Farming and Homesteading Heritage Poultry

[finnfur]

Try the White Plymouth Rocks...much more density to the meat fibers, heavier muscling, same good laying. Best dual purpose breed I know.

Hi Bee - we had a extreme heavy molt this year and durring that egg production dropped to zilch .
What have you seen out there ?
You still have any Dels ?

 

[Beekissed]

Hi Bee - we had a extreme heavy molt this year and durring that egg production dropped to zilch .
What have you seen out there ?
You still have any Dels ?

I do! One is a good hen that lays well, if not up to the WR, and she is currently caring for a family of juvenile chicks she helped hatch out and brood for me. She's a keeper and a fierce broody and mother....she has earned her stay in the coop for sure. The other one is to be culled this week....which is funny because I knew she would be a cull even when she was still just young and that has proven out to be correct. Poor layer, has molted twice this year after half hearted broods and is currently having a long, hard recovery from this last molt...has even been walking backwards throughout this molt.

My birds have all have scattered molt times this year and none molted so heavy as this cull Del, but laying is at nil right now in my coop. The mama hasn't gotten back to laying, two oldsters are done until spring and one is molting, the cull Del hasn't laid in ages, a RIR never did come into lay at 7 mo. and counting(she was processed today and her ovary was nonexistent), and the WR and BA that is of good laying age and ability took an abrupt cessation with the advent of the cold snap we had recently. I'm just really down in my flock numbers right now but if these chicks make it until spring I should have 4 WR pullets(Blosl and XW cross) and some Blosl and 3 mutt BA cross pullets. I had 12 of those until a migrating hawk decided to stay and snack...bad timing to have chicks and the very first chickens I've ever lost to a hawk attack. None of the white chicks were taken, only the silver mutt cross birds.

 

[DesertChic]

I know I'm late to the party but I am SO relieved to have found this thread! I just started raising chickens after spending more than a year researching the various breeds, methods of caring for them, setting up a place on my property for them, etc., and once this first flock matures and I have some experience under my belt I'd like to begin focusing pretty exclusively on heritage breeds, specifically the Dorking. I've spent the past week reading various threads on this bird and have been terribly disappointed in the discussions I've found, which all focus on aesthetics and show quality. What about egg production? What about meat? What about bird hardiness and overall health and disposition? I was beginning to think there was something seriously wrong with my perspective on raising chickens, and I'm terribly relieved to discover that there are others who, like me, appreciate what those wonderful heritage breeds have to offer the small-scale homesteader.

 

[Beekissed]

Not many of the breeders want to discuss those traits as they are all working on getting the type and feathering right, etc. THEN, and only then, will they think about the rest of it. The only problem I can see is that they never seem done with getting just the right looks and when they do, they don't want to mess with all that perfection to work on the more important traits of production, feed thrift, and health.

There are a few ol' boys working on both but they are a rarity, from all I've been reading. To me, function should follow form and if it doesn't, then maybe that's not the formula any longer. In the end, if they aren't producing eggs and meat in a big way, they are just a glorified feather duster to me.

 

[Lacy Blues]

YellowHouseFarm on here raises white dorkings. He has shown pictures of his butchered birds and they are quite meaty. I don't recall whatever he might have said about egg-laying ability but if I "know" him at all, it is one of his priorities. You can look him up and look at the pics he has shared of his birds.

 

[DesertChic]

YellowHouseFarm on here raises white dorkings. He has shown pictures of his butchered birds and they are quite meaty. I don't recall whatever he might have said about egg-laying ability but if I "know" him at all, it is one of his priorities. You can look him up and look at the pics he has shared of his birds.'

Thank you! I'll definitely do that!

I'm still reading through all the pages of this thread, and gleaning so much useful information from everyone. I'm just a happy, happy girl right now.

 

[DesertChic]

Okay...I'm going to reveal just how inexperienced I am right now, but...what does SOP stand for? I keep seeing references to "SOP" breed standards, but I don't know how to find info on such standards.

 

[Pooman]

I'm not sure, but maybe Standard of Perfection?

(Its not standard operating procedure)

 

[Lacy Blues]

I'm not sure, but maybe Standard of Perfection?

(Its not standard operating procedure)

correct

 

[bnjrob]

Okay...I'm going to reveal just how inexperienced I am right now, but...what does SOP stand for? I keep seeing references to "SOP" breed standards, but I don't know how to find info on such standards.

SOP is the Standard of Perfection. It's the guideline for breeding the traits that make a chicken look like a particular breed. There is way more to a breed than just feather colors, but a lot of folks don't realize it. You can get it here: http://www.amerpoultryassn.com/store.htmm There are places to get old versions for free or cheap, but they do not have the most current information and may not have the extra info that is provided regarding general breeding of poultry.

I don't think that breeding to the SOP and breeding for production are mutually exclusive. But I think that there are more people who breed for looks rather than for production simply because people are so removed from their food that they can't think about production - especially meat production. And on this particular site, the pet chicken keepers far outweigh both show people and homesteading types that use chickens as livestock.

There are "old" breeders who get on here once in a while, but most do not. But when you practically get crucified for discussing the only medicine being used for your flock is an ax...who wants to deal with the outrage constantly from the folks who shove antibiotics down their chickens' throats every time they hear one sneeze? Heck, some people wind up with their posts deleted because someone complained and the moderators removed the "offensive" posts because many folks don't want to hear about butchering their "roo".

Then too - I don't find that there is really a lot of things that can be said about breeding for production without just rehashing the same information repeatedly, in short cycles. Discussing non-production breeding has more facets to it and I think that it is easier to keep the conversation flowing on those lines because there are so many more differences when it comes to breeding for physical appearance. How many times can you go over examining your birds for keel depth, pelvic width, size, vigor, trapnesting, getting rid of pinched tails, etc. before you end up with the conversation being exhausted? I think that also plays a part into why you don't see as much conversation on the threads regarding production.

A number of "old" breeders that I have interacted with consider looking at production as part of breeding to the SOP. You just don't find them online all the time. And if you want to get info from them, then you have to ask questions because the few that do get online don't know what information people are looking for if people don't ask.

I've seen plenty of people breeding "show birds" that don't have a clue about or care about production. But there are people that breed for both. And it's a challenge, I think it's more challenging than just breeding one way or another. And for me, with a dual purpose bird, that makes it even more of a challenge to balance production and breed to the SOP so that my Javas don't wind up looking like Plymouth Rocks down the road but also still produce decent meat and eggs.

I wouldn't go by the threads on this site as being all inclusive of the folks out there that do breed for production though. Because it isn't. This is a good site to start with as you're learning, but there are other places to interact with more serious production and SOP breeders. I get more personal messages and private emails on these types of subjects just because lots of people don't want to post publicly and wind up getting hate email.