B.Y.C. Dorking Club!

[Sydney Acres]

I have had dorkings for only a short time but I absolutely LOVE their personalities. they are docile but confident. they aren't skittish at all. they are the first ones to run up to me to see what I have and haven't seen them being peckish with any of the other chickens.

my cockerel is another story...I was pretty unhappy with him for quite some time but once I got rid of the other cockerel that was dominant, he calmed down and stopped picking on the girls...I was shocked because before he was making a real *** of himself. but I am giving him a second chance and he's doing pretty well.

But the girls are my favorile chickens so far.

That is wonderful news. I know you were really upset at his behavior when your Maran rooster first left. How old was he when he first started behaving properly? I have six Dorking cockerels and only want to keep two. They're only 16 weeks old, so too soon to make any final selections, but I already have some strong preferences. One is a definate keeper, as he has good size, conformation, comb, feet, color, and temperament. One is a definate cull, as he has nothing going for him other than temperament. Another two are almost certainly culls, as they were jerks even before the testosterone hit, and they're not on the top of the list for any other features.

But the other two are my quandry, as they keep alternating between second choice and third choice. They're growing out very differently, so it's really too soon to decide what their final body conformations will be, although I suspect that both will be good. They're similar weights. One has better feet, the other a better comb. One has average good color after his last molt, the other has spectacular color starting with his first feathers, and he gets better with every new feather. (I know, I'm way too early in my breeding program to make culling decisions based on color, but there's no reason to throw it away when it's part of the package.) One is the sweetest boy, appropriately calm but still all cockerel. But the one with the best color turned into a total jerk when the testosterone hit, although he was sweet prior to that. He's not happy just to be the dominant rooster; he really wants to hurt everyone, even the most submissive and smallest hens. He's not attacked me yet, but sometimes I can tell he's considering it. All the other young birds, including a larger rooster, are terrified of him. Normally I'd just write-off a bird with his attitude, but in him I know it's just "testosterone poisoning." He wasn't like this when he was younger, and it hit him like a brick one day, at the same time as his comb suddenly grew. I've put him in a one acre fenced wooded area, along with the other two roosters with bad attitudes, so the remaining flock is not terrorized. But while the other two roosters explore their new territory and find lots of things to do, he spends his entire day pacing the fence line, luring the hens over with sweet chortles then lunging at the fence when they get close. He's got it bad!! He's so focused that he's not eating as well and his weight gain has slowed. I do not want to put him in with my two adult roosters, as they are 5 year old Langshans and housed as a long-term stable and bonded family. The Langshan roosters would do anything to protect their hens, and I don't want the disruption to their flock, or the risk of injury to the older roosters if junior didn't back down promptly.

What does everyone think about this cockerel's attitude? For this breed, is this considered normal teenage boy stuff or is it excessive? (I know all young roosters are jerks to some degree, but this is really over the top.) Does he have the potential to calm down enough to be a sweet rooster once the teenage hormones loosen their grip, or is this how he is likely to remain? If you think he is likely to behave better in the future, at what age should I expect the transformation?

--April

 

[ki4got]

Quote: this would be as far as he got with me... as soon as they start considering it, they will IMO... just a matter of time.

but i do have to say, my big guy supposedly went after someone's 3 year old, but i've never seen even a hint of attitude out of him... i've been flogged by a few other roos since i got the big guy, and he will go after them like there's no tomorrow if he sees them threaten a person. they get 2 chances. first one i might attribute to a bad day. second time they're done. sold if i can, cooked if i can't.

 

[capayvalleychick]

Many of my cockerels have gone through a stage where they consider whether to take me on. I let them try it- once- and make sure that they regret it and never want to try it again. This usually solves the problem and they continue to respect me. If the behavior continues or gets worse, they should be culled.

A master breeder told me that an older cock bird, put in with the young cockerels (no hens or pullets), will teach them manners. I haven't tried this.

Oh, and I've seen roosters that have never been aggressive go after children or strangers in their coop area. I'm guessing this is part of their protecting the flock. Or maybe they think toddlers are really big chickens.

Kim

 

[neopolitancrazy]

Dear fellow Dorking enthusiasts,
I wanted to let you know how my first attempt at raising Dorkings had progressed. I ordered 15 black Dorkings and 10 dark grey Dorkings from Sandhill this year, received them the first week of May. 4 were poor doers, but Sandhill sent 2 extra, so I wound up with 23 healthy chicks that spent 3 weeks under the brooder in the garage before moving to unheated rabbit cages in the sheep barn. At six weeks of age, they were released to free range under the protection of 3 LGDs with several feeders of Purina Flock Raiser scattered around their area. I agree with the people who stated that these varieties need a lot of work, and decided to keep 3 pullets for layers and we put the remainder in the freezer at 15 weeks. (Actually, a fourth pullet was wily enough to jump off the roost in the middle of the night and hide in some weeds near the barn until Poultry Butchering Day was over.) Although the chickens and their carcasses varied widely in size, all carcasses were attractively well-muscled/fleshed out and the first one was delicious! I loved their calm, confident, curious manner before PBD, and am very impressed with their caution/predator avoidance skills since then. I will definitely order more Dorkings, (just a different variety,) as soon as my impending job change/relocation will allow.

Best wishes,
Angela

 

[ki4got]

Dear fellow Dorking enthusiasts,
I wanted to let you know how my first attempt at raising Dorkings had progressed. I ordered 15 black Dorkings and 10 dark grey Dorkings from Sandhill this year, received them the first week of May. 4 were poor doers, but Sandhill sent 2 extra, so I wound up with 23 healthy chicks that spent 3 weeks under the brooder in the garage before moving to unheated rabbit cages in the sheep barn. At six weeks of age, they were released to free range under the protection of 3 LGDs with several feeders of Purina Flock Raiser scattered around their area. I agree with the people who stated that these varieties need a lot of work, and decided to keep 3 pullets for layers and we put the remainder in the freezer at 15 weeks. (Actually, a fourth pullet was wily enough to jump off the roost in the middle of the night and hide in some weeds near the barn until Poultry Butchering Day was over.) Although the chickens and their carcasses varied widely in size, all carcasses were attractively well-muscled/fleshed out and the first one was delicious! I loved their calm, confident, curious manner before PBD, and am very impressed with their caution/predator avoidance skills since then. I will definitely order more Dorkings, (just a different variety,) as soon as my impending job change/relocation will allow.

Best wishes,
Angela

honestly, having had a bunch of sandhill birds myself this year, at first i wasn't overly impressed with them. but i think processing them at 15 weeks, you lost a LOT of potential meat...
if you look back to the red pullet i posted pics of as an example, at about 16 weeks, they were kind of undersized, but now at just under 5 months, the ones i kept are MUCH larger.

 

[neopolitancrazy]

i think processing them at 15 weeks, you lost a LOT of potential meat...

That is my husband's opinion, too; but with all due respect, neither of you were buying their feed or cleaning their mess. As they are, a medium chicken is just right for the 2 of us to eat at one meal. I was most interested in cutting the feed bill and reducing the manure production/pen cleaning. I saw no point in investing further time, energy and money in a project that wasn't going well, and I had time and good weather for butchering, no guarantee of either when the chickens and ducklings got a little older or bigger. Just my circumstances at the time, not intending anyone to follow my lead. I did enjoy the Dorkings very much, and will try a different variety after I find a new job, probably in a new state, and move there.

Angela

 

[pysankigirl]

We went to the American Frontier Culture museum in Staunton VA this past weekend and they had Dorkings at one of the farmsteads (Irish I think)! (colored, they said, although at first I assumed red. some were more colored than others) their feet were awful, though...wonder why so bad. mine are great by comparison. made me wonder what good feet look like when people talk about good feet.

they were much bigger than mine (17 weeks now?) so I think mine are not finished growing yet.

 

[naturespace]

We went to the American Frontier Culture museum in Staunton VA this past weekend and they had Dorkings at one of the farmsteads (Irish I think)! (colored, they said, although at first I assumed red.  some were more colored than others)  their feet were awful, though...wonder why so bad.  mine are great by comparison.  made me wonder what good feet look like when people talk about good feet.

they were much bigger than mine (17 weeks now?) so I think mine are not finished growing yet.

Very cool. We live 15 minutes from there and haven't gone yet. Now I have more motivation.

 

[capayvalleychick]

made me wonder what good feet look like when people talk about good feet.

Here's a silhouette that I made from the APA SOP artist's rendition of a Dorking. (I'm not sure if this is copyright infringement). The feet will give you a general idea of how good feet should look.

 

[greenhorn]

Here's a silhouette that I made from the APA SOP artist's rendition of a Dorking. (I'm not sure if this is copyright infringement). The feet will give you a general idea of how good feet should look.

Thanks for the picture. Looks like most of my whites have good feet and shape. Legs look a bit long but maybe they will grow into them. I keep promising to take pictures. Need to borrow the wife's iphone again...... Anyway I have to say YellowHouse is onto a good thing. They are still fairly young, oldest is probably less than 18 weeks and still slowly growing away. I think we got a dorking egg the other day too. Never seen one quite so white come from my birds. The oldest dorking hens are mixed in with our oldest white roo's and the old laying hens. They are about the same size as the old laying hens now. I'm thinking we should really be able to find some pretty good sized birds that actually meet the standard in a few years but hey, i'm still pretty green when it comes to Dorkings. The shape of my fav birds certainly isn't far from that picture either... Definitely work to do but i can see there is great potential.