B.Y.C. Dorking Club!

[dickhorstman]

Thanks!! Many,many years ago Dale Rice and Dick Greubel made the Silver Dorking bantam. This was in the sixties. I do not know if any other Dorking bantams existed at that time or not. Dale Rice started the project with a small LF Dorking and a couple of Silver Duckwing O.E. from me. I do not know,nor does it matter where the LF Dorking came from.They werent plentiful in those days but they were available. I picked up 5 Silver Duckwing O.E.pullets at Crossroads and have them in with 1 of the males. 1 of the fertile eggs is from this cross.


Just as a little tidbit, Dale Rice and Dick Greubel probably recreated more varieties of bantams than any five breeders.

 

[ki4got]

I have one sg cockerel that is about 2/3 the size of his hatchmates that I was contemplating putting with my oegb silver duckwing hen, depending on how he matures...

I'm wondering, if you breed a full sized dorking to a bantam, isn't there a chance the chicks would be too large for the egg? or does that happen? I know with horses, if you breed a drafter to a pony mare, she can control the size of the foal prior to birth somewhat, so that he's not too large to get out. so i'd be curious if that could happen with eggs...

I've got my oegb hen (and bantam rir, d'anvers and cochin) in with my adult dorkings right now anyways, maybe I should just try hatching her eggs and see if he's able to even breed her. pretty sure he's tried.

I contemplated that anyways, since her conformation is more of a dorking than oegb anyways. basically everything except the short legs and 5th toe, and floppy comb. if/when she starts laying again maybe i'll toss a few in the 'bator.

 

[Yellow House Farm]

Quote:
Thanks for the info, Dick. I've notied in studying the Standard that a lot of breeds and varieties of bantams seem to have been admitted tot he Standard in the 60's. Is this part of that trend? AM I correct in thinking there was a lot of bantam activity at that time?

 

[hensonly]

Quote:
I've had similar quitters in the incubator. of my first 21 eggs, I got 2 hatched, but attributed that to shipping. then so far of the first 12 of my own eggs, again i got 2. better percentage, but still... then of the next dozen, so far i have 4 still going. 1 is in the hatcher now, the other 3 go in on the 30th.

all start out strong, with near 100% fertility, then quit right around the 14 day mark. even the shipped eggs i started with. These birds are also all mmcm stock, a generation or 2 removed.

I'm wondering if this is a common thing? at this rate i'm going to have to incubate a thousand eggs to get 200 birds

I have some Sand Hill birds...last fall I ordered 25 dorkings, whatever colors they had available. I kept all the pullets and one roo, took 13 roos to be processed. I lost two pullets at about 7-8 months (one was an Orp that had filled in a small shortage of dorking chicks). Then I lost two more hens this fall, and the rooster. All but one hen died suddenly, were fine then one day combs and wattles went paler than the others' and in two to five days they were dead. The roo was perfectly fine, then one morning I went to let them out into the run and he was dead, fallen off the roost. He died before he fell, as there was no sign of struggle, no apparent injuries, just a dead bird. NOne of the ones who died had any noticeable symptoms - no runny poops, no goopy eyes or snotty nostrils, no wheezing or respiratory distress. Just a sudden paleness of comb, lethargy, and then dead. Appetites fine until lethargy set in.

The one exception was one hen who was not thriving for quite a while...her beak was not right. The top was both long and very sharply curved at the tip, while the bottom was too long, extending out into the curve of the top beak. As a result, she had a gap between top and bottom beak that you could actually see through from one side to the other. This made it hard for her to eat; I had to switch from crumble to pellets so she could pick up her food. she was fine to about ten months old, then slowly stopped thriving and in spite of my efforts to give her food she could eat, she died at about 13 months.

I now have one black hen who started down that path...she went pale and got lethargic, quit roosting at night, stopped eating. I soaked some feed in hot water, mixed in some scrambled egg, a glop of yogurt, some cooked oatmeal and a dolllop of peanut butter. She chowed down on that so I have continued it. she is now (after about a week) going up into the nest boxes at night. She comes right to me when I go out, anticipating her warm meal. However, she seems to be lame on one leg, walking along and then occasionally sticking out the wing on that side to catch herself. I can't tell if she's stepping on her own feet and tripping, or what. I've felt the leg all the way up and can't find anything wrong, though she panics if I try to hold her to really examine it. she doesn't walk "up tall" now, either, but sort of as if someone cut an inch off the length of her legs. She seems chipper enough in terms of spirits, but physically she doesn't seem to want to move around too much. She stays in the chicken house almost all the time. I still don't know what's up, I talked to the local cooperative extension "chicken guy" and he is puzzled too. I have arrangements for a necropsy if another hen dies. I thought it would be this one, and it may still be, but for now she's holding her own, and clearly feels better than a couple of weeks ago - though not back to normal, either. These dorkings were a year old in September.

That's my Sand Hill experience (the colors are not what the breed standard calls for, either, except my SG roo who died... I don't blame Sand Hill; as the birds were all healthy until past point of lay (they started laying at four months). Having read about someone else's similar troubles with McMurray dorkings, is this a problem with certain lines? Or just plain bad luck of the draw?

I want to get some new chicks this spring, and was thinking of trying some McMurray birds, but now I don't know...some of you have gotten some decent starter birds from there, yes?

Any advice/suggestions welcome. I don't want to show, I want a good dual purpose bird for my own use, but I'd like my dorkings to be reasonably correct in terms of the standard... and to live long enough to raise the next generation!!

(sorry, I seem to have posted in the middle of the original post instead of at the end)



how are sand hill's birds? anyone had any comparisons? what about other colors? I'm starting to think maybe mixing colors might be a good thing if only to improve the lines. then color can be selected for once again. thoughts on this?

 

[ki4got]

Quote:
Well, I can't speak for anyone else, but that is my plan... I will still keep my pure lines of color going (once i get the colored and red that is) but also plan to mix the colors in my egg coop, and see what happens. if the chicks come out strong healthy and as good or better than their parents (conformation, size, etc) then i will start another breeding pen, breeding back to the pure colored birds and see if that helps with some of the issues I've noticed...

I'm also interested in genetics and think it would be interesting to determine exactly what color mutations we're working with for the colored and red as well. I'm THINKING from looking at photos, researching the color mutations etc, that the reds are actually bbr with mahogany thrown in, and the colored is a dilute bbr (no mahogany). if this is the case, then breeding 2nd gen birds, I should get a variety, including straight bbr. if that's the case, then I plan to start a pure line of 'normal' colored dorkings, to occasionally breed back to one of the other lines, since this wouldn't involve any additional color mixing. of course this is all speculation right now, as I don't have the birds to breed to yet, but it's in the works at least.

 

[capayvalleychick]

hensonly, because of the way that post came out, I'm not clear on which was your question.

I've had both McM & SH Dorkings and would choose the McM Dorkings. You could also join the Dorking Club, look in the breeder's directory and buy from a breeder. I also suggest that you do a necropsy next time a bird dies, so you can figure out what is going on.

Kim

 

[dickhorstman]

In the 60s there were several things that makes it seem as though bantams were on top. Please bear in mind that these are my opinions. The APA was nearly defunct. George Fitterer had built the ABA into a powerhouse organization. Large fowl were disappearing from the family farm since the commercial breeders could produce poultry cheaper than the farmer. The APA was slow to accept many breeds and varieties of bantams. George Fitterer and Frank Gary put together the first ABA standard. Many,breeds and varieties were put in this standard without qualifying meets. Some of those added were not even being bred at that time. The APA then got proactive and started adding breeds and varieties of bantams that had counterparts in lar
ge fowl.

So yes bantams were more popular in those days. The renewed popularity in large fowl is something that has been brought about by people being aware and concerned about where there food is coming from. About time.


I think that people have tried to create or recreate breeds or varieties forever. I mentioned Dale Rice and Dick Greubel because they were good at what they did. When they were making a breed they would hatch hundreds.

 

[Yellow House Farm]

Thank you, Dick, once again for the information!

I noticed your ad in the Poultry Press, which just arrived. You have Red Dorkings listed. For the benefit of those on here who might be interested in your stock, can you tell us about them, how you sell: chicks, started, adults? Do you have set prices? What's the best way for would-be customers to place an order with you?

 

[ki4got]

Quote:
I, for one, would like to see some pics... of your silver greys too? even if they're not for sale.

and along that line of thought, who has colored? eggs or chicks? i still haven't placed my order with sandhill, yeah i'm procrastinating. but if i can find breeders with better birds, i'd rather go that route than the hatchery option.

 

[capayvalleychick]

Quote:
I, for one, would like to see some pics... of your silver greys too? even if they're not for sale.

I also would like to see photos of your LF Silvers!

Kim