B.Y.C. Dorking Club!

Do you have sources or references for this? It would be helpful when interesting information like this is posted to have the sources so that we all have a chance to learn.
Thanks
M
The Chicken Health Handbook by Gail Damerow

"Dark Cornish carry a similar short-leg gene that causes death at the time of hatch. Signs of "Cornish lethal" include short beaks and wings, and bulging eyes. New Hampshires carry a lethal that causes death in the twentieth and twenty-first day of hatch. Signs are crooked necks, short upper beaks, and shriveled leg muscles. The Silver Gray Dorking has a lethal that causes death in the ninth day of incubation. Embryos have short necks and beaks. A Barnvelder lethal causes "Donald Duck syndrome", in which the upper beak curls upward, the lower beak curls downward, and death occurs in the last days of incubation. Congenital tremor is a lethal gene found in a number of breeds including Ancona, Plymouth Rock, Rhode Island Red, white Leghorn, and white Wyandotte. Chicks hatch but can't control their neck muscles. When a chick tries to stand, its head falls over and the bird falls down. Unable to eat or drink, it dies soon after hatching. This is by no means a complete list of all the possible lethal genes. Among other lethals are those found in the black Minorca (short legs with extra toes), Rhode Island Red (short legs, wings, and beaks), white Leghorn (short legs and parrot-like beaks), and white Wyandotte (early embryonic death). Two common genetic factors that don't qualify as lethal genes, but that do reduce hatchability, are frizzledness and rumplessness."


International Registry of Poultry Genetic Stocks - University of Connecticut - College of Agriculture and Natural Resources
http://digitalcommons.uconn.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1028&context=saes
Page 45
It doesn't specify which lethal gene but it does say that it is an Embryonic Lethal Mutation
 
Here's a scholarly article. It costs money to see the whole PDF but the first page has some information and pictures for free.

http://jhered.oxfordjournals.org/content/50/3/137.extract

That was for one breeding pair in 1958. It does not describe this gene in all SGD Dorkings.

I have not seen this with the ones I have hatched. My guess is that someone crossed scots dumpy chickens into the ones they saw back then. Scots Dumpy chickens do have a lethal gene. The article also does not identify the gene and it says it is a lethal mutation--it is only in those hens and their descendants.

I would not worry about it if I were you. If you like SGD Dorkings, get them!
 
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Has anyone found a source for cuckoo dorkings?

Sandhill Preservation was the only one in the US that I could find. There was one listed in North Bend, WA, but when I emailed them a few months ago, I never got a response. You could always try calling... I hate picking up a phone.

Moon Valley Poultry
Jennifer Lewis
P.O. Box 958
North Bend, WA 98045
(425) 888-4231
email: [email protected]
(red and cuckoo dorkings, eggs and chicks)

At Sandhill, the chicks are $6.50 each and you're only able to order 5 cuckoo chicks at a time... but there's a minimum chick order of 25, so you need to order an additional 20 chicks over your 5 that you wanted. Maybe go in with someone nearby that wants some chicks from them as well?

Good luck!
 
Sandhill Preservation was the only one in the US that I could find. There was one listed in North Bend, WA, but when I emailed them a few months ago, I never got a response. You could always try calling... I hate picking up a phone.

Moon Valley Poultry
Jennifer Lewis
P.O. Box 958
North Bend, WA 98045
(425) 888-4231
email: [email protected]
(red and cuckoo dorkings, eggs and chicks)

At Sandhill, the chicks are $6.50 each and you're only able to order 5 cuckoo chicks at a time... but there's a minimum chick order of 25, so you need to order an additional 20 chicks over your 5 that you wanted. Maybe go in with someone nearby that wants some chicks from them as well?

Good luck!

http://www.britannicrarebreeds.co.uk/breedinfo/chicken_dorking.php

Cuckoos are very rare and $6.50 a chick makes me think that the ones Sandhill is offering are too good to be true. Does anyone here have experience with them? Not responding to you doesn't make me hopeful but I would like to give them the benefit of the doubt that it was just an oversight on their part.

I'm looking for at least two breeding flocks of 50 birds each if they can be had. I'm willing to pay more for the best stock that can be had and I'm willing to wait. I have a group that is interested in bringing this bird back to standard.
 
Sandhill prices on what they have not on what is generally considered rare.

You would think that with as beautiful and scarce as the cuckoo dorkings are that demand would necessitate a premium. I've just been taught that if something is too good to be true, it usually is. Of course, that doesn't mean that I don't hope I'm wrong. I would love to pick up some cuckoos for a song.
 
If you want them you will have to wait to order. They accepted the last of their orders for this year. No new orders until 2016. They are not a big hatchery.
 
I sent my order in by mail (the only way they accept orders) on 8/17 to Sandhill Preservation. Rec'd my confirmation letter, dated 9/1, and had 2 projected hatch dates: 9/22 and a back up of 10/6. No call on 9/22, so I should get the call on 10/6 when they ship them out. I ordered Colored and Red Dorkings through them.
I'll let you know how it goes.
 

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