B.Y.C. Dorking Club!

[ki4got]

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OOH OOH OOH!!!

sent you a PM.

 

[rtroxel]

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I have always believed that the Dorking breed was fortunate enough to have a Standard both here and in England that fostered utility. In other words a good utility Dorking is also going to be a good exhibition Dorking. There's a reason for those cinderblock bodies. Same for Houdans but that's off topic. Dorkings do respond to good breeding and selection when numbers are part of the picture. Joe is exactly right in his belief that some wonderful stock could be produced with a bit of work. It just takes raising chickens. Rudy Troxel seems to be on the right track with his reds. Though speaking of reds; if we are going to adopt a red Dorking as one of the basics which red Dorking? The black red or red duckwing male exists as separate varieties with at least three different female colors. The partridge bred or stippled ones like Leghorns, the wheatons or as the English used to call them "clay" and the mahogany red with black spangling that is described in the British SOP. Craig Russell would argue on behalf of all of them and since they are legitimate color varieties that have and still do exist I would agree. Dave

While I would love to take credit for Roger's birds, the birds I have are simply not to my credit

Roger has done an excellent job with them. Each year he hatches about 200 birds and culls to around 35 young hens and 2 young roosters. Then he breeds his old rooster with his young hens and his young roosters with older hens. Usually breeding from about 15-20 hens total. If anyone can correct my numbers, please do so. When I drove into his yard and watched Dorkings run in all directions, it was one of the coolest, exciting moments in my chicken life

It felt like I had just uncovered some buried treasure somewhere!! So all the credit goes to Roger, although I do have some birds available if anyone is interested.

Second, Roger had some lighter colored males and darker ones. He mentioned that he believed he had let his birds get a little too light. I have seen this in the birds I got from him as well. There are definitely 2 varieties/shades of Red that I have. One is a very beautiful, even shade of slate brown. The other is a bird with a very straw colored hackle and then an overall much lighter body color as well. As a person that really enjoys evenness, I will tend toward the former as I breed my birds. I have a really nice pullet that I hope to take to Crossroads, but she is still a little young. You all will have to take a look

I will be bring one of the even birds and one of the more straw-colored birds.

But as Joseph pointed out, there are lots of varieties that need plenty of work simply to avoid extinction. Whether light red or dark red or stippled red or whatever red is your preference, work on making them better.

I have some silvers and they are quite a ways behind!

Rudy Troxel

PS>I won't be working on any darker or penciled varieties of the silvers

 

[flowerchild59]

Anyone raise the rosecomb type in any numbers other than sandhill?

 

[CrestedGirl]

Anyone going to be selling SG Dorking eggs next spring?

 

[ki4got]

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i'm picking up a trio, and might have eggs int he spring from the ones in the 'bator... depending on quality etc. i might have some to spare.

cross fingers, candled today, of 21 so far, 2 never started developing, and 2 have stopped so far (today's day 8).

so i've got 17 still cookin'

 

[jgervais]

I'm selling 5 Dorkings in the southern Michigan
Heres the craigslist ad:
http://jxn.craigslist.org/grd/2640345767.html

 

[greenhorn]

Looking for white dorking sources, preferably chicks but large birds would work locally in Michigan. ( I know that's a serious long shot)

I want to help preserve this line because I feel as a chicken farmer we should all keep and maintain at least one ancient or rare breed. I also have eventual plans on breeding white dorkings to a couple other breeds I have in mind to create a new meat bird.

I'm fascinated with the dorking breed because it's a beautiful line and has so many great sounding qualities. The white dorking sounds like the right rare breed for our farm because we get fairly cold here in the winter and the rose comb is beneficial. White birds with white skin are good qualities for meat birds. Fine textured breast meat and small bones also sound like good qualities.

From what I have read so far the white dorking is possibly the rarest which means it will likely take lots of work to get my own line worked out. Hope to eventually have a good consistent dorking line to share with other breeders and to use in the meat bird project mentioned above.

Plan on getting into all the good dorking clubs and will finish reading the rest of this thread but I want to put an APB out on the white dorking first. Haven't posted many times but we started raising chickens 2.5 yrs ago and we are hooked. Just finishing up building a new brooder coop with auto drinkers. We like to run meat birds but want to break free of hatchery house reliance. Would like to eventually create a better quality bulky meat bird that breeds true or can be made by crossing only 2 true breeding strains from our own farm. I know this is a serious undertaking and probably not the most cost effective way to get chicks but breeding is a hobby of mine and so is self sufficiency.

Anyway I don't want to get off topic, need to start a new thread in the meat birds forum I guess.

Also thanks for all the great information you have all shared in this thread and the entire BYC forum. Thanks to those who offer constructive advice and help to this project. After, if ever I get finished I will always keep a pure line of white dorkings. Now I just have to find some.

 

[Lapetitechickens]

Looking for a Dorking breeder in Wisconsin. We want to purchase chicks next spring, hoping to pick them up rather than have them shipped.

 

[flowerchild59]

For those of you who have had the dorking as a meal, would you rather eat a dorking, a la fleche, houdan, etc???????

 

[Mrs MIA]

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Never had any of those breeds, other than the Dorkings, so I can't say. But the quality of the Dorking meat is noticeable, from butcher to table.