B.Y.C. Dorking Club!

[pysankigirl]

so question for y'all...

I noticed that red dorkings were only included in the APA in the 1990's. but I was under the impression that red dorkings were one of the earliest colors.
(no mutations)
????
'sup with that?

 

[Yellow House Farm]

so question for y'all...

I noticed that red dorkings were only included in the APA in the 1990's. but I was under the impression that red dorkings were one of the earliest colors.
(no mutations)
????
'sup with that?

Well, the Reds in the UK are different, more on the Redcap pattern. There are also a couple of other variations, slight but divergent. According to Craig Russel, it took that long for those implicated to pick one and go for it.

As for them being one of the oldest, there are two phases of Dorking history, the earlier, more seculative phase and the early modern phase, which is more concrete, with firmer documentation. In the former Reds and White arrive on stage contemporaneously; in the latter, the Whites set the stage for the other breeds to come along and grow in popularity.

 

[pysankigirl]

it took them a century? wow. and isn't that all just...um...what is it that people have said...paint on the barn? allowances couldn't have been met for the different colors? I know in Leonbergers there are several color types in an essentially brown dog with black face... the structure is more important than the color, although if the structure is the same, then you can take color into account.

so are the red dorkings here supposed to have kind of a welsummer coloring? (that's what the ones I've seen kinda look like)

is there a way to get the APA sop without having to buy all of them?

 

[pysankigirl]

so what century do the whites emerge?

 

[Yellow House Farm]

so what century do the whites emerge?

Well, I was recently reading a book published in the 1850's which mentioned the emergence of the White Dorking 125 years prior, which would put that to the early 1700's.

 

[Yellow House Farm]

Here's a BBC podscast on Dorkings. It's not deeply interesting, but for those of us who must do all things Dorking.

You have to scroll down until you get to the youtube-ish video box, and then, in the fine print below it, you can select the title "In Search of the Dorking Chicken"

Again, it's not very well done, but it's a petit homage.

 

[ki4got]

it took them a century? wow. and isn't that all just...um...what is it that people have said...paint on the barn? allowances couldn't have been met for the different colors? I know in Leonbergers there are several color types in an essentially brown dog with black face... the structure is more important than the color, although if the structure is the same, then you can take color into account.

so are the red dorkings here supposed to have kind of a welsummer coloring? (that's what the ones I've seen kinda look like)

is there a way to get the APA sop without having to buy all of them?

the red is basically black breasted red (aka red duckwing). the same coloration known as brown leghorn, bbr oegb, etc.

the basic description is on the dorking breeders club homepage.
there are some variations in the intensity of the red, but they're basically all the same.

 

[Yellow House Farm]

the red is basically black breasted red (aka red duckwing). the same coloration known as brown leghorn, bbr oegb, etc.

the basic description is on the dorking breeders club homepage.
there are some variations in the intensity of the red, but they're basically all the same.

The one divergence, for what I can tell, is that the females are supposed to have shafting, which is nice because getting rid of shafting is nigh impossible....or rather just very hard.

 

[Sydney Acres]

I'm curious.. and I hope you don't mind me asking... but how long did it take for them to fill your order?

They fill orders on a first paid for--first served, when they have them, basis. They don't have a huge staff managing huge numbers of breeder birds, like most hatcheries that have only the more common varieties, so they only have so many eggs to hatch at a time. Last year I ordered my birds in late December/early January (don't remember exactly) and requested that they be sent anytime after the first hatch in April. My order was number WA-293, so I'm not sure if I was the 293rd order in total with WA as a notation, or the 293rd order from Washington State. My order was shipped out on May 8th, so there was a one month delay from my earliest acceptable shipping date. However, if I had ordered in April instead of December/January, I might not have gotten any chicks at all, depending on what breed I wanted, and whether I was willing to accept substitutions or not.

This year I ordered my chicks in October 2012 for shipment in or after May 2013.

When I order from Sandhill, I decide what one breed/color I REALLY want, and request no substitutions for that variety. I'm willing to accept any shipping date after a certain time, which gives them some flexibility, and prevents my order from being cancelled if they have a bad hatch one week. But I only insist that 10-15 of the chicks be that variety without substitution. Then to round out the order for a total of 25, I provide a list of other breeds that I would accept as substitutes, in order of preference. That way I'm almost assured of getting what I want in an acceptable quantity, without making the entire order too difficult to fill. Actually, that's how I ended up with Dorkings. I ordered 10 Barnevelders, 10 Buckeyes, and 5 Golden Laced Wyandottes. I requested no substitutes for the Barnevelders, but put additional Barnevelders, additional Buckeyes, Red Dorkings, and a few others down as acceptable substitutes for the Buckeyes/Wyandottes. I had actually never seen or heard of Dorkings before, but the writeup in their catalog was so favorable I put them down on a whim, never imagining that Buckeyes and Wyandottes would need a substitution. Well, Linda from Sandhill called me one night to say they had 14 Barnevelders and 13 Red Dorkings available, but they couldn't fill the others. I was just happy to get my Barnevelders with anything else.

Well, life hasn't been the same since. The Barnevelders are alright, but the Dorkings are AMAZING. I've never had chickens like them before. They're this unique combination of affectionate lap chicken and wild pheasant all rolled into one! I'm totally hooked.

 

[countrygoddess]

I'm excited, too, to see what gets on at yours. Your coop is beautiful. I think you'll find it rather intereting how many chicks you can get out of a limited number of birds. We candled our first Dorking eggs last week, and through all of that cold weather, we're sporting 82% fertility. They're due to hatch this coming weekend. In the past we've culled hard for color, comb, and toes right from the get go. Each year, it's been better. I'm hoping for a continued reduction in early culls this year. We'll see.

You've already got eggs ready to hatch?? *sigh* My girls didn't like that last really long, really cold snap (we were at subzero for over a week) and all stopped laying. They have yet to start up again... =(