Culling, and What to Do With those Culls
Young Black, Colored, Mottled, and Red Pyle Dorkings, and a random Rhode Island White Photo Credit- Katie Carothers
Lets talk about culling. It's a necessary part of poultry management. Culling is the only way you are going to make progress with in your flock. You have got to be ruthless with it and it does not cease once the birds are fully grown. Culling is a constant chore, that when done well, will increase the quality of your flock and yield wonderful meat for the table.
Most lines of Dorkings (and pretty much all heritage poultry) have been neglected for too long and there is much work that needs to be done. Type and size need to be our priority. If it is not shaped like a Dorking then it's not a good Dorking. Once the flock is producing individuals that are large and of good type, we can turn our attention to the detail of color.
One must continually be breeding for improvement in one's flock, therefore not every bird will make the cut. I would wager the biggest challenges you'll encounter are that most will be lacking size and be of inferior type. Type makes the breed and color makes the variety. Some birds will have obvious faults from day one, like hatching issues, badly formed toes (namely the fifth), or wry neck. As the birds age and grow out, other faults will become more obvious such as size and vigor, lack feather width and quality, and ear lobe color. Once the birds are fully grown, production, feather color, egg shell color, and broodiness will be your targets for culling. Chalky or brown egg shell color shouldn't disqualify a great bird and as a matter of fact, Craig Russell once told me that “cream or porcelain shelled eggs are preferred, but a hen of great type can lay whatever color egg she wants.” A good culling strategy early on is to only keep birds that will improve your overall flock each year. As you improve your birds over the years, vigor, production, and maintaining a consistent, nearly perfect flock should be your goal.
Culling for width is always a good idea as well. Width of the head will dictate a wider more productive body. Broad heart girth allows for more room for the vital organs, which yield a more productive body. Width (and length) of the breast is crucial in Dorkings which have traditionally been lauded for their fantastic quantity of white meat. Dorkings should have nice wide feathers. Width of the pelvis will dictate the productivity of the reproduction system. The thickness and width of the shank should be taken into account as well. Many times the largest and best birds will have a thick and strong shank.
For as many folks that keep chickens, there are an equal number of ways to use or dispose of those inevitable culls. Every farm is just as different and you have to do what makes sense on your farm. Ideally you're hatching out as many as you can afford (let's say, 100) to rear well while allowing only about 10% to remain as breeders. You can only make progress if you have plenty of birds to select from. Different folks have achieved different levels of quality, therefore what one breeder might kill without much hesitation, another might give their eye teeth for, so killing doesn't have to be the only option. What are you to do with the deformed chicks, underweight cockerels, or those old hens who aren't laying as well as their sisters? I don't like to see the birds, whatever age, go to waste so here are some thoughts on what to do with those culls.
First, lets talk about the unpleasant but absolutely necessary act of killing of those culls. Feed is expensive, and getting more so every year. Any bird that is not perfect must go, no exceptions, and that needs to start as soon as the eggs move into the hatching tray. If you can't stomach the thought of killing chicks, skip to the next paragraph. Chicks that can't break through the egg after pipping, those that get stuck in the shell, or late and especially sluggish hatchers go into a ziplock bag and are placed in the freezer over night. I find this is the most humane way to dispatch of those with hatching issues. Often when you try and assist a chick, you will rupture a blood vessel and the chick will die. If it lives, you do not need those genetics in your flock. From the day they leave the hatching tray, I use a pair of hand held pruning shears on chicks with the obvious structural flaws, namely crooked beak, splayed leg, and naval ill. A quick snip just behind the head is quick and as humane as I can fathom. I know of a farmer who also keeps a few reptiles as pets and uses these dead cull chicks to feed his snakes so they don't go to waste. If the chicks survive these issues once leaving the hatching tray, they could mistakenly be used in the future to carry on a breeding program with their inferior genetics. Most of these problems can be genetic and will be passed on to the next generation if not removed. For older birds, a killing cone made from an old traffic cone works to hold the bird upside down and secure enough to prevent bruising or wing breakage once killed. For the very cheapest route, two good sized nails can be driven into the cut side of a sturdy log or stump. These nails should be driven in about one and a half or two inches apart having the heads remain at least two inches above the wood. This system allows the bird's head to be held securely between the nails while the neck can be stretched allowing an ample target for the hatchet which is of course very sharp.
Dorkings are a superior meat bird, and once they are a couple of months old, those culls can and should be eaten. Birds this age are exceptional as young fryers. The old time cooks knew the tasty value of young Leghorn and Minorca cockerels for fried chicken and Dorkings are no different. All through the summer and early autumn we eat our chickens cooked in quick and very hot ways like frying and grilling. Birds at these ages are tender and succulent yet developed enough to know what the combs and toes should look like when mature. I never like to cull too hard for color at less than a year old, but at this age, color is set enough so that you can tell if those Red or Silver Grey cockerels will have too much black striping in the hackles, or if those Coloreds will be lacking it. Because pullets at this age have their whole laying careers ahead of them, I'm less picky when it comes to color but culling for size and rate of growth make up for that.
Continued Next Sunday
