B.Y.C. Dorking Club!

[poultrypalacewhidbey]

Hi everyone,
I just wanted to quickly alert everyone about an individual who i met at a show this weekend. The person in question is trying to buy a pair or an adult cock or hen dorking that is of good type and excellent feather condition. Please be aware that the said individual will be killing any bird that they purchase and having them taxidermied and exported out of the country to go to a museum of sorts. As i think this is an extremely poor use of good stock of such a rare breed i encourage people not to do business with this person. I do not know the person's name but I know they were approaching other owners of rare breeds at the show and trying to buy their best birds as well.
Thank you for reading this,
Sincerely,
Emma Ruggiero

 

[RedBugPoultry]

Many of us are members of the Dorking Breeder's Club. This club is the new version which took over when the previous Dorking Club of North America was no longer active.
Jim Parker, who does almost all the duties of the Club is a single dad of 6, attends OSU and works full time. So, it can take him some time to get back to you. You should receive a directory. Maybe if you email Jim and ask, he will send it a little faster.
The Club is definitely in need of volunteers to help it run smoothly.

Kim

Kim, Thank you for letting me know the situation! I actually had emailed him and did not hear anything, thus the reason I had written on here. I am fine knowing what the situation is as I have one child and can barely find time for anything else....

 

[plantcityhomestead]

Mary posted a bunch of photos of her Dorkings on her farm page on facebook. Check them out.
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Roseland-Haven-Farm/170211816402340

 

[ki4got]

thanks for the link to mary's birds...

on a side note, i've got eggs hatching! weird thing is, i set 9 cross-colored eggs (colored/dark red girls w/ sg roo) and 5 sg. 1 crossed egg was clear, 1 sg clear. 8 crossed eggs and 3 sg made it to lockdown. ALL crossed eggs hatched early, the sg haven't even pipped yet. currently on day 20. one was out last night, 3 more this morning, the rest out this evening. now i'm waiting on the sg's to get out. couple odd toe configurations on the chicks that hatched, but overall better than the roo's got. can't wait to see how they color out.

for the sg's... i've got 12 more cross and 8 sg eggs due the 29/30th. (i set them close to midnight, so now sure which day to count LOL)

 

[plantcityhomestead]

thanks for the link to mary's birds...

on a side note, i've got eggs hatching! weird thing is, i set 9 cross-colored eggs (colored/dark red girls w/ sg roo) and 5 sg. 1 crossed egg was clear, 1 sg clear. 8 crossed eggs and 3 sg made it to lockdown. ALL crossed eggs hatched early, the sg haven't even pipped yet. currently on day 20. one was out last night, 3 more this morning, the rest out this evening. now i'm waiting on the sg's to get out. couple odd toe configurations on the chicks that hatched, but overall better than the roo's got. can't wait to see how they color out.

for the sg's... i've got 12 more cross and 8 sg eggs due the 29/30th. (i set them close to midnight, so now sure which day to count LOL)

Post photos when you can.

 

[poultrypalacewhidbey]

thanks for the link to mary's birds...

on a side note, i've got eggs hatching! weird thing is, i set 9 cross-colored eggs (colored/dark red girls w/ sg roo) and 5 sg. 1 crossed egg was clear, 1 sg clear. 8 crossed eggs and 3 sg made it to lockdown. ALL crossed eggs hatched early, the sg haven't even pipped yet. currently on day 20. one was out last night, 3 more this morning, the rest out this evening. now i'm waiting on the sg's to get out. couple odd toe configurations on the chicks that hatched, but overall better than the roo's got. can't wait to see how they color out.

for the sg's... i've got 12 more cross and 8 sg eggs due the 29/30th. (i set them close to midnight, so now sure which day to count LOL)

You sound like me, i keep putting the eggs int he incubator late at night and then wondering when the buggers are going to hatch. I have got tons of little dorkings in brooders in my basement and hopefully more coming. Several power outages and an incubator malfunction took their toll (it has been an eventful spring for me) but otherwise hatch rates have been so good that i actually didn't set any eggs last week as i wont have anywhere to put them if they hatch. Lots of culling in my future this week so I can make room to hatch out some more. I sold a bunch of dorkings the PNPA show in stevenson, WA over the weekend, but I still have some cockerels that are probably destined for the freezer soon. I got my camera working again so I am going to try and get some pictures of some of my breeders and some of the chicks I am hatching. I have been getting more chicks from the crosses of the two lines i currently have and am getting some interesting results in down color. Some are coming out very light and I dont have a clue if they are male or female. I also got a few that have suspiciously reddish down. I think there are some red dorking genes floating around in a couple of my birds. It will be interesting to see what the reddish ones look like when the feather out. If they do turn out to look like they have some red dorking in them way back somewhere then I will have to do some additional culling in my breeder flock.

 

[ki4got]

well, that's what i get for counting my chickens... i said all 8 were hatched, when the last one was all zipped and ready to push out... and died. pulled him out and can't find a thing wrong. yolk all absorbed, no blood vessels still active, everything fully formed and ready to go.

file that one under "What the BLEEP".

still no signs of pip on the sg eggs... i'm thinking maybe creating a 'new' line of sg's from these chicks. i know the lines are badly inbred, and just from these chicks hatched today i'm AMAZED at the difference in hatching and activity once hatched from the pure sg chicks i've raised. still

that the sg's hatch, i need another (pure) cockerel or 2. not to mention pullets too.

still, it'll be interesting to see what the colors cross as. i'm also planning a couple test breedings with something true (purebred) bbr. haven't decided what breed to use, and purely for color genetics research on my part. I was thinking about using oegb, and using AI to get the 2 together for the first generation... the big guy's been trying but my oegb hen, while willing, is just too tiny LOL.

 

[Aeropennchick]

Hello everyone! I am new to chickens and ordered a mixed flock of day old pullets that I will be driving five hours each way to pick up in July (I'm worried that is too hot a month for any shipping!).
I guess I'm doing some breed shopping before I settle on one to focus on - that's why I went hatchery, since it would be next to impossible to get one sexed pullet chick of that many breeds from a private breeder.

One of my new chicks will be a silver grey dorking. Do any of you have any info on the stock at the Meyer hatchery for this breed? I realize it will be a far cry from breeder quality, so I mean mostly temperament and hardiness.

Also, living in southern PA, we can get some snowy, cold winters. Is there anything I should watch out for with my dorking? I think their combs look kinda large - is there a risk of frostbite?


Thank so much in advance! I feel like I want one of every chicken I have seen! I like to call this the "pokemon mentality" - gotta catch 'em all. Yeah that's me!

 

[ki4got]

Hello everyone! I am new to chickens and ordered a mixed flock of day old pullets that I will be driving five hours each way to pick up in July (I'm worried that is too hot a month for any shipping!).
I guess I'm doing some breed shopping before I settle on one to focus on - that's why I went hatchery, since it would be next to impossible to get one sexed pullet chick of that many breeds from a private breeder.

One of my new chicks will be a silver grey dorking. Do any of you have any info on the stock at the Meyer hatchery for this breed? I realize it will be a far cry from breeder quality, so I mean mostly temperament and hardiness.

Also, living in southern PA, we can get some snowy, cold winters. Is there anything I should watch out for with my dorking? I think their combs look kinda large - is there a risk of frostbite?


Thank so much in advance! I feel like I want one of every chicken I have seen! I like to call this the "pokemon mentality" - gotta catch 'em all. Yeah that's me!

i haven't got any experience with meyer's, but if they're typical dorkings then they should be nice mellow birds. the thing to watch out for is frostbite on the comb. dampness will cause more problems than temperature itself.

i used to have a mixed flock as well, just to bide my time with as i researched other breeds i might be interested in. i decided the dorking was worth trying. then i fell in love with them. LOL i have some easter eggers for the eggs, but the dorking has wormed its way into my heart. i used to think the dorking was my mission and bantam cochins my passion but the dorking's pushing the cochins back just a bit i think.

 

[Aeropennchick]

Thanks for the reply - I will keep the frostbite risk in mind