B.Y.C. Dorking Club!

[ki4got]

Quote:
I got these off a seller on ebay. they were packed awesomely, all started developing (no clears at all!) but 2/3 quit between days 10 & 14. no idea why. they were mixed with other breeds and areas around the incubator. only thing i can think of, the eggs were a bit soiled. next time i'll try washing them first.

ooh! ooh! the webcam tells me a EE and a banty just popped at the same time!

ok sorry for the off topic. LOL

 

[Yellow House Farm]

Quote:
I think that there is a strong potential for veracity here. Via extensive reading, I think that there is a strong case for asserting that the first Dorking, known and respected as Dorking, was a more rounded, more compact, rose combed white fowl. I wouldn't be surprised to find that the other colors were developed via out-crossing.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Quote:
I got these off a seller on ebay. they were packed awesomely, all started developing (no clears at all!) but 2/3 quit between days 10 & 14. no idea why. they were mixed with other breeds and areas around the incubator. only thing i can think of, the eggs were a bit soiled. next time i'll try washing them first.

ooh! ooh! the webcam tells me a EE and a banty just popped at the same time!

ok sorry for the off topic. LOL

Webcam?!! Sigh.... I am so behind the times. I have to do it the old fashioned way and jump up and down a 100 times and peek through the window. Starting my Christmas Wish List right now!

Hoping your SG's catch up with the rest of your hatch!

 

[ki4got]

Quote:
I got these off a seller on ebay. they were packed awesomely, all started developing (no clears at all!) but 2/3 quit between days 10 & 14. no idea why. they were mixed with other breeds and areas around the incubator. only thing i can think of, the eggs were a bit soiled. next time i'll try washing them first.

ooh! ooh! the webcam tells me a EE and a banty just popped at the same time!

ok sorry for the off topic. LOL

Webcam?!! Sigh.... I am so behind the times. I have to do it the old fashioned way and jump up and down a 100 times and peek through the window. Starting my Christmas Wish List right now!

Hoping your SG's catch up with the rest of your hatch!

well, i've got 1 hatched, 1 internally pipped, and i think the rest quit after lockdown. i don't see any movement in there at all, and can still see blood vessels...

the ones that i know for sure quit after lockdown i broke open. and about gagged. something was definitely not right with those eggs.

wondering if something on the shell got in and caused the ick. the shells were a bit dirty but not horribly so. next time i wash them for sure.

my own bantam babies, of the 11, 2 were clear, 1 quit, and i've got 6 hatched so far and the other 2 pipped... and the EE's, 14 shipped, 1 clear, 3 quit before lockdown 1 after... 2 have hatched, a few more have pipped (internal / external) not sure about the rest.

 

[rtroxel]

My guess would be to up the humidity. That is something I found out. That's usually the most common reason eggs don't make it to hatch or don't break the shell. Not enough water. Even some early death is caused by humidity problems. Any chance you can weigh the eggs and get a % water loss and really check?

 

[ki4got]

Quote:
i've been checking humidity/loss, and it's been on schedule. my hatcher is between 75-80%, so i know they're not shrink wrapping, even tho i've been openning it to pull chicks/broken eggs and check stats on the rest... most of the dorking eggs that made it to lockdown look like they quit not long after, if not just prior to lockdown. i've got one more that's internally pipped but i can still see plenty of yolk inside the shell. it also looks like a wing/leg in the air cell shadows, so wondering if the other chicks bouncing around the incubator before they made it to the brooder had anything to do with that...

again i'm thinking it was because of dirty/shipped eggs. my own bantam eggs incubated, of 11 i had 2 clears, 1 early quit and the last has pipped, so should be out soon. (8 of 8 hatched that made it to lockdown) and the EE's were hard to candle, but i've got 3 out and 2 more pipped.

I do a dry incubation and everything was on track right along. just the dorking eggs were not great... hoping my 2 girls i got start laying again. april pullets, i was told they were laying before i picked them up, but no eggs yet. they'll have been here 2 weeks monday.

depending how many eggs i get, i may start weekly or bi-weekly hatches just to see what i can get hatched from home eggs on them.

 

[Yellow House Farm]

Quote:
i've been checking humidity/loss, and it's been on schedule. my hatcher is between 75-80%, so i know they're not shrink wrapping, even tho i've been openning it to pull chicks/broken eggs and check stats on the rest... most of the dorking eggs that made it to lockdown look like they quit not long after, if not just prior to lockdown. i've got one more that's internally pipped but i can still see plenty of yolk inside the shell. it also looks like a wing/leg in the air cell shadows, so wondering if the other chicks bouncing around the incubator before they made it to the brooder had anything to do with that...

again i'm thinking it was because of dirty/shipped eggs. my own bantam eggs incubated, of 11 i had 2 clears, 1 early quit and the last has pipped, so should be out soon. (8 of 8 hatched that made it to lockdown) and the EE's were hard to candle, but i've got 3 out and 2 more pipped.

I do a dry incubation and everything was on track right along. just the dorking eggs were not great... hoping my 2 girls i got start laying again. april pullets, i was told they were laying before i picked them up, but no eggs yet. they'll have been here 2 weeks monday.

depending how many eggs i get, i may start weekly or bi-weekly hatches just to see what i can get hatched from home eggs on them.

Well, they can also drown. We run our incubater at 55% +/- until day 18 when we stop turning and increase humidity to 65% +/-. Turning, temp, and humidity are the three main factors, a little but of schmutz on the shell shouldn't have been that important. Overall incubator cleanliness, which affect airs quality, is, however. 80% humidity could belabor the breath and make it difficult to muster the strength required for exclusion.

 

[ki4got]

Quote:
i've been checking humidity/loss, and it's been on schedule. my hatcher is between 75-80%, so i know they're not shrink wrapping, even tho i've been openning it to pull chicks/broken eggs and check stats on the rest... most of the dorking eggs that made it to lockdown look like they quit not long after, if not just prior to lockdown. i've got one more that's internally pipped but i can still see plenty of yolk inside the shell. it also looks like a wing/leg in the air cell shadows, so wondering if the other chicks bouncing around the incubator before they made it to the brooder had anything to do with that...

again i'm thinking it was because of dirty/shipped eggs. my own bantam eggs incubated, of 11 i had 2 clears, 1 early quit and the last has pipped, so should be out soon. (8 of 8 hatched that made it to lockdown) and the EE's were hard to candle, but i've got 3 out and 2 more pipped.

I do a dry incubation and everything was on track right along. just the dorking eggs were not great... hoping my 2 girls i got start laying again. april pullets, i was told they were laying before i picked them up, but no eggs yet. they'll have been here 2 weeks monday.

depending how many eggs i get, i may start weekly or bi-weekly hatches just to see what i can get hatched from home eggs on them.

Well, they can also drown. We run our incubater at 55% +/- until day 18 when we stop turning and increase humidity to 65% +/-. Turning, temp, and humidity are the three main factors, a little but of schmutz on the shell shouldn't have been that important. Overall incubator cleanliness, which affect airs quality, is, however. 80% humidity could belabor the breath and make it difficult to muster the strength required for exclusion.

well, they were in an auto turner, incubation (dry) at about 25% humidity (weight loss at day 18 was right at 15%), i don't think incubator cleanliness was an issue, they're brand new. (cleaner than the eggs themselves) and the majority of the eggs never made it beyond day 18-19 (and had serious funk growing in them when i openned them). so i'm still waiting on the internally pipped one, and have one chick out.

she's fully fluffed now, and a bit darker than the pic shows, but here she was last night. (thinking she from the pics i've seen)

 

[Jake Levi]

Hi

I have been a fan of the Dorking for some time,

the Sandhill site says the Silver Dorking is the ancient one, and also that the White is very old, I doubt it would be easy to nail it down which. Re: the link to ther book, further on in the article he attributes a Lord Hill as having some of the best Dorkings around and then goes on to discribe a Silver.

Re the eggs, if shipped I would be strongly tempted to lay some negative credit to the postal service.

I had 3 shipments of eggs this spring, got six chicks total hatched, using an incubator with egg turner and another for a hatcher. I had two thermometers in each plus a digital hydrometer in the hatcher. The eggs were beautifully packed from 2 sources. I have since checked both incubators on another run through with more expensive thermometers and they were fine. I have used both of them with home produced eggs with very good results. Just food for thought.

The Silver Dorking is a good posibility for me , I have admired them for years.

I am also in the west. I had Dick Horstmans email, not sure where it is now, I do know that Sandhill Preservation in Iowa lists a number of Dorkings including colored, silver and white and others.

How has the egg production been for your birds?

 

[ki4got]

Quote:
well, i'm excited! my girls (who i was complaining about not laying yet) gave me my first egg this morning (hoping it didn't get too cold).
re: shipped eggs, yeah i blame postal for a lot of things LOL. but ALL of these eggs were fertile, and ALL developed to day 10-14, when 2/3 of them quit on me. and except for the 2 that hatched, the rest look like they quit before day 18...

i took pics of my 2 this morning, still trying to figure cockerel/pullet of the second, it's got the wide brown stripe on the head, but a white spot to the right edge... doesn't really look like any other pics i've seen of chicks... pretty sure the first is a pullet.

found this pic this afternoon... THIS is what i REALLY want. 8)

this is my goal down the road... but for now i'll work on what i can get.