B.Y.C. Dorking Club!

[cukooformarans]

How exciting!! how old are your babies?? Other than the creele, what color (s) are you getting?

 

[Kilsharion]

How exciting!! how old are your babies?? Other than the creele, what color (s) are you getting?

I am getting reds and silver greys. My passion is the reds; but, I enjoy the silver greys as well. I feel like a kid anticipating Christmas.

My babies are eight days old and are like little kids following their older siblings around (my keets). The poor keets are twice the size of my Dorking chicks and the Dorking chicks steal the keets' treats every chance they get. Hilarious to watch them literally jump up in the air to snag something from one of the keets. BTW...the keets are two weeks older than the Dorkings....ballsy little fellas, Dorkings.

Of course, the keets are teaching the Dorkings bad habits....at night, just as the sun starts to set, the keets start saying good night at the top of their lungs.....and 23 little chicks try to out do them every night. Kid you not. They are even coming pretty close to mimicking the sound the keets are making. It's pretty funny.

Every night, when I go in to check on them before going to bed, one of the keets is up on the treat feeder keeping an eye out while everyone else is piled in the corner. The chicks are sprawled out - I swear some look like they've fallen over midstride, all sprawled and comfy. The keets are cuddled up with them (some of the chicks actually piled on top of their backs) and perking their heads up time to time - but, the dude on the treat feeder - he's wide awake and keeping guard.

 

[ki4got]

So many people say that the Dorkings grow slowly. However, these are growing quite nicely! When people say that they grow slowly, are they comparing them to broiler crosses or to other heritage breeds? Even my husband commented on their nice size for their age!

personally, i find that they grow differently depending on the lines... my silver greys seem to grow very quickly, looking like dorkings the whole time, growing fairly evenly all the way around, but growth tapered off for a bit then picked back up again getting most of their size by 4-5 months.

the sandhill birds last year, grew lanky real fast, resembling super models practically, then at about 4 months old started looking like dorkings should.

as for pics, here's my orp momma with her assorted chicklets... and even tho the eggs were from a free ranged bunch, the majority ARE pure dorking, as you can see.




she's being a super momma and brooding nearly 30 chicks.
they were spread between the 2 broodies, but the other momma (colored dorking!) decided to run screaming when they all hatched for her. before i realized it, buffy here had taken them ALL...

 

[cukooformarans]

Wow! That is a great momma hen!! And they are so cute- I am so looking forward to some broody hens this spring!!!

 

[pysankigirl]

she's being a super momma and brooding nearly 30 chicks.
they were spread between the 2 broodies, but the other momma (colored dorking!) decided to run screaming when they all hatched for her. before i realized it, buffy here had taken them ALL...

What a good Momma!

 

[pysankigirl]

I don't know about how fast they grow...I think it is comparable to other heritage breeds.
you aren't going to want to dress them out at 8 weeks...I can tell you that flat out. LOL

My chicks have such a dorking temperment... I LOVE them! I have been randomly handling them and yeah, they run...feeding off of the panic at the predator hands from above. but once you have them they just relax and look at you. some take naps. too cute.

 

[cukooformarans]

Lol! I am sure they won't be ready at 8 weeks, too! We are used to heritage birds and will probably try to send extras to freezer camp around 6 months. But these are filling out quicker than we expected for a heritage breed.

 

[ki4got]

Lol! I am sure they won't be ready at 8 weeks, too! We are used to heritage birds and will probably try to send extras to freezer camp around 6 months. But these are filling out quicker than we expected for a heritage breed.

well, by 6 months they're about 80% grown, IMO... the roos seem to peak around 18 months to 2 years. the girls i'm seeing aroun d9 months to a year... like i said, they grow in spurts and fill in a bit inbetween...

 

[BlackPanther]

Excellent hen! I certainly hope one of my Orps will go broody this summer!

 

[bethbug74]

...

Well, I wasn't actually going to address all of this, and for those who already brought the thread elsewhere, I apologize for the return, but the last statement tried a bit too hard to paint what I said as being some sort of personal attack, which I suppose it may have been misconstrued to be.

The question, as quoted above, was straightforward.  What's to be done with a bunch of cross-bred eggs?  Greenhorn's response was poetically simple and to the point--one eats them.  My response was more illustrative, and is a very typical response from a breeder.  Now, tone is hard to communicate through a thread, but I'm not a "bully" or "mean-spirited" or "holier-than-thou" or whatever else has been "hurled" at me for my response.  If you go to an APA/ABA sanctioned show and state, "I have 90 cross-bred eggs, what should I do with them?"  These responses would be typical of what one  would hear, "Those sound like breakfast eggs to me" or "The spreading around of mongrels just makes mongrels the practice of folks who aren't thereby beginning with good stock."  Others would be harsh; some might just walk away, but that's not my way.  I'd simply, with a smile and politeness say, "The spreading around of mongrels just makes mongrels the practice of folks who aren't thereby beginning with good stock.  If folks come to your place and walk away with mutts, they're getting common refuse.  What does that serve and how does it benefit them?" 

Now I admit, "common refuse" might sound harsh.  The most technical word I could have used, and really, in retrospect should have used, and for this I do, indeed, "publically" apologize, is "culls".  These are, of course, semantics, though, at best.  So my statement should have read, "The spreading around of mongrels just makes mongrels the practice of folks who aren't thereby beginning with good stock.  If folks come to your place and walk away with mutts, they're getting culls.  What does that serve and how does it benefit them?" 

There's more to hatching an egg in the act of breeding a layer.  Selling cross culls as layers? There are very distinct reasons for which the egg-laying industry is built primarily on two lines: very specifically inbred White Leghorns and Production Reds, a RIR X NH which is created by crossing very specifically bred lines of pure RIR and NH.  There are, admittedly a couple of other highly respected lines for brown eggs, although this tends to be the most common.  Otherwise, one can have recourse to purebred stock that has been specifically selected for laying qualities.  Before the establishment of the APA and the mass concentration on selective breeding, the average backyard mongrel laid approximately 80 eggs a year; that's less that 7 dozen eggs.  Strong egg-laying is developed over time and maintained through the careful maintenance of pro-laying inbreeding.  Mongrels are vigorous, but very little can be claimed for their capacity to lay.  One could, I suppose, sell them for meat, again without being able to make any great claims, just relying on the fact that one can eat them.  I guess one could sell them for pets, but then we arrive at my first statement...

These however, are all breeder thought-processes.  I can't apologize for them, for that would be a lie.  I can, however, apologize for not really understanding the tone of this thread.  The responses to what I said, which was, again, a very typical breeder response to the question of what to do with 90 cross-bred eggs, were extremely clarifying, which is what I said, which is what I meant.  I read each response carefully and tried to read through the anger to hear what was actually being said.  I deduced the sum of it is that this needs to be a thread for those who "love" Dorkings, not just and/or specifically a thread for those who "breed" Dorkings.  Thus, in the future I shall only make response as is fitting to statements or questions to which I can respond honestly without hurting the sensitivities of those who "love" their Dorkings.  Thus, I apologize and endeavor to make amends.

However, I need to address something very specific that was targeted at me as an expression or example of my mean-spirited insensitivity, and this is that apparently everybody on this thread knows about what's going on in Karen's life.  First and foremost, Karen, if you are experiencing personal difficulties. I am sorry.  If selling 90 mongrel chicks helps the situation, by all means.  Heck, if Greenfire Farms can sell their ridiculousness at $999.00 (!!!) for a single juvenile pair (!!!!) and get folks to buy their "Jubilee Orpingtons" , well than why not, right?  Welcome to capitalism.  However, I don't actually know what is going on in Karen's life or anyone else life, for that matter. 

The only posts I read on this thread are specifically those which have to do with the breeding of Dorkings: the specifics of breeding, the functions of breeding, the qualms of breeding.  If a post does not deal directly with these concerns, I don't read it.  If it begins "My 'roo' is so cute" or what have you, I simply skip it.  There are many posts I don't read.  It is not that I am insensitive, rather I am very private.  If readers of this post stop to consider it, no one here knows anything at all about my personal life save the barest minimum information.  If the "correct" answer to the question of what is to be done with 90 crossbred eggs depended on an in-depth understanding of a personal situation, then I certainly should have held my tongue, although one could assert that such a question, then, also may have belonged, depending on the nature of the personal information, in a "pm". 

Thus I apologize for not using the word "cull" and for not having considered that a large portion of the readership of this thread may be of the "I love my chicken" type.  I am humanely sorry, Karen, if you are suffering something difficult in your personal life that relates back to your experience with chickens or simply in general.

After my statement, much was stated about others' personal approaches with their Dorkings and to chickens in general: hopes, aspirations, intentions, needs for belonging, etc...   As I mentioned, it was very clarifying.  Perhaps, I should be clearer than I have been:

I am an APA-oriented chicken breeder, and every move I make with regards to our farm is directed at and derived from the Standard of Perfection.  I strive to learn from and emulate the very best breeders, both past and present, whose specific methodologies lead and have led to tangible, concrete results of nigh perfection.  I work to remove any impediment or distraction from that goal.  When I teach others, I approach them with the SOP and through the SOP.  If they're not interested in the SOP, I'm polite and courteous but then I move on.  This is not an expression of insensitivity but rather the recognition that there are others who are more qualified to approach them from the point of view for which they are hoping. 
My earliest memories are full of my parents' extensive poultry flocks for which I was quickly made responsible as my age made me qualified to do chores and my obvious predilection for them made the chores an act of love and meditation.  I spent my youth getting up at 4am to quickly make my lunch and assemble my school bag and then out I went to do the chores and sit with the birds.  When I  was old enough, I was permitted to procure my own birds, and I began my own efforts in breeding with Mille Fleur D'Uccles and Black-tailed White Japanese from a breeder a few towns over.  We were too poor to afford books, especially an SOP, but I read every poultry book from the surrounding town libraries one of which had an old black and white SOP over which I poured for hours. From the time I was old enough to understand the difference between a purebred and a mongrel, I have never understood mongrels and never will.  Like most breeders, if I look at a specimen and see it's a mongrel, I pause, make some quick assessment to what might be its parentage and then walk away.
On our farm, I research constantly, daily.  I read and re-read, learn and re-learn.  I grill and re-grill any qualified breeder for every single drip of information she or he can give me.  I ask every judge I know to walk me through any class he or she wishes to teach me every possible thing.  I clerk whenever possible and drive the poor judges nuts with my questions.
I breed and raise by the hundreds and when I cull I cull.  It distresses me to part with birds because they are not good enough.  Greenhorn is actually the reason why I started shipping chicks, because I knew he really wanted Whites, knew he was going to take them very seriously, and knew he would take the time to understand the difference between where they're at and where they're going.
Last year, I past on some broodies, cull pullets I had reserved for hatching eggs, to a poultry friend who breeds bantams for exhibition, who just wanted them for a few extra eggs.  I was reticent, but why not.  To my dismay, one of them ended up at the county fair.  I was deeply troubled and embarrassed, still I had failed to specify distinctly that these were not "public" birds.  Of course, I was discreet and never mentioned my dismay.  Still in a show of over 800 birds, the White Dorking pullet took Champion English.  When I sheepishly approached the judge as to why, he stated quickly and without reservation, it's the only bird up here (meaning in among the English class) with proper type.  Of course, he knew that I knew that he knew that the bird was still only a cull. 

I could go on but it would be redundant.  The point is that this is how I approach poultry.  I don't name them; I wing-band them.  I don't give them treats; I throw them specific scratch grains.  I don't think they're sweet; I take distinct note of their temperament for the concerns of culling and breeding.  I assess them specifically for laying and conformation-based meat qualities.  I weigh them at specific points and final is final.  I don't cuddle with them.  I only handle them with the intention of making them caged train and manageable.  I do not treat for illness, save the basic run of the mill parasites, I cull.  After the show incident, I shall never let a cull bird off of our property again--at least to my knowledge, and selling chicks makes me very stressed because I want them to be even better first--I just respect the desire of and need for good breeders.

After taking a few days to think about it and remove myself, I feel that it is best if I become more of a lurker here than a poster.  The fact that what I posted in response to a very basic question was so utterly shocking, creating an environment of defensive hostility and banner-waving, is, to my understanding, more simply an expression of how I come at poultry breeding from a very different point of view than many on this thread, which is neither good nor bad, nor an indictment of any sort, and honestly I had not understood the extent of difference prior.  In the end, I'm rather grateful, even though it was a bit tumultuous, situation definition is necessary, especially in a cyber environment.

The very best of luck,
YHF

Well, I wasn't actually going to address all of this, and for those who already brought the thread elsewhere, I apologize for the return, but the last statement tried a bit too hard to paint what I said as being some sort of personal attack, which I suppose it may have been misconstrued to be.

The question, as quoted above, was straightforward.  What's to be done with a bunch of cross-bred eggs?  Greenhorn's response was poetically simple and to the point--one eats them.  My response was more illustrative, and is a very typical response from a breeder.  Now, tone is hard to communicate through a thread, but I'm not a "bully" or "mean-spirited" or "holier-than-thou" or whatever else has been "hurled" at me for my response.  If you go to an APA/ABA sanctioned show and state, "I have 90 cross-bred eggs, what should I do with them?"  These responses would be typical of what one  would hear, "Those sound like breakfast eggs to me" or "The spreading around of mongrels just makes mongrels the practice of folks who aren't thereby beginning with good stock."  Others would be harsh; some might just walk away, but that's not my way.  I'd simply, with a smile and politeness say, "The spreading around of mongrels just makes mongrels the practice of folks who aren't thereby beginning with good stock.  If folks come to your place and walk away with mutts, they're getting common refuse.  What does that serve and how does it benefit them?" 

Now I admit, "common refuse" might sound harsh.  The most technical word I could have used, and really, in retrospect should have used, and for this I do, indeed, "publically" apologize, is "culls".  These are, of course, semantics, though, at best.  So my statement should have read, "The spreading around of mongrels just makes mongrels the practice of folks who aren't thereby beginning with good stock.  If folks come to your place and walk away with mutts, they're getting culls.  What does that serve and how does it benefit them?" 

There's more to hatching an egg in the act of breeding a layer.  Selling cross culls as layers? There are very distinct reasons for which the egg-laying industry is built primarily on two lines: very specifically inbred White Leghorns and Production Reds, a RIR X NH which is created by crossing very specifically bred lines of pure RIR and NH.  There are, admittedly a couple of other highly respected lines for brown eggs, although this tends to be the most common.  Otherwise, one can have recourse to purebred stock that has been specifically selected for laying qualities.  Before the establishment of the APA and the mass concentration on selective breeding, the average backyard mongrel laid approximately 80 eggs a year; that's less that 7 dozen eggs.  Strong egg-laying is developed over time and maintained through the careful maintenance of pro-laying inbreeding.  Mongrels are vigorous, but very little can be claimed for their capacity to lay.  One could, I suppose, sell them for meat, again without being able to make any great claims, just relying on the fact that one can eat them.  I guess one could sell them for pets, but then we arrive at my first statement...

These however, are all breeder thought-processes.  I can't apologize for them, for that would be a lie.  I can, however, apologize for not really understanding the tone of this thread.  The responses to what I said, which was, again, a very typical breeder response to the question of what to do with 90 cross-bred eggs, were extremely clarifying, which is what I said, which is what I meant.  I read each response carefully and tried to read through the anger to hear what was actually being said.  I deduced the sum of it is that this needs to be a thread for those who "love" Dorkings, not just and/or specifically a thread for those who "breed" Dorkings.  Thus, in the future I shall only make response as is fitting to statements or questions to which I can respond honestly without hurting the sensitivities of those who "love" their Dorkings.  Thus, I apologize and endeavor to make amends.

However, I need to address something very specific that was targeted at me as an expression or example of my mean-spirited insensitivity, and this is that apparently everybody on this thread knows about what's going on in Karen's life.  First and foremost, Karen, if you are experiencing personal difficulties. I am sorry.  If selling 90 mongrel chicks helps the situation, by all means.  Heck, if Greenfire Farms can sell their ridiculousness at $999.00 (!!!) for a single juvenile pair (!!!!) and get folks to buy their "Jubilee Orpingtons" , well than why not, right?  Welcome to capitalism.  However, I don't actually know what is going on in Karen's life or anyone else life, for that matter. 

The only posts I read on this thread are specifically those which have to do with the breeding of Dorkings: the specifics of breeding, the functions of breeding, the qualms of breeding.  If a post does not deal directly with these concerns, I don't read it.  If it begins "My 'roo' is so cute" or what have you, I simply skip it.  There are many posts I don't read.  It is not that I am insensitive, rather I am very private.  If readers of this post stop to consider it, no one here knows anything at all about my personal life save the barest minimum information.  If the "correct" answer to the question of what is to be done with 90 crossbred eggs depended on an in-depth understanding of a personal situation, then I certainly should have held my tongue, although one could assert that such a question, then, also may have belonged, depending on the nature of the personal information, in a "pm". 

Thus I apologize for not using the word "cull" and for not having considered that a large portion of the readership of this thread may be of the "I love my chicken" type.  I am humanely sorry, Karen, if you are suffering something difficult in your personal life that relates back to your experience with chickens or simply in general.

After my statement, much was stated about others' personal approaches with their Dorkings and to chickens in general: hopes, aspirations, intentions, needs for belonging, etc...   As I mentioned, it was very clarifying.  Perhaps, I should be clearer than I have been:

I am an APA-oriented chicken breeder, and every move I make with regards to our farm is directed at and derived from the Standard of Perfection.  I strive to learn from and emulate the very best breeders, both past and present, whose specific methodologies lead and have led to tangible, concrete results of nigh perfection.  I work to remove any impediment or distraction from that goal.  When I teach others, I approach them with the SOP and through the SOP.  If they're not interested in the SOP, I'm polite and courteous but then I move on.  This is not an expression of insensitivity but rather the recognition that there are others who are more qualified to approach them from the point of view for which they are hoping. 
My earliest memories are full of my parents' extensive poultry flocks for which I was quickly made responsible as my age made me qualified to do chores and my obvious predilection for them made the chores an act of love and meditation.  I spent my youth getting up at 4am to quickly make my lunch and assemble my school bag and then out I went to do the chores and sit with the birds.  When I  was old enough, I was permitted to procure my own birds, and I began my own efforts in breeding with Mille Fleur D'Uccles and Black-tailed White Japanese from a breeder a few towns over.  We were too poor to afford books, especially an SOP, but I read every poultry book from the surrounding town libraries one of which had an old black and white SOP over which I poured for hours. From the time I was old enough to understand the difference between a purebred and a mongrel, I have never understood mongrels and never will.  Like most breeders, if I look at a specimen and see it's a mongrel, I pause, make some quick assessment to what might be its parentage and then walk away.
On our farm, I research constantly, daily.  I read and re-read, learn and re-learn.  I grill and re-grill any qualified breeder for every single drip of information she or he can give me.  I ask every judge I know to walk me through any class he or she wishes to teach me every possible thing.  I clerk whenever possible and drive the poor judges nuts with my questions.
I breed and raise by the hundreds and when I cull I cull.  It distresses me to part with birds because they are not good enough.  Greenhorn is actually the reason why I started shipping chicks, because I knew he really wanted Whites, knew he was going to take them very seriously, and knew he would take the time to understand the difference between where they're at and where they're going.
Last year, I past on some broodies, cull pullets I had reserved for hatching eggs, to a poultry friend who breeds bantams for exhibition, who just wanted them for a few extra eggs.  I was reticent, but why not.  To my dismay, one of them ended up at the county fair.  I was deeply troubled and embarrassed, still I had failed to specify distinctly that these were not "public" birds.  Of course, I was discreet and never mentioned my dismay.  Still in a show of over 800 birds, the White Dorking pullet took Champion English.  When I sheepishly approached the judge as to why, he stated quickly and without reservation, it's the only bird up here (meaning in among the English class) with proper type.  Of course, he knew that I knew that he knew that the bird was still only a cull. 

I could go on but it would be redundant.  The point is that this is how I approach poultry.  I don't name them; I wing-band them.  I don't give them treats; I throw them specific scratch grains.  I don't think they're sweet; I take distinct note of their temperament for the concerns of culling and breeding.  I assess them specifically for laying and conformation-based meat qualities.  I weigh them at specific points and final is final.  I don't cuddle with them.  I only handle them with the intention of making them caged train and manageable.  I do not treat for illness, save the basic run of the mill parasites, I cull.  After the show incident, I shall never let a cull bird off of our property again--at least to my knowledge, and selling chicks makes me very stressed because I want them to be even better first--I just respect the desire of and need for good breeders.

After taking a few days to think about it and remove myself, I feel that it is best if I become more of a lurker here than a poster.  The fact that what I posted in response to a very basic question was so utterly shocking, creating an environment of defensive hostility and banner-waving, is, to my understanding, more simply an expression of how I come at poultry breeding from a very different point of view than many on this thread, which is neither good nor bad, nor an indictment of any sort, and honestly I had not understood the extent of difference prior.  In the end, I'm rather grateful, even though it was a bit tumultuous, situation definition is necessary, especially in a cyber environment.

The very best of luck,
YHF

Whom do you respect for obtaining the best Silver Grey stock, sir?