The Dorking Breeders thread

[TheBanditQueen]

Hi

,
Welcome Welcome, glad you joined! The more the merrier!
The chicken in the grey flannel suit! That's hysterical! True too! Joseph over at Yellow House Farm is a fount of information about Dorkings. I read him regularly as I have Sussex and they are very closely related to Dorkings. If I could put his Dorking bodes on my Sussex, ..oh sweet ambrosia! I hope by reading here to learn his secrets to enhancing the Dorking profile on a chicken. So far it alludes me, sigh. I can't find it in the Sussex lit. or I don't understand what I am reading, that could be it, smile. Despite the long backs in my Sussex, I still need to fill out their breasts. Have the birds to do it, just can't figure out how to select which hallmarks to further that goal.
Best Success with your Silver Grey's ( I use the "e" and don't know the answer to that question, sorry.).
Best Regards,
Karen

Thank you for your kind welcome!!

I didn't realize that Sussex and Dorkings were that close kin to each other.

 

[TheBanditQueen]

Hi TheBanditQueen
I had to laugh when I read your post about lurking, because I do the same thing! I also had the same question about "gray or grey" and apparently gray is used primarily in the US and grey is used in Great Britain and areas that UK english is used. Grey is used in proper nouns and in Greyhound for the dog breed. I'm going with "grey" as well.

Nancy

Hi!

Now that's interesting. I love how the same language is so wildly different. I will go with you because I think "Grey" sounds a bit more elegant, as befits a businesschicken...

 

[TheBanditQueen]

Or the best thing of all -- the first time I go into the broody pen and sit on the floor and the hen jumps on my lap. The chicks are scared at first, but she coos and chirps as I pet her, and pretty soon the whole clutch is crawling all over me like I'm some kind of portable mountain range playground, completely fearless because the hen has given me her personal endorsement. And all the chicks are instantly tame. Again, not what everyone wants, as it's difficult to cull tame birds. But I'd rather have to cull tame birds then fight with a bird that's terrified because the first time I'm handling it is to take it to the killing cone, so everyone gets tamed down as tiny chicks and handled daily.

I would love to know how to get chickens to be that tame - especially a mama hen with chicks! Is it a (breeder quality) Dorking thing? Or is it a trade secret? How DO you all do it?

 

[Yellow House Farm]

I just imported SGDs from Canada.

Are the a strong improvement on what you were already working with?

 

[capayvalleychick]

Are the a strong improvement on what you were already working with?

I think that they will compliment what I am already working on.

I will have three groups, as an experiment, to see what works.
I will breed this new trio, as one group. Another group, I will pair the new birds with those of mine that will (hopefully) improve both. And I will continue with my line, alone, as the last group.

Four APA judges have had very favorable things to say about this Canadian breeder's Dorkings. They have done well in several shows.

I have been making progress with my females on length of back and weight. For some reason, this is not carrying over to the males. I'm getting frustrated in my attempts to make any progress with the cocks. I also made the mistake of not paying attention to the feet, while working on other things. I used a cock with a tail angle that I needed, even though he had one duck foot. Almost every one of his offspring has his exact toe placement. Someone on here once said that duck foot was not a big deal. I learned the hard way 'tis not true.

This Canadian line has been producing long backed birds and the males are about ten pounds. This trio has very good toe placement. So, those are the improvements that I am hoping to bring forth.
They are still young, but it looks as if they are tighter feathered than mine. I think mine may have better width of feather. Lobes are red. Fingers crossed that they stay that way. They are very rectangular. Legs look a bit long but maybe that's because they will end up being heavier? Some of my pullets are shorter with rounder breasts.

The breeder imported Dorkings from Holland, two years ago. This trio also has some of those genetics. If nothing else, I think the new genes might help my dismal hatch rate.

A note to any newbies who may read this ... It is much better to start out with one line and breed from that. In general, it is not a good idea to mix lines. I'm only doing it because I've been at this for a while and I have a plan. There's a method to my madness but don't try this at home.

 

[capayvalleychick]

Now that's interesting. I love how the same language is so wildly different. I will go with you because I think "Grey" sounds a bit more elegant, as befits a businesschicken...

I wondered the same thing. I use Gray because that's how the APA spells it.

 

[capayvalleychick]

The rooster I selected to breed my girls.

He looks heavy. Have you weighed him?
Make sure that his back does not have a hump and select birds in the future with more level wings.

 

[capayvalleychick]

Wanted to post a couple pics of one of the Red Dorking cockerels I recently purchased. He's 7 months old. I know his breast could be deeper and longer but he's got some heft to him. Feels meaty. Toes are well placed. Has splash of white in lobe. The other is two months younger but feels heavier. Haven't gotten a way to weight them yet. The second has wrinkled ear lobes that have no white marks in them and his red is a little darker. I'll post a pic of him later. Thoughts? Input? Thanks.

Do you have the SOP to help you select properly?
I don't have Reds, but I think the hackles need to be redder, rather than orange. If your male has white in lobes and the hens do, also, you will be establishing white lobes in your offspring and it will be doubly difficult to get rid of. The photo is too small to tell much, but it sounds like your other male may be better. I'm not a judge JMO.

 

[Dirt Farmer]

Hi

,
Welcome Welcome, glad you joined! The more the merrier!
The chicken in the grey flannel suit! That's hysterical! True too! Joseph over at Yellow House Farm is a fount of information about Dorkings. I read him regularly as I have Sussex and they are very closely related to Dorkings. If I could put his Dorking bodes on my Sussex, ..oh sweet ambrosia! I hope by reading here to learn his secrets to enhancing the Dorking profile on a chicken. So far it alludes me, sigh. I can't find it in the Sussex lit. or I don't understand what I am reading, that could be it, smile. Despite the long backs in my Sussex, I still need to fill out their breasts. Have the birds to do it, just can't figure out how to select which hallmarks to further that goal.
Best Success with your Silver Grey's ( I use the "e" and don't know the answer to that question, sorry.).
Best Regards,
Karen

In my online reading I recall how one Brahma breeder recommended improving size. He said to take a cock with a large frame, even if he was not heavy, and mate him to hens that were muscular, even they were not all that big. The offspring would have the frame size from the cock and tendency to muscle up from the hens. I don't know if it works but it sounds good.

 

[Sydney Acres]

Quote:

Well, it depends on the bird. If I have young chicks (less than 3 days old) without a hen I just spend time with them, handle them (keep warm while handling), talk to them, touch them everywhere gently so that they bond to me. I continue working with them as they grow, handling them every day, and they learn to trust me. When they're young they follow me everywhere, fly up on my shoulders or hand, beg to be picked up and carried (that's not always a plus -- one got injured two years ago while scurrying underfoot). If you patiently teach them to trust you and work to maintain that trust, then they will be incredibly tame. They do grow up and become independent, so they don't continue begging for attention their whole life. But I can walk up to any of my free range birds and pick one up, pet it, trim and file toenails on the cocks to decrease breeding stress on the hens, and relax on a lawn chair with a towel on my lap, a few birds on the towel and my hands nuzzled under their warm wings. When those really tame and trusting hens brood their own chicks they have no concerns about me handling the eggs or the infants, and the hens teach the chicks to trust me.

All that being said, not all birds will tame down. There are some who will always be anxious, high strung, flighty, or aggressive. They hatch out of the egg that way, will never tame down 100%, and appear as if they don't have their neurotransmitters balanced properly. They still grow up and otherwise appear normal, may even meet the SOP and win shows. But their personality just isn't quite right, and their reactions to stress aren't normal. I cull those birds. I don't criticize those that don't, but for me a good bird has to have more going for it than the SOP. It needs to be a bird that I enjoy, that isn't inappropriately aggressive, that doesn't terrorize the flock, and contributes to the flock in some way.

Once the young cockerels start to feel their hormones, it is very important that the boys are never allowed to be aggressive to you. Most of them will try it at least once. Maybe not in a serious way, but they are testosterone-fueled little boys that haven't figured out how to handle the hormones, so they test their limits. If you watch how the older but sweet roosters handle the young boys, you'll see that no transgression goes unanswered, and rules are set down early. Boys with firm rules are more likely to grow up to be polite adults, regardless of the species.

The difference between the hatchery birds and the private breeder birds is a matter of stock selection. Every hatchery and breeder is different, but many of the big hatcheries do mass breedings with no stock selection. An example I read about recently was in Rhode Island Reds, where there were 600 hens and 100 cocks put in one large breeding pen, and the most aggressive cocks got to pass on their genetics. Do that for a few generations and you've got very poor quality, really mean birds. Private breeders don't always do pair-mated pedigrees, but there is usually some level of favorable selection done. When private breeders have young children that help with the hobby, good personality and tame-ability are often factors in that selection, as no breeder wants their children hurt.

Currently I have 13 cockerels and 5 pullets, all 16-19 weeks old, which are test breedings out of 5 different hens, all sired by the same cock. Of those chicks, two are high strung, anxious, more aggressive than appropriate, and will never fully trust me no matter how much I work with them. Those two chicks are from my least desirable hen, who is also a bit too anxious and was difficult to tame (but as a pullet, she was easier than her hormone-filled cockerel offspring). My best cockerels are out of my best hens, and the difference between them isn't subtle. Active selection of breeding pairs and appropriate culling by a breeder makes a huge difference in the quality of the flock.

So it's part genetics and part upbringing. It's not for everyone, but if you like bonding to your birds, the effort is worth it.