B.Y.C. Dorking Club!

[Sydney Acres]

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I'd planned on putting her in tonight, but didn't get a chance to prepare her new nest box in time, so I'll do it tomorrow night. I put a 2'W X 5'L X 2'H wire cage inside the broody pen, so she'll have some space but at the same time be prevented from harassing hen #1 too much if things don't go as planned. I was thinking of keeping the wire cage over her for about a week before removing it. Does that seem about right, or would you leave it in until the chicks hatch to see what the hens do once they're out of their broody trance?

 

[ki4got]

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sorry to hear you lost them. that's one reason I always order way more than I need. I can always sell off or eat the extras. besides, if you want to breed, you want to pick the best ones possible, so having more means you have more choices to pick from. rarely will you ever get great birds from a small selection.

 

[ki4got]

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I'd planned on putting her in tonight, but didn't get a chance to prepare her new nest box in time, so I'll do it tomorrow night. I put a 2'W X 5'L X 2'H wire cage inside the broody pen, so she'll have some space but at the same time be prevented from harassing hen #1 too much if things don't go as planned. I was thinking of keeping the wire cage over her for about a week before removing it. Does that seem about right, or would you leave it in until the chicks hatch to see what the hens do once they're out of their broody trance?

it all depends on the girls. LOL I would probably leave the 2 separated until the chicks are hatched and see how the girls get along thru the wire, let the babies get to know their own momma and her voice so when she calls they go back to the right one. also less chance of the girls swapping nests or deciding to keep each other warm on one nest.

 

[kimberly35042]

My friend had wanted Red Dorkings and finally bought a trio from a lady that got them from Sandhill. We were told they were only 6-8 months but the rooster's spurs are over 2". We are guessing closer to 1 1/2 years. Everything seemed fine for the first 3 months. Then a hen died. No other chickens sick. She slowed eating, puffed up had a seizure and died. Then the rooster started attacking my friend. Now she is upset because she will have to put him down, leaving her with no rooster. She already has one rooster chick, 3 months and I have some of her eggs in the incubator. We tossed all of the eggs from the hens while the other was sick. I was thinking she could have one of my mixed roosters until she could raise another. But after reading these last few pages, it sounds as if the new roosters will be just as aggressive. I would appreciate advice as my friend is thinking about giving up on this breed. It has been very sad. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Boy I'm behind and just saw this:

DeannaA, the trio that you guys bought from me was hatched from KI4got's Sandhill stock in April, 2013 from eggs picked up from her on March 5, 2013 after a trip to the East Coast. Can't help how big and bad the spurs were. The rooster was a sweet gentleman because he was only 6 months old. I'm sorry he turned mean for her. I did away with all the Sandhill and McMurray stock (those silver greys were monsters) and only have the stock from Rudy which came from Roger Tice and one Sandhill hen that is completely wild, but I like her color. I did not misrepresent any of them in the least. Tori shouldn't give up on the breed...only that strain. the trio was priced accordingly @ $45 if I remember correctly?? And the hen laid an egg on the way home I believe. She seemed delighted at the time.

I'm pretty sure there are pics posted in this forum when those chicks hatched. Again, I'm sorry that he turned mean. I spent a lot of time and money last year before finally getting stock that I was happy with.

 

[Sydney Acres]

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I agree, if your friend likes Dorkings she definitely wouldn't give up on the breed. I have 22 month old Sandhill RDs and their temperaments are variable. I started with 7 hens and 6 roosters. Six of the hens have good temperaments, and one is sometimes a witch. Of the roosters, at 8 months old one was a lap rooster and sweet to the flock, one was a lap rooster but mean to the flock, one was mean to both me and the flock, and the other three were average teenage boys -- generally good natured but occasionally tested boundries. I kept all the hens, but will only be breeding the best four, each of which has at least two great attributes (the disagreeable one will not be bred, as she is a poor example of the breed, and who wants to propagate difficult birds). I planned on keeping both the sweet lap rooster and one of the good boys who tested me, as those two had the best body shape. The sweet lap rooster was the smaller of the two (actually the smallest of the group, but I was concentrating on conformation over anything else, including size), and was the submissive rooster. But in the middle of spring last year the dominant (larger) rooster got sick and had to be removed from the flock during his recovery period. During that time the submissive rooster took control, and it went to his head. That's expected, he was just a kid. But he didn't manage the hens as well, and then when the dominant rooster was returned to the flock the whole social dynamic changed for the worse. The dominant rooster wasn't able to regain control, having been recently ill, and the new king of the hill became abusive to the hens in the face of competition, so the flock was no longer a peaceful social system. Eventually I decided that the flock was more important than my initial infatuation with a sweet lap rooster, and culled him as well. Peace returned to the flock, and the dominant rooster resumed his role. He is an excellent manager of the flock, and the hens think he's a rock star. He still occasionally challenges me, but only during breeding season. He's not a lap rooster, but he's handled every day and minds his manners almost all the time. He's not the best rooster I've ever had, temperament wise, but he's acceptable, and his other qualities are excellent. I'm very happy with my group, and have eggs under two broody hens right now. (Hope they hatch, hope they hatch, hope they hatch...)

But I started with 7 pullets and 6 cockerels to select down to 4 hens and one rooster for breeding. That's a hugely important point. Birds are individuals, just like people are. If you went into a public area and randomly selected three people, the chances of you selecting three wonderful people that would all be a great friend, neighbor, coworker, family member, whatever is not that high. Chances are at least one of them would have some issues that you didn't like. On the other hand, if you randomly select 13 people, the chances that at least three of them are acceptable are much higher. And birds, just like people, often change into much different personalities after they hit puberty.

If your friend likes the breed but doesn't want to get large numbers of chicks and then select down, she might consider getting an established trio that's over a year old, from a breeder that has the same priorities that she does (some breeders consider temperament a big concern, other breeders say if it's not listed in the SOP, they don't care about it). Even that's not a guarantee, since different housing environments and different management styles can significantly affect the way a bird acts. But at least it's a good start.

 

[heartsizedfarm]

Sydney Acres, I'm curious. Do you sense a colour-temperament link? I've had two silver greys, the sweetest hens ever, really owned me I have to confess, and one red who was so grumpy. You know that growly hen that you can never please? What was your experience? And are there other Dorking colour variations?

 

[heartsizedfarm]

Come to think of it, if I didn't care about egg size or colour, which I sort of do, my ideal flock would be twenty four silver grey Dorking hens, and not a rooster in sight.

 

[pysankigirl]

Honestly, my red dorking boy is a sweetheart. all my girls are pleasant, but unfortunately the ones I could just walk up to to pick up were taken by a dang fox. I am hoping to hatch some more this year to bolster my numbers back.

 

[ki4got]

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actually, the sire of those chicks was my Thing2. the sweetest boy I've ever had. he was from Roger Tice and Dick Horstman lines. the girls I had at the time were Sandhill. I got rid of most of them and got 2 girls from the same breeder as Thing2, but then lost him to a predator last summer.

I've had similar problems with aggressive red roos from those sandhill girls. I have one left now who's a sweetie but also not a primary breeder. she's in the egg flock at the moment.

I just set up the silver greys, right now in 2 smaller pens with 3 girls per roo, but I'm contemplating putting them back in the big coop together so I can use the smaller pens for the bantam cochins.

hoping to get more work done on the grow out pen this weekend so that I can turn my sfh into that, to free up more of my smaller pens too. I've got to sit down and map out what I need vs what I've got. LOL maybe then I can get my brain wrapped around it all.

 

[Sydney Acres]

Sydney Acres, I'm curious. Do you sense a colour-temperament link? I've had two silver greys, the sweetest hens ever, really owned me I have to confess, and one red who was so grumpy. You know that growly hen that you can never please? What was your experience? And are there other Dorking colour variations?

Red Dorkings are the only color I've ever owned, so I can't compare SOP colors personally. (In the U.S., the SOP only recognizes four colors: Silver Gray, Red, White, and Colored. However, there are many more colors in existence, and many more colors recognized by the British Poultry Standard, the British version of the U.S. Standard of Perfection.) I don't get the impression from what I've read that there is a link to color and temperament though. I suspect it is more a matter of which lines you buy, combined with how you select your breeders vs culls, and whether you start with a large enough number to have an actual selection to chose from.

I can say, however, that my Sandhill "Red Dorkings" have run the color spectrum both in roosters and hens, anything from "that's so red it can't be his natural color" to an almost dull brown, and I did not notice a difference in temperament based on color. However, I only had a total of 13, so if I were working with 100 I might have noticed a pattern, (A minimum "statistically significant" number for this sort of thing would be 30, which is why you can't put too much significance on the temperament of one trio.) Of the roosters, the two roosters that I kept and two that I culled were the exact same (ideal) color, but had different temperaments. The one that was sweet to me but mean to the flock had minimal red on him. The one that was mean to everyone was the most red, but he also had a conformation that was more typical of a high strung layer hybrid than a Dorking, with the personality to match, and he started dancing for hens and crowing when he was only 12 weeks old, so the earlier exposure to testosterone may have affected his temperament. Of my hens, the brightest, reddest one is one of the three sweetest ones. She is so affectionate that she regularly jumps on my shoulder and presses her body against my ear and chirps to be petted and rubbed. The other two top sweeties are more a mix of a red and colored hen, with the colored pattern more obvious. And my last sweet girl doesn't come begging for attention, but is quite happy when it is given. She is a "typical" RD hen pattern and color. Those four are all lap chickens. My other three are a bit higher strung, with one being a bit of a witch to the other birds (although not to me). They still all follow me around like puppies, but are just a bit more anxious when handled. Those three are also the "typical" RD hen color.

The one thing I can say for sure, even though I don't have a "statistically significant number," is that the birds with the best "Dorking features" are the friendliest and calmest birds, and the ones with the impression of outcrossing in their distant past are the higher-strung birds that are/were either more aggressive or more anxious or aloof. So my suspicion, based on that one observation, is that in this line, the birds with the best Dorking traits from a physical standpoint also have the best personalities. So as birds are selected for the breeding pen based on their physical qualities, the behavioral qualities will follow. That may only apply to the Sandhill RD line, or it may be a general finding with all calm breeds like Dorkings. But again, proper selection and proper culling are essential to getting the bird you want, regardless of the qualities that you find important. And regardless of how perfect the parents may be, not every offspring from that breeding will turn out perfect, or even acceptable. Some will show you their true colors (both literally and personality-wise) at a very early age, and others will completely change with maturity. That's why we cull, and why we wait so long before doing it in this breed. Usually you can tell early on, sometimes within the first few days, but other times the best kids turn out to be the worst adults, and visa versa. That seems to hold true for most species.