B.Y.C. Dorking Club!

[ki4got]

speaking of eggs... I am getting 4-6 PUREBRED silver grey eggs daily from my new group and have verified fertility is great. 8) so if anyone's interested PM me. I also have a bst ad up too for all the eggs I'm getting.

 

[Sazbaby]

best I can say, since I know what they came from potentially, is wait for them to mature and we'll see what you've got. LOL yeah I know from your many emails, waiting isn't your strong point. (just teasing).

all single combs is a good thing. that weeds out the Wyandotte and ee's. other than that, I would say the red and sg are obvious, the lighter golden ones could be golden cockerels (heterozygous for silver). but for now it'll just be a waiting game.

if you WANT more EE chicks, I've got a BUNCH of weebies in the brooder. 8) think you got all the pure eggs and I hatched all the ee/'dotte mutts.

LOL You've got me pegged... I don't "do" waiting very well! lmao

I might be interested in a few EE crosses, As much as we love our "Shelly" we are a bit disappointed that she didn't turn out to be an EE cross! We like having a little egg color variety! lol

Any guesses as to gender for these little ones? I tagged a couple I thought were girls, but the rest all look boys to me!

 

[ki4got]

Quote: on your latest hatch? all I could do would be guess and you've probably already guessed the same as I have...

on my new hatches, I've got a bunch. pm me for details I don't want to clog up the thread with non dorking stuff. 8)
I prefer PM vs email if you don't mind...

 

[LilyD]

I've never heard about them but would like to learn more about them.

I did order some australorps from them and they are amazing birds, but I was hesitant to order Dorkings because I was worried about getting stuck with birds that I would just have to get rid of due to poor quality. Might be another case of a hatchery that is good for common birds but not so good for ones that really need work.

Not to intrude, but there are no imported Dorkings in the US. If they had imported Dorkings:

1. It would be known in the poultry community
2. It's a royal pain in the neck; so their website would at least make mention of it.
3. It costs a lot of money, and anyone with the slightest business sense would pull a Greenfire farms scam a rob the pants off everyone to regain the funds lost in importation.

If you go to their website, their entire set up suggests a link to Ideal Hatchery.The combo that they just got into poultry in 2005 and offer that many breeds--as well as commercial hybrids means: 1) they're not breeding their own birds because one doesn't simply begin breeding commercial hybrids. 2) they don't know a lot about poultry because if they did, they'd know that people who know a lot about poultry don't offer what they offer. 2) they are not SOP/APA centric, which means their birds are hatchery sourced. 3) They either have a cesspool of a farm, or 4) more probably, they're shipping other hatcheries' birds.

The only hatchery sources for Dorkings in the US are MMCM, Ideal, Stromberg's (Duane Urch birds in disguise), and Sand Hill. Any other folks are selling birds from these sources, which means same quality with a middle-man mark-up. All are hatchery quality birds. Dick Horstman has combed his birds with birds from a gentleman in VA. They are of OK quality. If there are any even moderately SQ Dorkings in America, they are in the Reds, Whites, and SGs. There are no elite SQ Dorkings in America, at least within the public ken, nor have there been for multiple decades.

Edited to add: they offer sexed chicks.....they don't know how to sex chicks (!!!!)....even the most accomplished breeders don't know how to sex chicks...sexing chicks is a rather closed profession, it's like a little secret society.

YHF

You state exactly what I am worried for. My practical side tells me that if it sounds too good to be true then it probably is. I figured I would be able to get an honest answer by asking here since you have more knowledge collectively than I could ever hope to have.

So now I have a question. I have 11 chicks from this years hatch. 3 or 4 are boys and the rest are girls. My original stock is a trio I hatched from eggs from Emma Ruggiero. The male came from coop 14 and the females from coop 13. My second adult male is from Murray McMurray but shows similar type as my original male. Both males have red ear lobes but the girls do not they have pinkish white.

What would be the best plan of attack for next year. They are still really young but do you think I would be able to keep the girls that show the type we are looking for and the size to breed to the boys that I have and have that be my breeding group for next year or should I also consider adding more lines in with what I have already.

I want to do this right so any advice would be very helpful.

**edited because I worked 12 hours and can't type worth beans

 

[Sydney Acres]

I agree and am glad that you responded to that post, because I was shaking my head in disbelief, especially after looking at the website.

However, I am taking exception to your statement above. There are breeders who have been breeding for enough generations that their line can be considered their own - not hatchery. You are correct that there are no top exhibition quality Dorkings in existence at this point in time - but IMO there are breeders that have bred their own Dorkings, that are at least a step above hatchery quality.

To name a couple... Mary Wetterstroem in FL and Liz Munro in Canada. Liz is the person who imported Dorkings from Holland. I've been admiring her original SGDs for some time. No, neither person has "SQ" Dorkings, but they both have been working hard to improve their line and deserve more respect than to be lumped in with people who have hatchery quality Dorkings.

I've said this to you in a pm on the Dorking Club but I'm going to say it again. It's insulting to the rest of us, those of us who are serious breeders of Dorkings, and are earnestly doing our best to breed to the SOP, when you frequently imply that - aside from Dick Horstman and you and maybe Rudy - there are no other breeders with Dorkings that are any better than hatchery stock. Even if it's true, it's disparaging and discouraging.

Oh, I didn't read it that way. When YHF said "Any other folks ..." I thought he meant any other hatcheries, not any other private breeders. Of course the private breeders are working to improve their lines, but the other hatcheries are just reselling (usually drop-shipping) chicks from the four listed hatcheries.

 

[abmaddox1981]

If anyone has SG Dorking eggs, I am looking to purchase! My 20 chicks I ordered got some weird eye infection so now I only have 2 pullets left and they don't seem very energetic.

 

[poultry007]

What about Roger Tice but Terry Moseley got his birds. Tryed to call Terry Moseley at # 505-607-3070 text me back two times now noing. Does anybody know if his ok? Thank You

 

[cukooformarans]

If anyone has SG Dorking eggs, I am looking to purchase! My 20 chicks I ordered got some weird eye infection so now I only have 2 pullets left and they don't seem very energetic.

Ki4got mentioned she had some

 

[ki4got]

If anyone has SG Dorking eggs, I am looking to purchase! My 20 chicks I ordered got some weird eye infection so now I only have 2 pullets left and they don't seem very energetic.

I do. check out my bst ad in my sig and pm me, if you'd like.

 

[LilyD]

Hoping to get some pictures of my babies to show off tomorrow been working 12 hour shifts and been super busy since the 4th. I see some that have really great potential but not sure. Wish I could snap my fingers and make them grow up so I could know which babies I should keep and which should go.

Ki4got -- I may have to order some eggs from you this spring once it starts warming up again. Worried if I hatch now they won't have enough time to get big enough before winter gets here and freezes everything.

I am still thinking that my best bet is to choose for size and for SOP body type with the babies to get where I want to go. Once body type and size are where I would like then I can concentrate on other features. The good thing is at a glance I can see that they all have 5 toes and their coloring is coming in really nice.

Guess we will just have to see what we get and go from there. Baby pictures will come tomorrow once it's light out again lol.