B.Y.C. Dorking Club!

[Joycats]

Quote:
Joy, yes I hang out here in the background dreaming of Dorkings. These are really pretty birds! That first one almost has Barnevelder. Very pretty!

Hey Heidi! Thanks, I really love these little birds. The experts here think I have wyandottes so I guess my "expert" was right after all. I'll still be dreaming of dorkings too. One of these days.....

 

[SoCal Dorkings]

Quote:
Joy, yes I hang out here in the background dreaming of Dorkings. These are really pretty birds! That first one almost has Barnevelder. Very pretty!

Hey Heidi! Thanks, I really love these little birds. The experts here think I have wyandottes so I guess my "expert" was right after all. I'll still be dreaming of dorkings too. One of these days.....

I'll tell ya what Joycats, as soon as my Dorkings are laying well, I'll trade you some eggs. My mom would absolutely

some cute little birds like yours

 

[SoCal Dorkings]

Quote:
Thanks Joseph. I have certainly heard of him. Do you know what the quality of his SG's are? And/or where his lines come from?

I have already ordered the minimum 25 chicks, but I could only get 10 Dorkings, so I got Silver Campines for the other 15. I am still looking for hatching eggs and chicks from other bloodlines, since as Kim knows, we don't have much of anything out here in any part of California.

I think eventually I will want to concentrate on the Reds or Coloreds. but you have to have them to concentrate on them (lol). If that happens, I will still be happy to have spent the time and money getting to know the different types so I know I end up with what I love most, and I will make sure that any "spare" birds get into the right hands.

 

[Yellow House Farm]

SoCal, why don't you just start up with the reds?

 

[Joycats]

Quote:
Hey Heidi! Thanks, I really love these little birds. The experts here think I have wyandottes so I guess my "expert" was right after all. I'll still be dreaming of dorkings too. One of these days.....

I'll tell ya what Joycats, as soon as my Dorkings are laying well, I'll trade you some eggs. My mom would absolutely

some cute little birds like yours

I would LOVE that!!! Thank you so much, I look forward to trading with you real soon.

 

[007medic]

'lo All

Been reading through this thread and others online to learn more about Dorkings. I'm especially keen on coloreds, tho, from what I've read thus far, there ain't much out there and what is out there is kinda' dicey. I'm looking to start in earnest this spring with a new dedicated coop and hatching eggs as I can find them. In the meantime I'm about my due diligence in studying up on the breed, the standard ...and I think I might have to do a hard scrounge on multifactorial genetics. I'd welcome any advice y'all would like to offer and look forward to learning more.

John

 

[DaveK]

Hi John, send me an email and I'll mail you an article Craig Russell wrote on the colored Dorking for an APA Yearbook. It's in a pdf format. It won't make things any easier

but you'll understand more of what makes them so hard. You might give him a call as well about locating stock. There's not a lot of it out there, especially when looking for the true colored cock that can pretty much reproduce himself. Craig is in Middleburg, Pa. and has a listed phone last I knew. No longer lists an email. I'm easy to get hold of. [email protected]

 

[capayvalleychick]

I never even considered Stromberg's since it is a hatchery. I just looked at their site and it says that they sell SQ chicks and adult SG Dorkings. I've never heard anything about their Dorkings. I wonder how close they are to type?
Duane Urch told me that he's not selling Dorkings this year. Would he be supplying chicks to hatcheries if he's not selling to the public?

Kim

 

[007medic]

Hey thanks Dave- consider the email sent-
John

 

[RareBreedFancier]

I'm so excited! I've moved a bunch of Dorking chicks outside and they are doing great.

Even better, I have predominantly pullets.

I have noticed something interesting though, all 3 hens have almost the same breast color but these chicks have a range from quite light salmon to quite dark chestnut color. Any thoughts? I don't want to select towards either of these extremes but I was wondering about using them in breeding.

I also have a little cockerel who seems to have a lot of silver in his breast, anyone had chicks with that? He'll be a cull I assume if it doesn't moult out to better color when he gets older but I'm marking him to keep an eye on. He's the only one with much breast feathering so I'll be watching to see what colors his brothers have.

At the moment any pullet with 5 toes is joining the breeders, I still haven't got a 5 toed cockerel and I'm annoyed with the number of 4 toed chicks I'm getting. I really want that fixed as it's such a basic flaw I should be able to eliminate it in one or two breeding seasons. I just need enough numbers to not need to include 4 toed birds in my breeding pens.

These chicks hatched over several weeks so the oldest pullet is 6wo and the youngest chicks are nearly 3wo. I'm so, so, so happy to finally have some pure bred Dorking chicks!