B.Y.C. Dorking Club!

[greenhorn]

I've been raising Dorkings since 2005, but didn't get the SOP until last year. I was so upset when I read it and realized how many defects I had been breeding.

Not having the SOP when I started breeding was my worst mistake.
Make sure to read the first sections, not just the breed description. So much valuable info there. Even the glossary will help with using the correct terminology on that other site.

Regarding grading, I am a purist and will not cross breed a foundation breed. That opinion got me condemned on another thread, so beware of making that opinion public.

You can get bigger birds by selecting for it in your breeding program. It's slow, but entirely possible with patience. I saw an old article with illustrations for each year and the progress made over a ten year period. There were only subtle changes from year to year but a transformation when you looked at the decade.

Finding a mentor that is a Master Breeder and APA judge has been a great help in applying what I read in the SOP.

I also waited way too long to use a scale. I'm still not sure if I'm getting an accurate weight. I bought a food scale but the surface is slippery. I ended up using an infant scale for mature birds. Lots of people say that they use postal scales but the ones I've seen for sale are expensive and too small.

Now I have the dilemma of my birds with the best weight have white ear lobes. My birds with some traits that I need have lower weight. I'm trying different combinations to see how I can resolve this.

I did cull some nice type/sized birds, early on, due to improper color. Another mistake. Type/size is the most important. Disregard color until you have type. At least you have single color varieties!

I hear ya and I'm not going to outcross our dorkings at all. Just thought it was interesting that they wrote 3 articles about grading in the same bulletin. Have to admit it was an interesting read. I have already been applying the same basic breeding method with our ISA Brown back cross project. Thats what I was calling it before I learned it's called grading when applied to chickens. I started with a nice looking (but mean) rhode island red rooster. and my best laying ISA Brown hens. I don't like RIR's but don't feel the same about ISA Browns. Anyway since ISA's are basically 50% RIR I thought he'd make a good bird to start the project with.

What I'm shooting for is a white bird with brown or red markings kind of like an ISA Brown rooster. But I want all the birds to be the same color, hens and roosters.....

So it basically takes a rolling breeding or 2 to get there since they are sex link birds. IB roosters are white with brown markings and the hens are white with brown markings originally. When we crossed the RIR to the IB original hens we got a brownish rooster. Then when we back crossed (75% IB 25% RIR) we got a nice white rooster. He's got a nice attitude like an IB rooster too.

From here we are going to use him on some fresh IB hens we just purchased back in February. Figure we should get some white hens from this second back cross which is called hexing (87.5% IB and 12.5% RIR) when breeding plants....

I like doing different stuff just for fun but this is probably as close as we will ever get to grading. Sorry if i got off topic there but just wanted to state why I'm interested in grading.... Have no intentions of ever outcrossing dorkings to do a grading project with them...

 

[sandiklaws]

Your entire post is great information. I improved fertility simply by doing the first part.

By single mating, I also discovered that one hen was infertile. Working on her now.

Thanks, single mating is def the way to go if fertility issues are sort of random... one of the draw backs w/ working w/ the older neglected breeds is fertility issues popping up occasionally in both sexes.

In Favs some roos are sort of docile and need special attention their first year, and I do not even try them until they are 11 months old or preferably even older, and always put them with hens I know to be fertile... but if they do not "get it" by 6 months into their breeding career, and need tons of help, they get put into freezer camp.

Pullets, once laying hatch-able sized eggs, get put w/ a roo that I know and trust to do the job, generally in groups of 2 or 3 at a time, using food coloring to mark the eggs (you flip the girly over and stimulate her until she is "pulsing" then drop about 10 drops directly into her vent, this will leave traces on every egg laid for a few days time). I also try to note general differences in eggs, and will often try to utilize these differences as well to ID who is laying what. W/ the Favs, the color and "finish" can vary quite a bit.

Generally I do not bother with collecting from the pullet/old timer pen for the bator until the gals have been w/ the Mr. for a week or so. I usually try for at least 12 eggs from each girl to test fertility, generally done in 2 separate sets in 2 different bators (just in case Murphy decides to visit LOL). Using this method works well if you want to ID a group of 10-12 girls and have some old timer fellas kicking around with nothing to do... most I have done with this method was 5, but I got lucky with that group and they all were good out of the gate.

 

[greenhorn]

14 Dorking chicks hatched so far, 12 whites and 2 blacks. Not seeing any black spots this time... Sometimes they don't show up so good at first though...

I let some smaller chicks loose in the coops and they can sneak through the fence in the runs but seem to stay within their confines. Worried they may get adventurous and sneak out. That could end up bad if a hawk see's them.

Caught an opossum last night too. Those live traps stay baited now and haven't had any problems since. I was cooking the critters we were catching up for the chickens but it's getting too warm out for butchering possums. Gonna need to dig a deep hole this time but not for a chicken.... for a predator.. haha

So far this spring 2 opossums and 1 skunk. Skunks are a bummer to catch in the live trap but they are chicken killers, so are those ugly opossums.

14 more Dorking chicks added to the flock and hopefully many more to go...

Taking a break from the garden, reading the SOP and watching chicks hatch.

 

[speedy2020]

14 Dorking chicks hatched so far, 12 whites and 2 blacks. Not seeing any black spots this time... Sometimes they don't show up so good at first though...

I let some smaller chicks loose in the coops and they can sneak through the fence in the runs but seem to stay within their confines. Worried they may get adventurous and sneak out. That could end up bad if a hawk see's them.

Caught an opossum last night too. Those live traps stay baited now and haven't had any problems since. I was cooking the critters we were catching up for the chickens but it's getting too warm out for butchering possums. Gonna need to dig a deep hole this time but not for a chicken.... for a predator.. haha

So far this spring 2 opossums and 1 skunk. Skunks are a bummer to catch in the live trap but they are chicken killers, so are those ugly opossums.

14 more Dorking chicks added to the flock and hopefully many more to go...

Taking a break from the garden, reading the SOP and watching chicks hatch.

I didn't know skunk love chicken through. I can't wait to get some Dorking hatching eggs from my block in September.

 

[cukooformarans]

You cooked possum for the chickens to eat??

 

[greenhorn]

You cooked possum for the chickens to eat??

Yes when it's colder I do that if i have the time. I try and give my birds a well balanced diet and meat is part of it. I'm thinking that possum is better for them than that bag of GMO food I get from TSC. Of course the possum probably ate plenty of GMO corn before he came here.

I call it hair of the dog when I feed my birds their predators...

 

[greenhorn]

I didn't know skunk love chicken through. I can't way to get some Dorking hatching eggs from my block in September.

Skunks will crawl right up a chickens butt to get an egg. I'm here to tell ya, don't do the chicken much good. Was told they will even do that to a rooster..... They don't know the difference I guess...

 

[melissaG]

Skunks will crawl right up a chickens butt to get an egg. I'm here to tell ya, don't do the chicken much good. Was told they will even do that to a rooster..... They don't know the difference I guess...

never fails to make me gag, just hearing the description

 

[heritagehabitatfarms]

I am a little behind on this thread and wanted to reply to this... The UofA has red Dorkings now... i think just 5 to 8 adults that are laying and he is setting almost all there eggs to build his numbers but i have seen a few Eggs sneak out of his egg room...

Does anyone on here know of a source for Red Dorkings in or around Arkansas? I have tried hatching shipped eggs twice now with dysmal results. Out of my first shipment of 24 eggs I got one cockerel. Out of the next shipment that are due to hatch on the 27th, I have three still going. Two early quitters. I have terrible results on anything shipped from the East Coast area.

I would love to find someone in AR or OK that I could either pick up eggs or chicks. Thanks for the info.

 

[caj1985]

I am a little behind on this thread and wanted to reply to this... The UofA has red Dorkings now... i think just 5 to 8 adults that are laying and he is setting almost all there eggs to build his numbers but i have seen a few Eggs sneak out of his egg room...

I have some of the silvers. I didn't realize he also had reds. Thanks, Elias!