B.Y.C. Dorking Club!

[capayvalleychick]

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? ...
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.

Congrats on the chicks! I know the feeling, when you finally get pullets.

My Sand Hill SGDs have variation in the shades of color. I'm hoping to get enough with correct type that I can cull these.
I think that the 5th toe is dominant. Any cross bred chickens I've produced have all had 5 toes. So that should be an easy fix for you.
Good luck,
Kim

 

[ki4got]

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!

grats on getting the chicklets outside. 8) i've got 5 that will be joining the kids that went out a bit over a week ago, but we haven't had any mild days for a bit so i'm still hesitant to add them to the older bunch. they were all together inside but these ones weren't feathered enough when the older guys went out.

on a sadder note, i lost my 'junior' cockerel hatched back in october. not sure what happenned, fine one day, next i went looking for him and found him where everyone hangs out, under the sailboat trailer. no marks on him, no sign of anything. the only thing i did notice about him was that he ran funny, and tended to 'sit down' a lot more than his sister. but my cochins do that ALL the time, so i didn't really think much about it till he was gone. he was my only unrelated roo, but at the same time, wasn't high on my list of quality chicks, as he had BROWN shoulders, and was duckfooted bigtime (that's why he ran funny i think). but 'little girl' is doing fine and keeping up with her EE hatchmates. LOL one of the cockerels flirts with her hard, but i hate to tell him it isn't ever gonna happen.

I do have to say though, I'm pleased with how the younger chicks are developing. I weighed the youngest batch, for curiosity the other day, and the 3 pullets and other cockerel all weighed 115-118g, this little guy weighed 155g !! WOW! so he's got an extra band on to make sure i keep an eye on him. i've been banding everyone by year/hatch group so i can track growth. the older chicks are all getting pretty close in size, so it's making it easier on me to see who's who.

edit: oops... i meant 215-218, and 255g... just looked at my notes. bad memory. k.i.forgot struck again.

 

[ki4got]

Congrats on the chicks! I know the feeling, when you finally get pullets.

My Sand Hill SGDs have variation in the shades of color. I'm hoping to get enough with correct type that I can cull these.
I think that the 5th toe is dominant. Any cross bred chickens I've produced have all had 5 toes. So that should be an easy fix for you.
Good luck,
Kim

I think there are actually a number of different genes that control polydactily, and not all of them are dominant. so breeding some of those 4 toed chicks back to 5 toed ones might result in more 5 toes. I have a 4 toed chick from my sultan/oegb bantams, but her 4th toe is twice as long as normal, and has a split toenail. (on both feet) now if i could incorporate my sultan's toes onto the dorkings, LOL i like his. it's really the only thing about him i DO like... if it weren't for the comic relief he provides he'd be dinner already.

 

[RareBreedFancier]

I believe 5 toes are dominant, thank goodness. Both my roo and 1 hen only have 4 toes so I'm assuming most of the 4 toed chicks are theirs. One 5 toed hen was broody so I'm assuming the 5 toed chicks are hers. Since I have such a heavy split towards 4 toes either I hatched a lot more eggs from one hen or the 5 toed hen is carrying the recessive 4 toed gene. I won't know that for sure unless I split the hens up to know who laid which egg.

Unfortunately I've lost both of the 5 toed cockerels I planned to use this season so everyone is in the same breeding pen. Ideally I'd have had 3 pairs set up but it just didn't end up being possible. Hence why I am so keen to get at least one 5 toed cockerel. All the 5 toed chicks will be carrying the recessive 4 toed gene which is annoying but I'll just have to deal with it.
I'm just so pleased to finally have some pure chicks!

 

[Bentley]

The Polydactyl gene that causes 5 toes is actually an incomplete dominant gene. This means that when crossing a 5 toe bird with a 4 toe bird you will get a mix in offspring. Most will have 5 toes, but you will get some 4 toes as well and a mix of 'in betweens'. The 'in between' can have 5 on one foot and 4 on the other or that 4th/5th toe can be anywhere from completely separate from each other to branching off each other. As soon as you can try to eliminate the use of any 4 toed breeders and you should be able to reduce the incidences of 4 toed offspring. However, even after you using all polydactyl (5 toed breeders) you may still get a few with 4 toes but it will occur less frequently with each successive generation.

 

[RareBreedFancier]

That's brilliant Bentley, I have a bunch of Silkie crosses with 5 on one foot and 4 on the other so that explains it.

I have a number of 'in between' Dorking pullets but I wasn't terribly surprised to see that because the 5 toed mother hen doesn't have great toes either. So sounds like I might be right in thinking she's probably only got one copy of the Polydactyl gene, explaining the large number of 4 toed chicks.

Going to be nice when I have enough birds to cull heavily, maybe next year? (I hope!) I'd sure rather work on size than toes but if I'm not careful I'll lose the toes because of the genetics in the birds I've started with. I really need a 5 toed cockerel so I'll just have to keep hatching.

 

[Bentley]

I currently raise a few five toed (polydactyl) breeds, (Houdans, Silkies, and Favorelles) and will be adding Dorkings to my mix this year. Over the years I have always tried to find something, anything, that I can cull chicks for at hatch so I can hatch as many as possible without feeding 'everybody'. One thing I have always done with any five toed breed is cull at hatch for good toe arrangement. The polydactyl gene is so irregularly expressed that even when you have all your breeders expressing true five toes you can still get some four toed offspring, but with each successive generation the incidence will decrease. So, yes, when you get all your breeders with five toes in good arrangement you should begin to get to the point that you cull less at hatch for that trait. Whether the trait be comb type/quality, toe arrangement, skin/leg color whatever, if it is a definative quantitative trait like that (comb right or wrong, toes right or wrong, skin color right or wrong, etc), this way you are able to 'clean up' those bad traits so you wont have to 'fight them' for many many generations.

Just my random thoughts!!!

 

[ki4got]

I currently raise a few five toed (polydactyl) breeds, (Houdans, Silkies, and Favorelles) and will be adding Dorkings to my mix this year. Over the years I have always tried to find something, anything, that I can cull chicks for at hatch so I can hatch as many as possible without feeding 'everybody'. One thing I have always done with any five toed breed is cull at hatch for good toe arrangement. The polydactyl gene is so irregularly expressed that even when you have all your breeders expressing true five toes you can still get some four toed offspring, but with each successive generation the incidence will decrease. So, yes, when you get all your breeders with five toes in good arrangement you should begin to get to the point that you cull less at hatch for that trait. Whether the trait be comb type/quality, toe arrangement, skin/leg color whatever, if it is a definative quantitative trait like that (comb right or wrong, toes right or wrong, skin color right or wrong, etc), this way you are able to 'clean up' those bad traits so you wont have to 'fight them' for many many generations.

Just my random thoughts!!!

well i've been fortunate that i've got 5 toes on everyone, but I'm finding that the toe conformation seems to improve with age. when they're real young i've seen a LOT more duck-footed chicks, and as they get older some are moving backwards (some more than others). though I'm not culling ANYONE yet, as I need meat birds too, so they'll grow until they can go in the freezer, so I'll be picky once they're up to a good enough size to do something with, either way.

cross fingers, I may have a deal worked out with someone to get some red and red/colored eggs to hatch soon...

 

[RareBreedFancier]

I understand what your saying Bentley, I too hope to be able to cull for incorrect toes at hatch in a few seasons. My goal this season is to get at least one nice 5 toed cockerel. If I get 2 or 3 I'll be very happy. Hoping I'll get some more 5 toed pullets too. =)

I hope to have at least two breeding pens next year, if I'm lucky 3 or 4. Even if I only have a few nice females with each male, I think I'd rather have more pens than fewer males with more females. I've never lost a female but I've lost two Dorking roos and nearly lost my original one which would have ended my breeding plans so I'd rather have more boys than needed than not enough.

Karen, good luck with those eggs!

 

[Tracydr]

Anybody have Silver Dorkings from Ideal Hatchery? I'm thinking about getting on the wait list to order some, unless I can find somebody with hatching eggs to place under a broody.
Would they be at least as good as Mcmurray's? For some reason I prefer working with Ideal, but not enough to get lesser quality chicks, if the Dorkings are better from Mcmurray's.
also, I'd be interested in buying a dozen eggs and would prefer colored or red, if possible. I seem to be having quite a few broodies all winter so it's probably pretty safe for me to take the chance on buying some hatching eggs pretty soon, despite not having an incubator. Thanks!