bugs start dying off my feed bill goes up but until then they pretty much take care of themselves and I don't feed near as much.

We had a Dorking rooster the other night for dinner. The meat was definitely not tough at 20 weeks and it grilled up wonderfully tender. I smoked it on the grill at about 250 degrees and it was wonderful. Very full flavor and great texture. I have 21 more left to process this year and next year I think I am going to raise solely DP Dorkings and mixes rather than FR or CRX.