B.Y.C. Dorking Club!

[heritagehabitatfarms]

i read a university study a few years ago (sry link was on my old now dead computer) that said that temperament was 25% inheritable... Meaning that if u used a mean rooster over calm hens 25% of the offspring would be mean... yes I'm simplifying it lol... so u should be able to breed it out in 2 or 3 generations with hard culling....

It is interesting that your are also Sand Hill Reds

Yes, the temperament was one of the things that drew me to this breed. Had it not been for the testimonies from you folks on this thread, I would have tossed these guys out a long time ago! Plus I found hope with the second line of Red Dorkings and their more reasonable temperaments. I really like the history of this breed and hope to have a flock of SOP quality birds with the temperament, meat quality and broodiness that I have heard so much about. It just looks like it is going to take a while for this to pan out.

Has anyone here ever successfully culled for better temperament? I was once told that you could not "breed the devil" out of a mean rabbit and to get rid of it ASAP! Is the same true for chickens?

 

[Sazbaby]

Just got these cuties Tuesday from McMurray, 15 pullets , 5 cockerels, and 2 mystery freebies! And just for the record, these Dorking babies are twicw as loud as my Comets and EE's put together!

Well, I got my SGD from McMurray Tuesday morning, and unfortunately several didn't make it. I have had bad luck with shipping chicks this year... Grateful for the 48 hour guarantee...

Interesting about how someone mentioned they had ordered boys and ended up with *several* girls mixed in... I ordered boys and straight run, and all but a couple look like girls, with a wide, dark head stripe and dark eyeliner. There are a couple that definitely look like boys, but either it's not as obvious with this line, or I have a bunch of girls mixed in too. Few weeks of waiting and then I'll be able to say for sure! Hard to wait though...

And all my chicks from McMurray are extremely flighty too, the slightest noise or starting to unlatch the lid to the brooder puts them all into a panic and they run like maniacs to pile up at one side of the brooder! It's wild, never had chicks be quite this jumpy!

Also, interesting to note, I have a few in the order (composed of SGD, Columbian Wyandotte, Buff Orpington) that have the lower wing feathers pointing straight out to the side instead of laying flat against their sides. Several of the dead ones were like that before dying, so I thought it was a sign of weakness or something, but the remaining ones seem pretty good and strong, normal other than the wings sticking out funny! I searched it and found a lot of people calling it "angel wing" like in waterfoul, that's the appearance of it, but clearly a different issue. Hope they grow out of it!

I'll try to post a picture when all settles down and get opinions on gender... will be interesting to see how they turn out!

 

[Sazbaby]

I just had to share for others who order from Murray McMurray Hatchery. I ordered an order of 25 Silver Gray Dorking roosters from them, because I was light in the rooster area since my dorking hens were having problems laying fertile eggs. They sent me money back saying they could only give me 21 chicks. I got the chicks and upon first looking at them I thought wow a lot of these chicks are girls not boys. Then I read on here and people were saying the McMurray Dorkings tend to have darker features even in the boys so I figured I would wait and see what they turned out to be.

Now they are 4 weeks old and many of them don't even have combs at all and are very definitely developing a rosy colored breast. Out of the 21 I would have to say that more than 1/2 are girls rather than boys.

Has anyone else had this happen or is this just a fluke.

I have also noticed that even with handling the chicks from McMurray are much more timid than the chicks that I have seen for Silver Gray Dorkings before. I don't even need to open the brooder, if I just walk into the barn they will all run into the corner of the brooder and pile up on each other. I am handling them daily but boy it seems like even with that they don't get any better. Hopefully once they are older they will be less flighty.

See my post just above... couldn't figure out how to quote from multiple pages in one post... Can't wait to see what I have ended up with...

 

[Alaskan]

What is everyone's rate of lay for their Dorkings? (Ignore when they are broody)

And anyone notice a difference between the different colors?

Thanks

 

[greenhorn]

I get an egg almost every day from my hens that are just now a tad over 1 yr old. Don't have enough experience with different colors other than black and white, Have 1 SG hen so my input there isn't any good.

My blacks are excellent eggs layers, eggs aren't as white as the white birds produce. Don't really notice that one color lays better than the other...

 

[ki4got]

What is everyone's rate of lay for their Dorkings? (Ignore when they are broody)

And anyone notice a difference between the different colors?

Thanks

i'm guessing 5-6 a week right now, if only from the hoarded (and well hidden) piles of eggs I've found over the last few days. LOL

but I won't leave potential predator food out in the yard so the eggs all went in the trash. (couple stinkers, so taking no chances)

once I get the pens done, then i'll be able to say for sure, since i'll be able to FIND the eggs from the girls penned up.

 

[Alaskan]

I get an egg almost every day from my hens that are just now a tad over 1 yr old. Don't have enough experience with different colors other than black and white, Have 1 SG hen so my input there isn't any good.


My blacks are excellent eggs layers, eggs aren't as white as the white birds produce. Don't really notice that one color lays better than the other...

There are black Dorkings?

 

[ki4got]

Quote: it's out here, but not a recognized variety by the APA... IMO we really need to work on improving the varieties that are already recognized, and breed toward the SOP. even those who aren't interested in showing should be breeding toward the standard, or else the breed is going to degrade even further.

 

[BGMatt]

it's out here, but not a recognized variety by the APA... IMO we really need to work on improving the varieties that are already recognized, and breed toward the SOP. even those who aren't interested in showing should be breeding toward the standard, or else the breed is going to degrade even further.

I wish more poultry people had this attitude in general. Breed to the standard (heck there are chicken folk out there that don't own one, which should be a crime!), work on the existing varieties and not get caught up in making all these "new" fad colors. The poultry world in general would be much better off for it, especially the rare breeds.

 

[ki4got]

I just got a call from a guy that runs a heritage museum here in VA. apparently they had some predator problems and lost their colored dorking flock... my only colored right now are babies i'm growing out, but hopefully I'll have some to part with later this summer.

if anyone else is interested in helping him out with some birds, pm me, and i'll pass along his phone number. he's near Staunton VA...

he said he'd email me some pics of the colored they had before, so i'll know what he's looking for, since there's so much variation among them.