B.Y.C. Dorking Club!

[ki4got]

I was banding a few of my new Red Dorking chicks today that I am pretty sure are little cockerels and one got upset with me and bit me! And held on! Wonder what that says for attitude or temperament?

that he's a 'peckerhead' as hubby calls the occasional biters.

none of mine have ever caused problems once they've grown up more.

 

[ki4got]

Okay...so what terminology do other chicken breeds use for "colored"?
What I mean is...in dorkings it is called "colored"...in other breeds it would be __________?

i really don't know that any other varieties have a similar color, tho it is similar to the 'brassy backed' oegb. but IMO the brassy backed is not as attractive.

the variety the SOP calls for doesn't mention any red at all, and IMO refers to the 'dark' dorking seen more in europe, while the popular 'colored' is more of a dilute golden colored bird that lacks the hackle striping mentioned in the SOP...

my own goal for a colored is a striped golden hackle/saddle with dark red wing/shoulders and solid black breast. like this guy i found a picture of elsewhere. (wyandotte btw)



and while not exact, i think the matching hen will be similar to this girl... or the one below on the right. both are dilute hens, tho the top one has more of the hackle striping than the other as well as some of the lacing mentioned in the SOP for the hen.



this girl, on the right, was lost to a possum attack last month, but i do have a pullet from her and the red roo, so it proves to me the dilute is the dominant mutation I was hoping for. the top girl is also dilute but also has the melanizing gene that will give the hackle striping.

in this bottom pic, the girl on the left is a silver grey that also has the melanizing gene, plus the charcoal gene (giving a wider hackle striping, darker overall body and black head, plus black tips to her salmon breast feathers). another pic of her from the side... i might also start a line of these, which i believe to be the 'dark' dorking variety.

 

[pysankigirl]

any idea what the genes are for colored?

 

[ki4got]

any idea what the genes are for colored?

i did mention that briefly in my edit, but i believe (tho some have argued with me about it) that the colored as *I* see it (aka that wyandotte above) includes Dilute (Di), Melanizing (Ml), and possibly Mahogany (Mh) but i will have to experiment with it, if i ever get a roo to match these girls. all on an e+/e+ base, as are the red and silver greys.

it's a project i plan to follow up with as soon as i get my breeding pens built and in use. i'll be pairing 'dark tannish' with my Tice/Horstman roo 'thing', a red, to see if she proves to be homozygous or heterozygous for dilute and melanizing, and hoping for a cockerel to match her, so i can see what i'm looking at. the red is as close to wild type as you're likely to get, so should not add anything new to the mix. red is simply the canvas that we build all other (patterned) dorking colors upon, using the pallette of genes that are cropping up in the sandhill colored birds i received.

 

[pysankigirl]

thanks! sorry, I needed it spelled out. I am so new to this.
I have a colored roo coming and I'm wondering what is going to happen when I put him over my silver girls. but I was at a loss as to what to plug in to the generator.

also wondering if they will be color sexing at hatch.

 

[pysankigirl]

i did mention that briefly in my edit, but i believe (tho some have argued with me about it) that the colored as *I* see it (aka that wyandotte above) includes Dilute (Di), Melanizing (Ml), and possibly Mahogany (Mh) but i will have to experiment with it, if i ever get a roo to match these girls. all on an e+/e+ base, as are the red and silver greys.

it's a project i plan to follow up with as soon as i get my breeding pens built and in use. i'll be pairing 'dark tannish' with my Tice/Horstman roo 'thing', a red, to see if she proves to be homozygous or heterozygous for dilute and melanizing, and hoping for a cockerel to match her, so i can see what i'm looking at. the red is as close to wild type as you're likely to get, so should not add anything new to the mix. red is simply the canvas that we build all other (patterned) dorking colors upon, using the pallette of genes that are cropping up in the sandhill colored birds i received.

oh, and I like your dark girl. Craig Russel mentioned that "colored" may be gotten by a cross between a dark grey and red.

 

[countrygoddess]

I'm curious as to what each of you is seeing as far as egg size and shape from your Dorkings. My girls started laying about 10 weeks ago and the size and shape have been pretty consistent right from the get-go. They're all more or less a sort of round-oval. Sometimes it's hard to tell small end from large end, but usually it's pretty obvious. I weighed a bunch of them today and they all seem to be right around medium. No larges. One or two smalls. I'll definitely breed for larger eggs, but am wondering what the "standard" for Dorking eggs is/should be? Their color is a creamy white, sometimes a very, very pale shell-pink. Very pretty.

 

[RedBugPoultry]

I'm curious as to what each of you is seeing as far as egg size and shape from your Dorkings. My girls started laying about 10 weeks ago and the size and shape have been pretty consistent right from the get-go. They're all more or less a sort of round-oval. Sometimes it's hard to tell small end from large end, but usually it's pretty obvious. I weighed a bunch of them today and they all seem to be right around medium. No larges. One or two smalls. I'll definitely breed for larger eggs, but am wondering what the "standard" for Dorking eggs is/should be? Their color is a creamy white, sometimes a very, very pale shell-pink. Very pretty.

My eggs run small to medium from my Red Girls and are white to light cream. They seem to start out small and improve in size after a week or so. Hoping the next laying cycle they will be a little bigger. I have hatched some chicks already from my pullets largest eggs and they are producing a nice sized, and energetic chick.

 

[ki4got]

thanks! sorry, I needed it spelled out. I am so new to this.
I have a colored roo coming and I'm wondering what is going to happen when I put him over my silver girls. but I was at a loss as to what to plug in to the generator.

also wondering if they will be color sexing at hatch.

no, to color sex at hatch, you have to have the roo the sex linked color variety... tho personally i'd put the colored over red, not silver. silver will just muddy the waters genetically in the short term. you'll probably get colored/red based pullets and who knows on the cockerels. it'd help to see a pic of the colored roo.

Quote: he's one that i've been arguing a bit with... IMO, for a variety to be CONSIDERED a variety, it needs to be reproducible without crossing to other colors.

 

[LilyD]

I'm curious as to what each of you is seeing as far as egg size and shape from your Dorkings. My girls started laying about 10 weeks ago and the size and shape have been pretty consistent right from the get-go. They're all more or less a sort of round-oval. Sometimes it's hard to tell small end from large end, but usually it's pretty obvious. I weighed a bunch of them today and they all seem to be right around medium. No larges. One or two smalls. I'll definitely breed for larger eggs, but am wondering what the "standard" for Dorking eggs is/should be? Their color is a creamy white, sometimes a very, very pale shell-pink. Very pretty.

I think that they are listed as being medium or large but honestly so far I have only gotten smalls and some mediums. Mine are also more rounded than egg shaped and they don't really seem to have a pointy end versus a rounded end. Maybe that is one of the traits that has suffered in the breed. I got an egg today that I think is still about the weight of a small. I can't weigh it until it warms up a bit I am afraid I will crack it, but instead of being round it was bullet shaped. So far the shells are nice and white compared to my brown egg layers too. I think as we pick out the larger eggs to hatch we will get more and more larger egg layers in our breeding stock.