B.Y.C. Dorking Club!

[LilyD]

Okay so finally got some downtime and fixed the fencing and got some pictures of my brood so far.



Hen Number 1 of my adults hiding in the bushes




My main rooster Trouble. I love how he looks. He is about a year and a half right now.



My second hen from my adults. She didn't want her picture taken.



My back up rooster Mr. Man. He is a little smaller than Trouble but still has a good looking body.



I boy and one girl born on 6/20. They are starting to look good.








Baby girl number 1 hatch date 6/30



Baby 2 same hatch date.




Little boy hatch date 7/2





Baby girl 3





Little boy



Another little boy



and another boy








Tiny little boy hatched 7/3

I think total I have out of 11 chicks I have 5 girls and 6 boys but some are still too little to tell which they are.

 

[Jayzandra]

I just wanted to share a picture of my Silver Grey Dorking. She hatched on April Fools Day.

 

[BlackPanther]

ROFL that's a 10 week old baby boy... no they're LF. on the smallish side tho, roos 6-7 pounds maybe?

more of an egg layer type body than dual purpose or meaty... tall and not so wide.

here's one of my young roo... (crested) they've only been in the country for a bit over 2 years, so there are some obvious flaws that need work, but their personality is a lot like the dorking, if not friendlier. these guys are under foot as much or more than my dorkings are. LOL and yes, he has side sprigs. it seems sprigs are more common right now than a lack of. so it's something we'll be working towards eliminating over time. as well as split wing, which is also a problem. 'curly combs' (where they S at the front) are common on crested roos, and are not considered a fault.


if you're interested in them, check out the link in my sig. there's also a sfh thread on byc too (linked from the sfhusa website)

LOL! My mistake.
They're lovely, but I'm a dual-purpose person

 

[ki4got]

Quote: oh i'd say they're dual purpose... in Sweden the roos go upwards of 7 pounds... yeah not HUGE, but still makes a meal. round here, like the dorkings they seem to be a bit smaller (for now).

 

[Sazbaby]

I've been meaning to post pictures for a while now and just got around to it- I have 5 SG Dorking cockerels from McMurray, hatched 6/3 so about 7-8 weeks old. 2 or 3 of them have big huge red combs and wattles coming along, and the other boys have much paler combs, less development of the wattles, and smaller combs, yet bigger than the females. Obviously at this age, they're clearly boys, but dramatically different. All in the same environment, nothing different going on. Is there any significance to the differences at this age?? Pretty dramatic...


Also, as a side note, one of the cockerels has a crooked toe- I'm wondering- do I 1. leave it be and automatically send him along with the meat boys, 2. Attempt to splint it and tag him for ID so it will straighten out but he will still be a cull, or 3. Attempt to splint it and still consider him a possible keeper? My understanding is that the problem could be genetic or related to temp fluctuations in incubation, so my assumption is that he'll be a cull... but do I bother to fix it? It doesn't seem to bother him in the least.

 

[ki4got]

I've been meaning to post pictures for a while now and just got around to it- I have 5 SG Dorking cockerels from McMurray, hatched 6/3 so about 7-8 weeks old. 2 or 3 of them have big huge red combs and wattles coming along, and the other boys have much paler combs, less development of the wattles, and smaller combs, yet bigger than the females. Obviously at this age, they're clearly boys, but dramatically different. All in the same environment, nothing different going on. Is there any significance to the differences at this age?? Pretty dramatic...

Also, as a side note, one of the cockerels has a crooked toe- I'm wondering- do I 1. leave it be and automatically send him along with the meat boys, 2. Attempt to splint it and tag him for ID so it will straighten out but he will still be a cull, or 3. Attempt to splint it and still consider him a possible keeper? My understanding is that the problem could be genetic or related to temp fluctuations in incubation, so my assumption is that he'll be a cull... but do I bother to fix it? It doesn't seem to bother him in the least.

I've never worried about splinting or straightening toes... if I know WHY it's crooked, that's one thing, if I don't it's another.

Crooked-Toe, one of my red girls, broke 2 toes as a chick (thanks to that wonderful horse that steps on everyone she can! ok well, she's blind so she gets a bit of leeway there.) so yeah she's a keeper. LOL one hatched crooked, i'd cull just to be safe.

as for your roos maturing differently, don't go by how fast they mature, the fast ones may end up being smaller than the slow growers. unfortunately I don't have any cockerels to evaluate, as they all seem to be excessively accident prone, careless or fearless and none have survived free ranging... some apparently didn't go to bed when/where they were supposed to, didn't pay attention to the head roo's warnings when hawks were in the sky, or didn't bother moving when the blind horse came meandering along. (I won't say walk, she has more of a slow amble that most turtles could avoid). and all colored too... wonder if that says something for sandhill's birds or just cockerels in general LOL

 

[imtrying]

hi all - - i'm sure you get asked this several times, but i'm looking for day old chicks. anyone know where i can them? i'm looking for either silver grey or red...or both.

thanks.

 

[Yellow House Farm]

Cull a chick with crooked toes.

Sometimes cockerels spurt and show inordinately early maturity; these often prove undesirable further down the road. However, as a whole, you want the earlier maturing chicks, because they speak to vigor and health. Keep all of them, though, which will help to acclimate you to the growing habits of your strain. By six months, if your slower birds aren't on level playing field with your faster birds, and if your faster birds did not peak too soon, favor the faster birds.

 

[Sazbaby]

Thanks for the input, I've just been quite surprised at the differences between some of these cockerels! They'll all be kept until at least 6 months for further evaluation, I might try to go ahead and mark these more mature looking ones so I'll be able to tell who they are down the line... now to get around to getting that done! As for the crooked toe, I wish I could say for sure whether it was there as a chick or not... I did check toes when they arrived as hatchlings, and I didn't note any problems, but it's not as noticeable when you pick them up compared to when they're standing on the ground... we handle these chicks on a daily basis, so I'm thinking I would have noticed if it was present earlier, they were probably 4 weeks old when I noticed it somewhat suddenly... There was also the few days I took the girls to the beach and my husband was manning the farm, he was moving the brooder coop and said that he accidentally set it down on someone's leg/foot ever so briefly, checked on them afterwards and said they looked fine, but of course when he got around to telling me about it, he couldn't remember which breed of chick it was. So there's a fairly decent chance that it was an injury, but I can't be certain, so he'll be put with the meat birds when old enough. Leaves me with 4 more cockerels to pick from if I decide to pursue the silver grays... not sure about that yet! Thanks again!

 

[nanclapper]

Sazbaby, I received an order June 3 of SG Dorkings from McMurray and have noticed the same things as you in my cockerels; two of five are significantly smaller & two of five have crooked toes (one larger roo & one smaller). I noticed the crooked toes when they were about two weeks old. The three hens in the same batch are all three about the same size and no crooked toes.

Nancy