B.Y.C. Dorking Club!

[Yellow House Farm]

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Temperment? Dorking's tend to have an ideal temperment for farm fowl. I've only once heard of a Doking cock being a man-fighter, and I've never had one on our farm. The hens are calm but go about their business. Dorkings are serious foragers and don't have time to follow you around like a puppy-dog.

Laying will vary with the strain. Some are fair layers, some are good layers. Their general capacity should be strong, but that will only hold true with intentional breeding practices. They are, however, in the "dual-purpose" world, it's either "eggs with meat" or "meat with eggs." An Australorp should be "eggs with meat". A Dorking should be "meat with eggs".

Cockerel weight at 20 weeks--and I'd wait at least until 22 wks. "20" weeks is a bit random. Dorking roasters are slaughtered between 22 and 26 weeks. At that this age they'll currently be between 3.5 and 5/lbs. With intentional breeding, we should be able to have them at a consistent 5-6lbs--without caponizing. As capons they have a great potential.

 

[Mrs MIA]

The most "aggressive" rooster I've ever had was a young cockerel that would "pinch". He didn't like being picked up, and would peck at your hand, or worse, the upper arm, and hold on and pinch. Hard. I had a bruise on my upper arm for two weeks after that! LOL! But I worked with him, told him who the head roo was (ME!) and never had trouble again. And that's the only one in 3 years.

I'm looking forward to raising more silver greys.

Joseph, question for you regarding feed... what do you feed your birds? I've had a little trouble hatching chicks, and had read a post somewhere that it was probably feed related. Have you heard this? I never could find the book that was referenced, and now have forgotten what the book is called.

 

[Yellow House Farm]

Mrs. AK-Bird-Brain :

Joseph, question for you regarding feed... what do you feed your birds? I've had a little trouble hatching chicks, and had read a post somewhere that it was probably feed related. Have you heard this? I never could find the book that was referenced, and now have forgotten what the book is called.

We use a breeder ration with hightened protein. If you have excess eggs, hard boil them-MASH THEM UP!--and feed them back. A diversified diet will strengthen fertility. However, you say "trouble hatching chicks" what precisely is the problem, or rather, at what stage are you having difficulty. There could be several answers.​

 

[FlyingtheCoop]

Given that the Dorking is a threatened breed, has anyone considered/tried artificial insemination?

 

[Yellow House Farm]

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Dorking's aren't so rare as to make AI necessary neither should they need it conformation-wise. Yes, I'd say it's safe to assert that Dorkings should be an AI-free fowl.

 

[FlyingtheCoop]

Sigh, I figured as much. Roosters are a no go where I am, but I would have loved the chance to try a hatch from my own girl. You have been incredibly informative and I appreciate it.

 

[Yellow House Farm]

Hmmm...I see your dilemma. It's actually an interesting marketing consideration, thinking of the various urban areas, which allow hens but no cocks. It gets the gears pumping......


As far as fertility is concerned, I just candled our first setting of 4 doz RC White Dorking eggs. We have, in January, a rate of 84% fertility, which isn't so shabby.

Cheers!

 

[FlyingtheCoop]

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Untapped market????

 

[Muscovies]

Nice Dorking on the first page

 

[DaveK]

Didn't want to double quote but I'm going to tag along on Joe's coattails with this one. When we had one of the forms of red Dorkings we had the old "clay" colored red which simply meant wheatons. The variety was lucky to still exist and we were very lucky to be able to work with them. Feet/toes weren't always ideal but as Joe has said we hatched enough that we could cull for the toes and still have plenty left to look at and choose type, size and then color. Things did improve from year to year. Based on our own and others' experiences I sure would use a quality bird, especially if the color variety were rather uncommon, that had only 4 toes or some similar defect. Ain't nothin' perfect LOL.