Heritage White Dorking Thread

[StephWind]

I lost the one chick that I had to help out of the shell, which I expected. However, I did NOT expect to lose another several days later! I think it may have been caused by an "herbal tonic" that I bought for the chicks as I have lost a few others with no health signs at all. I have more eggs in the incubator, but terribly worried that I won't end up with enough for breeding for meat next year. If anyone here sells chicks, please PM me...? Thanks!

 

[StephWind]

Well yesterday was day 21 for my second set of hatching eggs (YHF and SH lines) and we are having a successful hatch! I live on the high plains desert in Colorado, southeast of Denver, at 6300 ft elevation and extremely low relative humidity (0-30% most of the time). Hatching here is a challenge, and even more so with shipped eggs from lower elevations. I purchased 2 dozen eggs, and the gal sent me 4 extra, so started with 28 eggs. On candling at 10 days, I removed 8 that had absolutely no development at all. On lockdown, I removed 2 more that had stopped developing. As of this morning, at exactly 22 days incubating (as of 15 minutes ago), I have 12 chicks! That is unheard of success for shipped eggs here!!! I am overjoyed! There are a few more that look like they might still hatch too <<knock on wood>> I am super excited to raise these kids and get my own breeding program up and running!

 

[Sydney Acres]

Well yesterday was day 21 for my second set of hatching eggs (YHF and SH lines) and we are having a successful hatch! I live on the high plains desert in Colorado, southeast of Denver, at 6300 ft elevation and extremely low relative humidity (0-30% most of the time). Hatching here is a challenge, and even more so with shipped eggs from lower elevations. I purchased 2 dozen eggs, and the gal sent me 4 extra, so started with 28 eggs. On candling at 10 days, I removed 8 that had absolutely no development at all. On lockdown, I removed 2 more that had stopped developing. As of this morning, at exactly 22 days incubating (as of 15 minutes ago), I have 12 chicks! That is unheard of success for shipped eggs here!!! I am overjoyed! There are a few more that look like they might still hatch too <<knock on wood>> I am super excited to raise these kids and get my own breeding program up and running!

Congratulations!! That is definitely a great hatch for your situation. Don't be to quick to throw out eggs that haven't hatched. There are many circumstances that will delay hatching, with shipping and time stored prior to incubation being major factors. It is possible that the change in altitude may also be a delay. If an egg doesn't smell rotten when you put it up to your nose, I would wait until day 25-26 and then do a float test before declaring it dead. Then do an eggtopsy just to be sure. If you find one that you think is dead and turns out not to be, then give the others a little more time.

 

[Sydney Acres]

I lost the one chick that I had to help out of the shell, which I expected. However, I did NOT expect to lose another several days later! I think it may have been caused by an "herbal tonic" that I bought for the chicks as I have lost a few others with no health signs at all. I have more eggs in the incubator, but terribly worried that I won't end up with enough for breeding for meat next year. If anyone here sells chicks, please PM me...? Thanks!

What "herbal tonic" did you use?

 

[StephWind]

I definitely will not pull the eggs out of the incubator for several more days! There are still other eggs in the back half of the tray (different breed) that are still hatching.

As for the tonic, I'm not sure I should say as I am not 100% sure that is what killed my chicks. That said, I haven't lost any more since I quit using it. It stinks like stale beer....

 

[StephWind]

So I ended with 14 chicks out of 28 total eggs, 20 of those fertile. I lost 1 chick at about 1 day old, but the other 13 are doing great. One question though... One of the chicks is a silver-grey instead of white. The breeder had mentioned that this would sometimes happen with this group, despite them all being white. All of her breeders are from YHF and SH. I actually think the silver one is adorable... It is far too early to know if it is a boy or a girl yet, but if it is a boy, I will not use it for breeding. However, if it is a girl, might it be usable? If not, I will sell her to someone as an egg-layer, but right now that chick is very appealing in looks.

 

[Sydney Acres]

So I ended with 14 chicks out of 28 total eggs, 20 of those fertile. I lost 1 chick at about 1 day old, but the other 13 are doing great. One question though... One of the chicks is a silver-grey instead of white. The breeder had mentioned that this would sometimes happen with this group, despite them all being white. All of her breeders are from YHF and SH. I actually think the silver one is adorable... It is far too early to know if it is a boy or a girl yet, but if it is a boy, I will not use it for breeding. However, if it is a girl, might it be usable? If not, I will sell her to someone as an egg-layer, but right now that chick is very appealing in looks.

The SG won't be usable if your goal is to breed whites. If you are selecting your breeders for features that you want (i.e., white feathers), then you don't want to use birds that have something other than white feathers. The exception would be if she has other features that are more important than color, such as a proper frame or size, that the white feathered birds lack. Then you could use her strictly for that feature, realizing that you will then have a lot of chicks that you'll have to cull for color down the line, but the chicks as a whole might have better conformation. Kind of like juggling 20 balls at once, isn't it!

 

[StephWind]

Photos of the chicks at 12 days old. After further research, my understanding is that the silver chick will most likely feather out pure white, and is actually not bad as they are silver based and won't yellow out as they age....

 

[Yellow House Farm]

Yes, keep that chick.. That is not a "silver-grey" chick; it's a chick that's silver and grey--big difference. It is possible that it will do as you mention, which would be a boon. Watch the leg color as it ages,as I have found this chick down can run blue in the shank. Make sure s/he's well marked so that you don't lose track of it.

 

[Yellow House Farm]

For the purpose of breeding, try not to become "attached" to anything emotionally. Each specimen is a step forward, or it is not; for a breeder, that is the only question.