B.Y.C. Dorking Club!

[ronott1]

They are only four months. I know this is a little young, but my main goal in acquiring the Dorking breed was to fill our freezer and we are running out of room. I guess I can put up a temporary pen, but I was hopping I could get out of that. What is the best age to butcher?

Thanks for you help. I will see if I can rearrange some birds and keep the Dorks a bit longer. That will give me time to purchase the APA SOP
I did not know that, I am soo sorry! I was not trying to get anyone in trouble. I just figured if I am going to keep a few hens and a back up rooster this year I better have some idea as to what I am looking for.

It's ok. The Standards were all removed from BYC last year. You can still get very old free versions as ebooks.

The best thing though is to get the book from the APA, either at a show or online from their website.

 

[ki4got]

for a general description, the Dorking Breeder's Club has that all on their website.
http://dorkingbreedersclub.webs.com/generalcharacteristics.htm
from there click the specific colors to the right if you want more info.

 

[LilyD]

Our only Dorking hatchling so far. Just moved her to the brooder this morning. I am hoping her anyway. What do you guys think?

 

[capayvalleychick]

I now have proof that you cannot sex newly hatched SGDs by their markings with 100% accuracy.

Here are two chicks that appeared to be pullets. Both had the very dark triangle and eyeliner.



At 24 days old, you can sex them by looking at their breast feathers. These are the same 2 chicks, turned over.



A pullet and a cockerel. Both had identical markings before the breast feathers came in.

I was able to accurately guess the sex of 8 out of these 10. But I was definitely wrong with calling the one above a pullet. Another has gray breast feathers coming in, so I am still waiting to see if it is a pullet.

 

[kimberly35042]

Haha -- I would have guessed cockeral on the left guy, but it could be the angle making the head dot more narrow.

I have hatched out about 40 dorking chicks this spring and decided the sex isn't even worth worrying about at this point. Seems like there is so much "in my face" this time of year that the baby chicks get the least of my attention after they are safely in their brooder. I don't think a single one of the 5 hatchery sg cockerals look alike *lol* Handsome guys and very similar, but when you start really looking at them. Well, this is going to be a long term project for sure.

 

[Mainechick111]

Hello everyone! I am new to Backyard Chickens and am loving all the information I am getting on here! I have been researching Dorking chickens for quite some time and my family and I are hoping to raise some. We homeschool and are looking to join 4-H as well and it would be great to take some Dorkings to a show someday! We are having a hard time finding someone who might be willing to ship some chicks to us, it seems that people only ship eggs. Unfortunately at this time we don't have an incubator and we don't have a broody chicken to put eggs under. If anyone knows of someone who might be willing to ship chicks for a reasonable price we would love to get some! We thought about Sandhill preservation in the past but have hear mixed reviews about them and I don't even know if they have any left and they are super hard to get in touch with. Thanks in advance for any help in finding some Dorking chicks!!

 

[Sazbaby]

Hello everyone! I am new to Backyard Chickens and am loving all the information I am getting on here! I have been researching Dorking chickens for quite some time and my family and I are hoping to raise some. We homeschool and are looking to join 4-H as well and it would be great to take some Dorkings to a show someday! We are having a hard time finding someone who might be willing to ship some chicks to us, it seems that people only ship eggs. Unfortunately at this time we don't have an incubator and we don't have a broody chicken to put eggs under. If anyone knows of someone who might be willing to ship chicks for a reasonable price we would love to get some! We thought about Sandhill preservation in the past but have hear mixed reviews about them and I don't even know if they have any left and they are super hard to get in touch with. Thanks in advance for any help in finding some Dorking chicks!!

McMurray hatchery has silver grey dorkings, last I checked, Meyer only had males for most of the rest of the season... if I recall right, McMurray's dorkings are from an individual with a nice line of dorkings and I have been told by a few people that they are the "preferred" hatchery to get dorkings from if you are unable to get them from a private breeder. I have some in the brooder now, will be interesting to see how they compare to others from private lines, but it might be somewhere to start.

Just checked McMurray's site and they have dorkings available on a limited basis for 3 more hatches, but there are females and straight run available for a few. You might snag them up before they go unavailable!

I've heard pretty good things about Sand Hill and actually just ordered a few more dorking chicks from them myself, I actually was looking for Delawares (which I can't seem to get my hands on either! lol) and threw in a few of their dorkings to round out the 25 chick minimum, and to have some variety in my bloodlines. I think everyone has a variable experience due to the shipping process, which is unfortunate but reality I suppose.

As an alternative, look on ebay or craigslist for a used incubator- I've gotten a couple online that are great deals and work really well, might be a way to get yourself started if you can't line up chicks this season. Good luck with it, I'm sure someone else will have more/better advice for you here!

 

[gel2727]

Any guesses on my 3 week old? It was my free rare chick, really hoping its female so I can keep him/her.

 

[Sazbaby]

Any guesses on my 3 week old? It was my free rare chick, really hoping its female so I can keep him/her.

Ok, you asked for *guesses* and I'll throw in my guess! lol I'm thinking it's a boy if it's a dorking, the only sg dorking male I've raised so far started out with breast feathers like that, and within a few days they were obviously black. If it was a girl, should be more salmon/pinky/brownish looking at the chest... but I'm probably one of the least experienced dorking people in this forum!

 

[ronott1]

I just put 34 SG Dorking eggs into the incubator!