B.Y.C. Dorking Club!

[BlackPanther]

Got a new camera and took some pics this evening. Here are my 3 month olds.

Aww, they're lovely!

 

[ki4got]

well, surprise surprise... I knew I had one girl that went 'wild broody' on me (my horstman/tice dark red girl), but located her nest yesterday, confiscated eggs and relocated her to a crate. today, I was surprised by ANOTHER wild broody. my dark (aka silver/colored) girl. after some waiting, she finally went back to her nest. LOL not even 50 feet from the house in a patch of weeds at the base of my apple tree, under the edge of a pallet that has some grill bottles stacked on it. well, as soon as I can, she'll be relocated too and her eggs added to the incubators.

so I've got 17 that just hatched a few days ago, 14 eggs from under dark red (they hadn't incubated long enough to show development yet), 4 that are due to hatch later this week, plus I just set another 10 yesterday, plus whatever blitz (my dark) has under her.

this is why I haven't been finding many dorking eggs! they've been hiding them. I have a feeling Tannish (palest of the reds) will be next to go 'wild broody' on me, but she usually picks my deck as a good place to go under. with the cats living on and around it, it's rare that we have predators up there, which is good because I can't disassemble the deck to get to where she lays. LOL (nor can I even SEE the eggs usually)

blitz and tannish are not part of my regular breeding program, but are good broodies for raising chicks for me. blitz, I don't have a matching rooster, so her chicks will be heavily melanized reds or silver greys, depending on the sire, tannish crosses nicely with the red roosters but they tend to be very light colored, where I prefer the darker reds. both stayed tho as breeders because I love their type over most of my others.

 

[capayvalleychick]

I never have heard anyone mention heat tolerance for them. Anyone ever have any issues with hot summers?

Mine have been fantastic in the heat. Heat tolerance may be strain specific, though, so not all can be expected to do as well. For instance, I have bought Delawares from 3 different breeders. Birds from 2 of those breeders did fine in the heat. The others dropped dead in the summer. That's what I mean by strain specific.

 

[DBerryhill]

@capayvalleychick thanks for the feedback! I'm hoping I can find some raised within 500 miles of me..hopefully they will more resilient. That being said...I've been looking for a year lol.

 

[AyeBee]

long time reader, first time poster....

I know that black Dorkings are not a standard colour, however I've seen one photo floating around the internet of a black rooster and hen (think it was on the feather site).

Can't say I've seen any here in Australia, but I've heard a hatchery over in the USA sells them. Anybody here have them? I'm really interested to see more photos if anybody would care to share them?

Thanks

 

[Puddin Fluff]

Welcome to BYC! I am new to Dorkings and know nothing about a black one. I'd loveto see it. Glad you joined us.

 

[AyeBee]

Thanks Puddin Fluff.

Happy with my SG Dorkings, but intrigued by these black ones I've read about - especially if they're of good type!

 

[Puddin Fluff]

Thanks Puddin Fluff.


Happy with my SG Dorkings, but intrigued by these black ones I've read about - especially if they're of good type!

Do you have other breeds or only Dorkings? I have a mixed fkock with 2 Silver gray girls 3 months old now.

 

[AyeBee]

Do you have other breeds or only Dorkings? I have a mixed fkock with 2 Silver gray girls 3 months old now.

I keep a couple of breeds: Australian Pit Game, Black Australorp and my flock of SG Dorking.

 

[Sydney Acres]

long time reader, first time poster....

I know that black Dorkings are not a standard colour, however I've seen one photo floating around the internet of a black rooster and hen (think it was on the feather site).

Can't say I've seen any here in Australia, but I've heard a hatchery over in the USA sells them. Anybody here have them? I'm really interested to see more photos if anybody would care to share them?

Thanks

Hi AyeBee,
Welcome to BYC. I think that Sandhill Preservation Center is the only "hatchery" that has Black Dorkings, although they're not a traditional hatchery. Here is a link to the the chicken section of their website: http://www.sandhillpreservation.com/catalog/chickens.html#dorkings. The Dorkings are not in the alphabetical listings -- they are in their own separate category about 3/4 down the page. From what I've heard they're not great quality, but they're a place to start.

Greenhorn has some, and might be able to give you some leads. He posted on this thread frequently last year, but I haven't seen him posting for some time. Here's a link to his video of his blacks: https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/118388/b-y-c-dorking-club/3610. It is the first post -- starts out with his white rooster, and the blacks are at the end of the video.

Good luck in your search.