B.Y.C. Dorking Club!

[ki4got]

Quote: ROFL i escaped the "frozen wasteland of the northeast" in 97. i'll go back in summers but you can keep the winters. brrrr. dad said he's got -2 before windchill... when i passed that onto hubby, his response was ... uh... not repeatable. LOL he's been in sw virginia nearly his whole life and doesn't plan to change... ever. LOL and when picked on by his friends, my response is 'yankee by birth, southern by CHOICE!'. or i respond, 'hey, got here as quick as i could.' LOL

 

[dalalune]

Went to the Kippinjungle site (thanks Karen) and ran through what I believe is the genotype for the Red Dorking. The genetics is enough to make your head spin, but I feel I am on the right track, at least. I still cannot come up with a good phenotype/genotype for the Colored Dorking and I now wonder if it is even a viable color variety (will not breed true)? Has anyone successfully bred several generations of the Colored variety of the Dorking? The issue seems to be with what the hen side is supposed to look like. Anyway, I hope to refine my Reds over the next couple seasons and ultimately get rid of any questionably colored hens…

 

[Yellow House Farm]

Went to the Kippinjungle site (thanks Karen) and ran through what I believe is the genotype for the Red Dorking. The genetics is enough to make your head spin, but I feel I am on the right track, at least. I still cannot come up with a good phenotype/genotype for the Colored Dorking and I now wonder if it is even a viable color variety (will not breed true)? Has anyone successfully bred several generations of the Colored variety of the Dorking? The issue seems to be with what the hen side is supposed to look like. Anyway, I hope to refine my Reds over the next couple seasons and ultimately get rid of any questionably colored hens…

Ed Hart bred htem for years. I do believe a lot of culling goes on on account of the hens. There are several color patterns that are unstable, this being one of them.

 

[dalalune]

Things like this aren't about a breed; there about the birds you have, out of the strain you have. Very few things outside of Standard requirements are actually breed specific; most are strain specific and have to do with the environment from which they've come and where they are.

This is so true, even when it comes to behavior! I started with two “different” strains of Dorkings and have found them to be totally different in temperament (along with other traits). One strain (group “SH”) is fierce! The other strain (group “W”) is more docile. The “SH” males are unbelievably aggressive, not just toward people, but also toward their own hens! The “W” strain of roos are so well behaved that I am able to keep two of the roos together in the same breeding pen with no harm to each other or the hens! Since the “SH” strain has some very nice physical qualities, I hope to extract those qualities without perpetuating the ill temperament….

 

[dalalune]

IME Dorking roosters are more passive than other breeds. hey are usually the ones to get beat up if there is any competition.
A lot depends upon if they were raised together, etc.

My experience, so far, is limited to the two strains I am currently working with. But, I have found that when I combine the “fierce” strain with my very docile Dominiques, they suddenly become the “low man/woman on the totem pole! Despite the fact that the Dorkings out weigh the Dominiques, the Doms take no flack from them. Even my very flighty “SH” hens seem to calm down when they are combined with Dom hens! When I put Dom cockerels in with Dorking cockerels, the Doms have prevailed, even with the F1 offspring of the “SH” strain of Dorkings. This has actually worked out very well for me and raising my F1 generation of “SH” & “W” chicks. However, I need to break my Dorkings up into breeding pens for the 2013 season and wonder how they will respond once the “peacekeepers” have been removed….

 

[ashandvine]

I am distressed fellow chicken keepers. I am pretty sure my Dorking cockerel will be dead by morning. So, until I find a replacement... Dorking Dreams are at an end.
KIforgot... still thinking of 'sharing' a rose comb??

 

[ki4got]

Quote: craig russell mentioned to me that in years past it required outcrossing to a red now and again to get back to the 'true' color. which is why i don't believe the colored was ever designed to be 'self sustaining'... i also believe the genetics behind the hens is totally different than the roo's, which is why you see so much variation. just my 2c... i'm aiming for a rooster that matches the SOP pretty closely, and i'll keep hens that match his genetics, not the SOP.

i may be way off base, but that's why i have more coming in, and i'm doing test breedings to verify my ideas.

oh, and the genetics for red are the default 'wild type'... there is no guess work involved.

 

[ki4got]

I am distressed fellow chicken keepers. I am pretty sure my Dorking cockerel will be dead by morning. So, until I find a replacement... Dorking Dreams are at an end.
KIforgot... still thinking of 'sharing' a rose comb??

yes, i'll share, but they have to be hatched first, and the soonest i'm likely to get any is early april.

i've got some rose combed dorking wyandotte babies you're welcome to, but you'd have to come down and get em. LOL

 

[Yellow House Farm]

I am distressed fellow chicken keepers. I am pretty sure my Dorking cockerel will be dead by morning. So, until I find a replacement... Dorking Dreams are at an end.
KIforgot... still thinking of 'sharing' a rose comb??

What variety of Dorkings do you have?

 

[ashandvine]

I have red but not that long ago I posted that their color isn't as good as I would like. The cockerel is alive today and showing signs of improving but I am not holding my breath. I am not breeding for show so small faults or non recognized colors are no big deal to me. I wanted to keep them for meat, curiosity and education. I have two other breeds I am keeping for SOP and that is more than enough (Orloffs and Marans). In fact, I am thinking about dropping one but just can't bring myself to do it yet. I think I have a bird affinity.

KIforgot... why dotte crosses? That's odd. Hmmm, Silver Laced Dorkings...