Dogwood Honey Co.'s
Breeding Practices
Prioritizing quality over quantity.
Whether we are hatching and raising chicks for ourselves or our customers, our goal is healthy, thriving birds. We prefer small hatches to ensure each bird receives the best care possible.
We have a couple small incubators that are the perfect size for hatching small clutches. Eggs spend three weeks in the incubator before brand new baby chicks move to one of our GQF brooders. The GQF brooder includes risers for grow-out pens allowing 25 birds to grow out to 6 weeks of age in each layer of the brooder. We aim to give short field trips outside starting at 5 weeks of age to allow them foraging opportunities while also gradually building immunity to all the pathogens and parasites found in soil. At six weeks we either move them out to our grow-out pen or send them to their new coops as started pullets/cockerels.
Surplus hatching eggs will be available for purchase, however, we have no intentions of expanding our hatches. Selective breeding to improve our breeding stock, maintaining sanitation practices to provide the healthiest birds, and keeping the joy in our work are top priority!