B.Y.C. Dorking Club!

[Rockashelle]

This little gal is 5 months old.

 

[Rockashelle]

Here's a better shot of her chest. She's starting to darken up to a salmon coloring on her chest.

Thats all I have on my phone. I can try and get some more if its not pouring tomorrow.

 

[Rockashelle]

This is my darkest pullet:

 

[ki4got]

i would say they are closer to the usual colored hens than reds, really. but bred to a red roo you will get some variations in the amounts of black on the heads/necks. the pullet tho, are you sure sue's pure dorking? looks like she's got a pea comb, not single. and there are no varieties of dorking with pea combs...

basically your girls all look like they are red with melanizing (dark striping on the hackles and black tips to breast feathers) and charcoal (black head) genes added. the charcoal gene also gives their legs/feet a 'dirty' look too.

the 2 genes in combination also cause the body (back, wings, saddle) to lose some of the stippling and become more black overall.

this girl i posted the other day is a silver version with both melanizing and charcoal, to show the comparisson, while the next pic is a silver grey with just the charcoal gene. (you'll notice her black/wings/shoulders are still 'normal' and she doesn't have the tips on the breast feathers...) her mother was a lot like that last hen you posted... nearly black with a teeny bit of color on the breast and hackles, while her sire was a silver grey.

 

[Rockashelle]

Good morning... Thanks for the info. Yes, I'm certain she's pure Dorking. She has the start of a rose comb which is what I'm shooting for. All my other rose combs started that way. It'll be interesting to see what my new RC CD's look like from Sandhill. I hope they're here in April. My girls are all suppose to be CD's although the last little pullet you mentioned isn't darkening up as fast as the other girls. I like the dark color, but I want to make certain as well that I am breeding true CD's. I know they have difficulty breeding true anyway, but just want to start off right. My roo has a rose comb and one of my SG's has a rosecomb as well. One breeding pen I have is set up to try and get the runway model legs off my CD's by using SG's whom are truer to type. I know this will be at least 6 years (6 generations) of work to breed back to true CD's.

I searched last night for info on this... Maybe you can help me. Do you know if chicks specifically get body type from the Roo or the hen. Or is it just a toss up? Same with combs, legs, etc. I read that Roos typically get color from the hen but pullets typically get color from the Roo. This is why I ask? If this is true... Do other traits come specifically from Roo or Hen?

 

[HallFamilyFarm]

Hey, who has nice quality White Dorkings? My kids and I were talking about adding a new breed. Preferably one that needs help preserving and is a heritage breed. They would do it as a 4H project. The one wanting them is Jahdan. Here he is with his goat project. We would prefer eggs.

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[heritagehabitatfarms]

u want yellowhousefarm's birds trust me on that lol...

Hey, who has nice quality White Dorkings? My kids and I were talking about adding a new breed. Preferably one that needs help preserving and is a heritage breed. They would do it as a 4H project. The one wanting them is Jahdan. Here he is with his goat project. We would prefer eggs.

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[heritagehabitatfarms]

here...

 

[3littlebirds]

I can second for Yellow House Farm- and the White Dorking is a great choice. It's a rare breed in need of preservation, and an all-around wonderful bird with a very long heritage.

 

[HallFamilyFarm]

That is who I was thinking of, but could not recall his name. With a certain "obstacle" now removed, we are rebuilding our flocks and enlarging it. We are adding Red New Zealand and Gray Flemish giant rabbits in a few days. Have to get their hutches completed.

I still need to get approval from Jahdan that this is what he wants. He sort of wants Buckeyes back, but I want him to try something plus the Buckeyes. He is also wanting some Buff Leghorns.