B.Y.C. Dorking Club!

[DaveK]

A couple different things here in response to Kim's posts. I don't live with your cock birds so it's hard to tell about leg placement. One thing I would suggest is that they both seem very short of back as though they were square instead of being a bit rectangular.Too compact. We have had several very distinct lines of silver greys in the past. One line grew very well and MATURED very early. made impressive youngsters for the late fall shows if that was your thing. Problem with them was that was all we got. Everything they were at Christmas was as good as it got. I do not believe we want Dorkings that frame out or grow slowly. There is a big difference between not growing quickly and not maturing quickly. We ate the line that matured very early on and continued with the other two. It would be incorrect to say that we had to run birds on to find out if they were going to be big or typey. You could tell which to keep as they didn't lack frame or size; they lacked maturity. So we were able to put birds on the table while letting the best ones continue to fill out and develop. Those birds were very impressive their second autumn but it was added maturity and not added size. They just filled out the frame they had developed as youngsters. Can't say that all lines would behave as any of what we had did but the two good lines were very much unrelated and both produced quality birds that grew and developed in the same way. It sounds like Phil Bartz has had about the same experience with his birds as well.

 

[ki4got]

I agree, Lucky's back looks short from the pic, which may contribute to his more upright stance. can't quite tell on the second guy, but looks like the angle is skewing the pic somewhat as he's not really in profile...
Mine all seem to be more rectangular and 'flatter' (the girls especially), if that makes sense? in this pic, is it me or are their tails too high? the roo has more angle on his back, with the shoulders slightly higher than his rump...



and I found these 2 pics, which describe the shape pretty well I think.

 

[3littlebirds]

I will have a couple of free white Dorking (and Ancona) cockerels from Yellow House Farm available this spring, and someone suggested that I let you guys on this thread know. I live in the Boston area.

Here is my classified ad:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...-dorking-cockerels-available-this-spring-free

 

[Yellow House]

I thought I'd try posting a pic. I'm not to savvy photo-wise. This cockerel has greet bredth over his back and strong depth, with meaty thighs. He has a strong head, as well. He needs to be longer, but each season brings more. 2011 was a better year for pullets. I'm not thrilled with any of our cockerels. The females are showing better length. All are weighty and heavy in the palm.

I thought this phot gave a fun comparison to the White DOrking drawing submitted above with the superimposed rectangle.

 

[ki4got]

I thought I'd try posting a pic. I'm not to savvy photo-wise. This cockerel has greet bredth over his back and strong depth, with meaty thighs. He has a strong head, as well. He needs to be longer, but each season brings more. 2011 was a better year for pullets. I'm not thrilled with any of our cockerels. The females are showing better length. All are weighty and heavy in the palm.

I thought this phot gave a fun comparison to the White DOrking drawing submitted above with the superimposed rectangle.

very nice! now i want whites too! LOL but i'll restrain myself for a bit. I might have a line on a supplier of (occasional) red/colored/sg eggs... I'm planning on talking to them tomorrow, and if they're willing i will share contact info here. sent them a message dated november 2, got a response today. wow. maybe they need to check the email more often. LOL

 

[SoCal Dorkings]

I thought I'd try posting a pic. I'm not to savvy photo-wise. This cockerel has greet bredth over his back and strong depth, with meaty thighs. He has a strong head, as well. He needs to be longer, but each season brings more. 2011 was a better year for pullets. I'm not thrilled with any of our cockerels. The females are showing better length. All are weighty and heavy in the palm.

I thought this phot gave a fun comparison to the White DOrking drawing submitted above with the superimposed rectangle.

Thank you for posting that pic. I have only seen pre-digital photographs and grainy video of Whites before, and I always thought they were a bit plain to look at. I can see from this picture that the whites can be really nice looking birds, and have that unmistakeable Dorking presence. The bright red RC against the clean stark white with that carriage is really something. Like ki4got said... Now I want Whites too (LOL).

 

[DaveK]

Joe, First off this is a beautiful photo. Composition wise and that sort of thing. You should "try" more often LOL. I will agree that a bit more length is to be desired but as one who can remember when white Dorkings were invariably crap I have to say WOW!!! You have posted a few pics in the past as have at least one customer. Handsome birds and it was easy to see where things were going. You've already said in past posts they are improving and I am sure as heck going to agree. They LOOK LIKE DORKINGS! Not perfect yet but awfully nice. To my eyes your work is really paying off. It's great to see a minor variety of this grand old breed so nicely presented.

 

[Yellow House]

Thanks, everyone!

Thanks, Dave. Yes, they are getting there. I've got to admit, though, that I'm a heck of a perfectionist; so, I stare more at the errors than the strong points. They're behind our RC Anconas in progress, but those didn't have quite so far to go. We started showing the Anconas this year, and have had a great time with it. I'm hoping to at least be pleased enough with some pullets this coming year to but them on display.

The only way they've gotten to this point is via hatching in number and culling like crazy. I literally only kept (just under) 10% this year. I'm waiting for a point when I feel more confident in general quality that is going to hatch out. These are, of course, retained birds. There were some pretty unsightly culls. I do feelm though, that we're poised to take a stron step forward this coming year. I'm anxious to start hatching, but I'm going to wait a couple more weeks before setting eggs.

 

[X2Farm]

Yellow... wow. Just..WOW!

The pic REALLY helps see what a Dorking should look like.. thank you for posting that. It says more there, then just reading a description in the SOP.

Here's a couple pictures of the Red quad I have. I couldn't get a pic of them seperately standing relaxed...they were not happy being disturbed. They should fill out some more now that they've got ranging room, and are just finishing up molting for the last couple months.

 

[ki4got]

guess something's going right, hubby commented last night "WOW those dorkings have stumpy legs!" LOL

and YES! the big guy is fertile, just not with the right hens.

now I've just got to sell off my extra bantam girls so the big guy will start concentrating on HIS girls. but i think at least one of the bantam eggs I set is my silver duckwing oegb. LOL so we'll see what happens there. the other options are red cochin or rir.

i REALLY need to move the motorcycles... then i can get going on the horse trailer coop. the trailer won't ever move except to the junkyard because of a rotted axle, but the floor's solid, so why not make it a chicken house? i need more room to give the chicklets anyways. the small (free ranger) coop just won't be big enough for 8 bantam cochins and 12 more dorkings once they graduate from the hoop coop.

here's a question for you... how old should the hens be before i put them in with my egg layers? i'm not worried so much about feed changes, I feed everyone the same thing (20% chick feed) and offer the girls oyster shell. i just don't want anyone to start laying somewhere they're not supposed to. (like in the woods, as some hens have done)