B.Y.C. Dorking Club!

[pysankigirl]

I am bummed. Looks like Spike died without progeny after all. Buffy (egg collected after his death out of desperation) looks like she was fathered by my barnevelder. She is too dark and I was in denial about it until I saw the indistinct patterning showing up. oh, well, I knew it was a possibility. They were all not separated for breeding when Spike died. I was just hoping and thought I had a good chance because he was definitely always top roo. but I guess Xander was sneakier than I gave him credit for.

She definitely has the dorking toes, skin, and she is my favorite chick out of the lot for her personality. she is self confident yet nice to all the younger chicks...I think they see her as housemother of the brooder even though she's only a few weeks older than them... LOL I guess she will eventually have to be given away, though it will be interesting to see what the cross looks like.

I will be getting my new Red dorking Roos and some eggs on Thursday at lunch so excited!!! I think I have decided that red will be what I will focus on until Ki4got gets her project coloreds up and running.

Ki4got...I know you wanted to maybe be in on the meeting with Craig, but looks like its happening mid week lunchtime. so don't know if you are still interested. I decided to just take the day off.

 

[ki4got]

Hey, all. I've been gearing up over here to get ready to bring in some Dorkings; and, I'm starting to look around for where to actually find what I'm wanting. I'm partial to the coloureds; but, I'm not really finding much in the way of information on where/who might possibly have some available this year. Anyone know where I could look? I saw Ed Hart mentioned; but, it looks like he wasn't easy to contact. Is he really the only one? From what I've heard of Sand Hill's quality in the past, I'm a little wary of purchasing from them.

I've found sources for the reds and silver-greys; but, the coloureds are confounding me no end.

Thanks!

well, i've upgraded my opinion of sandhill's birds, since last summer... i was a bit hasty in judging the chicks i had, as they didn't grow like i got used to seeing in the sg's.

my sg's i could usually get an eye for type by about 12 weeks old... sandhill's, i've discovered, are best waiting until 4-5 months old... but by then i'd already parted out a lot of the ones i got last year. i placed another order this year, for mostly colored with only a few reds...

the problem with any of the colored birds, is uniformity of color... that's still a project in my mind, to see what mutations are in them, and what it would take to 'standardize' the color and get it to breed a bit truer than seems to be happenning now.

re: ed hart, i'm not sure he has them any more. I know that Craig Russell is working with colored, as are sandhill, and I think stephanie up in MI... (sorry can't remember your user name Stephanie, so pipe up if you still have them?)

 

[dalalune]

well, i've upgraded my opinion of sandhill's birds, since last summer... i was a bit hasty in judging the chicks i had....

I guess my biggest issues with Sand Hill were: It was almost a full year from the time I was first promised a delivery date to the time I finally got my chicks (while they sat on my money); many were not of any identifiable color variety and the chicks were fierce from the get-go (determined to eat each other alive until they got big enough to start on me)!

I have to say, however, that the few Reds I ended up with had very nice feet and were fairly nicely colored/patterned. Unfortunately, type, temperament and productivity are far from par. I have been able to get much better offspring from the few I kept for breeding, which I am very pleased (relieved) with. It’s a start.

Maybe I ended up with an unusually (for SH) bad batch, but I would have a hard time recommending them to others, unless they just HAVE to go that route.

 

[Kilsharion]

well, i've upgraded my opinion of sandhill's birds, since last summer... i was a bit hasty in judging the chicks i had, as they didn't grow like i got used to seeing in the sg's.

my sg's i could usually get an eye for type by about 12 weeks old... sandhill's, i've discovered, are best waiting until 4-5 months old... but by then i'd already parted out a lot of the ones i got last year. i placed another order this year, for mostly colored with only a few reds...

the problem with any of the colored birds, is uniformity of color... that's still a project in my mind, to see what mutations are in them, and what it would take to 'standardize' the color and get it to breed a bit truer than seems to be happenning now.

re: ed hart, i'm not sure he has them any more. I know that Craig Russell is working with colored, as are sandhill, and I think stephanie up in MI... (sorry can't remember your user name Stephanie, so pipe up if you still have them?)

Thank you for your feedback! I have Sandhill on my list of possibilities, and I may order a few from there as a check.

I have myself in queue for Black Diamond Mountain for some reds and/or silvers come May, when she starts shipping hatching eggs, again. But, nothing really for coloureds. Then again, my husband is making noises about the fact that we are going to be overrun if I get as many as I'm talking about getting....

Maybe I ended up with an unusually (for SH) bad batch, but I would have a hard time recommending them to others, unless they just HAVE to go that route.

This is what I've been reading about them. That and that the birds are a bit on the puny side, fairly often. It makes me hesitant to use them.

I have found several sources for decent Silver-Greys; but, Reds and Coloureds are very hard to come by.

 

[BlackPanther]

Do you have a link to the Black Diamond Mountain Dorkings that you could share?

 

[SoCal Dorkings]

Do you have a link to the Black Diamond Mountain Dorkings that you could share?

Pretty sure there is a link at dorkings.com

 

[SoCal Dorkings]

Yep, it's on the Links page at http://www.dorkings.com

You can also get there directly: http://www.blackdiamondguestranch.com

 

[ChickenQueen12]

2 Dorking Roos for sale $40.00 obo. will be 1 year old in July. PM if interested Thanks

 

[ki4got]

he's not any recognized variety... silver grey has much more silver/white, less grey. colored would be marked similarly, but have straw hackles and red shoulders...

they're also supposed to have single comb, not rose.

sorry to say, i honestly don't think you'll get more than meat prices for them. good luck tho.

 

[Sydney Acres]

Thank you for your feedback! I have Sandhill on my list of possibilities, and I may order a few from there as a check.

I have myself in queue for Black Diamond Mountain for some reds and/or silvers come May, when she starts shipping hatching eggs, again. But, nothing really for coloureds. Then again, my husband is making noises about the fact that we are going to be overrun if I get as many as I'm talking about getting....

This is what I've been reading about them. That and that the birds are a bit on the puny side, fairly often. It makes me hesitant to use them.

I have found several sources for decent Silver-Greys; but, Reds and Coloureds are very hard to come by.

I ordered Sandhill Red Dorkings last year. While they are not perfect, overall I have been quite impressed. I received 13 total, 7 pullets and 6 cockerels. There is quite a spectrum in color and temperament, but that was expected. Of the 6 cockerels, one is near excellent - good color, conformation, and size at 9 months, with a little more attitude than I would like but not unacceptable. He is very protective of his girls, and is learning to be an excellent flock leader from the older roosters. Another cockerel has excellent color, conformation, and a perfect attitude (nickname - lap rooster), but is a little smaller than ideal. The other four will be culled but are not horrible examples of the breed, just not what I want for my breeding program. Overall, I think I got a good foundation to move forward and breed for improvement.

Of the pullets, 2 of the 7 reds are more the CD pattern than the RD pattern, but those 2 pullets have excellent conformation and size. That makes me wonder if Sandhill's CDs, while having imperfect color, might have wonderful conformation overall. Since the CDs don't easily breed true for color, wonderful conformation and size might be the best recommendation you can find. (And all the girls are really sweet. I can't go out to the pasture without them milling around my feet begging to be picked up, or flying onto my shoulders.)

Ordering from Sandhill is different than from other businesses. I understand their reasoning and don't mind their setup. Others will find it uncomfortable. It is what it is, and if you aren't comfortable with it then you probably shouldn't use them. Personally, I admire what they are trying to do and like supporting those efforts with my business, despite the lack of customer service and time delays. But it's definitely not for everyone.