B.Y.C. Dorking Club!

[Yellow House Farm]

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Also, it's hard to return calls. Sometimes people complain that we're hard to get ahold of, but, geesh, it's not easy to provide big box store service with no employees.

 

[Yellow House Farm]

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OK, as I've said in the past, start where you stand. The easiest place for you to go, as Rudy mentions, is white, this is seconded because of the kind of white that Dokring white is.

If I were in your stead and was decided on making do with the stock on hand, I'd take cockerel number 3 and put him over any of your RC white pullets. I'd take cockerel number 5 and put him over any of your SC white pullets. Id take cockerel number 7 and put him over your heaviest, typiest colored pullets. I'd set every egg they laid, barring deformed, etc..., setting them once as week, and cull every chick that hatched that wasn't white and rose combed right out of the incubator. I'd hope for 30 to 50 chicks by the end of the hatching season, and from there cull down to the best trio from each mating. With this you'd have an assured supply of bio diversity to last a life-time, as well as fowl that were oriented toward the Standard. Next year you'd start the process again, you'd still get off colored birds, but there would be fewer. You'd still get single combs, but they, too, would be fewer. Cull again very tighly, maintaining three of four trios, and keep this up.

More or less, you'd be grading to white. By not raising anything but white and RC chicks, you avoid both the temptation of distraction as well as leaving your broody capacity open to more whites. The more of any one color variety you have, the more you'll fell able to eliminate birds that stray to far from the Standard, and breeding to the Standard is key in Dorkings, it is written to their greatest benefit.

 

[capayvalleychick]

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I definitely like that second hen a lot more than the first one. She looks like an eater to me...or else she might have an issue. Sometimes pics lie, but...

I like the male and the last female. Maybe he'd sell them for less and keep that one hen???

The pics you posted of your birds in that video a while back looked like pretty good stuff. Why are you looking for more? Just new blood? $125 sounds like a lot but I guess it might be the price of Dorkings in CA. Good luck!

Thanks for your input. They look sort of ragged to me. That is a lot of money and I'm not wealthy! I might see if he'll come down in price.
I need new blood to improve what I have, plus I need more Dorkings if I want to be more serious about breeding. I guess I'm really unhappy about my roos (in that video) because they are worse than what I had, initially. That's nice of you to say they are good- I just keep seeing their faults.

I was the one that said Roger Tice wouldn't return my calls and I was asking for Silvers, so that must be why. I sure like the Reds that people have from him.

Kim

 

[hensonly]

Yellow HOuse Farm and rtroxel: Thanks so much for your clear comments and suggestions on my photos.

My original plan was to get a straight run, keep one roo (and the pullets, of course!), eat the rest. Move any hens I don't want chicks from in with the laying flock, and eventually let a broody hen raise some chicks, keep the best, eat the rest, and so on.

It all worked out fine, right up to getting my straight run! I didn't realize the dearth of good stock out there. I thought I'd be getting good breeding stock, reasonably up to standard, from Sand Hill (smaller hatchery, dedicated to heritage breeds, etc.). I did get good healthy birds, and of course raising them over the winter doesn't help their growth to be where it should. I didn't realize the timing would make such a difference. As my dad used to say, "education is expensive".

I only have two coops at present. One has my layers in it, the other has the Dorkings. I also have no incubator, so setting eggs every week isn't practical for me. I'm not sure how I'd manage the three sets of breedings YHF suggests...keep the roos in a bachelor pad, have one breeding pen, and rotate the three roos into it in turn, with the appropriate hens?

rtroxel, in answer to your question, my personal goal is to raise Dorkings as dual purpose birds for my own use. I am not interested in showing at present; and am more concerned with the build of the bird. I'm not sure I can be too fussy about color at this point, given my housing limitations; I do plan to build a tractor this spring for the layers, and hope eventually to use their current coop for a broody pen. That was my original plan, anyway. I guess I could use it for a breeding pen first...obviously I won't be breeding anything right away, as they're not yet six months old... At what age should I breed?

In regard to YHF's comment about the four toes - I think the pics just don't show the feet well; the vast majority do have five toes, though some are not ideally positioned. On that topic, though, Sand Hill was two chicks short on my order, they filled in with white orpingtons. There's one white hen I'm not sure of; she has four toes but white legs rather than the yellow of the other Orps. To my eyes, she's got a decent build (in comparison!). One of the dorking white hens has some feathers on her toes. Would I NOT breed her? or is that something that could be dealt with later, given the paucity of my options?!

Thanks again for your time and input, everyone!

 

[tgrlily]

Hmmmm.... Your white Orps should all have white legs. I also wouldn't breed the Dorking with the feathers on her feet.

 

[Yellow House Farm]

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I definitely like that second hen a lot more than the first one. She looks like an eater to me...or else she might have an issue. Sometimes pics lie, but...

I like the male and the last female. Maybe he'd sell them for less and keep that one hen???

The pics you posted of your birds in that video a while back looked like pretty good stuff. Why are you looking for more? Just new blood? $125 sounds like a lot but I guess it might be the price of Dorkings in CA. Good luck!

Thanks for your input. They look sort of ragged to me. That is a lot of money and I'm not wealthy! I might see if he'll come down in price.
I need new blood to improve what I have, plus I need more Dorkings if I want to be more serious about breeding. I guess I'm really unhappy about my roos (in that video) because they are worse than what I had, initially. That's nice of you to say they are good- I just keep seeing their faults.

I was the one that said Roger Tice wouldn't return my calls and I was asking for Silvers, so that must be why. I sure like the Reds that people have from him.

Kim

It might just be a question of breeding them up. I think that Dokrings are being intercepted from the one-way road just in the knick of time. I think that they're in tougher shape as a breed. They require above all our patience, commitment, and discipline. People have often asked me where they can find SQ Dorkings. I might give them a name or two, but I don't have much hope for them, because I often get the impression that they don't want to do the work of breeding up. It's as if they want to simply draw on the work of others. I'm sure your current stock isn't perfect, but I think if you were to hatch heavy and cull hard, you'd see some nice improvement.

 

[Yellow House Farm]

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You are welcome. As my Nonna would say, "poco a poco", little by little.

 

[tgrlily]

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Thanks for your input. They look sort of ragged to me. That is a lot of money and I'm not wealthy! I might see if he'll come down in price.
I need new blood to improve what I have, plus I need more Dorkings if I want to be more serious about breeding. I guess I'm really unhappy about my roos (in that video) because they are worse than what I had, initially. That's nice of you to say they are good- I just keep seeing their faults.

I was the one that said Roger Tice wouldn't return my calls and I was asking for Silvers, so that must be why. I sure like the Reds that people have from him.

Kim

It might just be a question of breeding them up. I think that Dokrings are being intercepted from the one-way road just in the knick of time. I think that they're in tougher shape as a breed. They require above all our patience, commitment, and discipline. People have often asked me where they can find SQ Dorkings. I might give them a name or two, but I don't have much hope for them, because I often get the impression that they don't want to do the work of breeding up. It's as if they want to simply draw on the work of others. I'm sure your current stock isn't perfect, but I think if you were to hatch heavy and cull hard, you'd see some nice improvement.

I just find it strange that I've only heard this on the Dorking thread. Common sense dictates that one would try to find the best possible stock. Even "show quality" stock doesn't reliably produce show quality offspring. So, you would still need to cull hard for your breeding stock. No disrespect meant, but now that we know that people are getting "dorkings" with feathered feet & green legs, should we keep recommending buying from the hatchery producing these? I know my Dorkings aren't perfect, but they're what I have right now. We're going to do some experimantal outcrosses to see if we can improve vigor.

 

[capayvalleychick]

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My situation is similar to yours. Until I can afford to build something better, I bought some wire panels from Tractor Supply and spiral hinges from Premiere, with old aluminum garage door as a roof. I put roosts & nest boxes inside. This is what I'm using for breeding pens, 4 in all.
The best thing that I've found about Sandhill Dorkings is that they do go broody.

Kim

 

[Yellow House Farm]

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It might just be a question of breeding them up. I think that Dokrings are being intercepted from the one-way road just in the knick of time. I think that they're in tougher shape as a breed. They require above all our patience, commitment, and discipline. People have often asked me where they can find SQ Dorkings. I might give them a name or two, but I don't have much hope for them, because I often get the impression that they don't want to do the work of breeding up. It's as if they want to simply draw on the work of others. I'm sure your current stock isn't perfect, but I think if you were to hatch heavy and cull hard, you'd see some nice improvement.

I just find it strange that I've only heard this on the Dorking thread. Common sense dictates that one would try to find the best possible stock. Even "show quality" stock doesn't reliably produce show quality offspring. So, you would still need to cull hard for your breeding stock. No disrespect meant, but now that we know that people are getting "dorkings" with feathered feet & green legs, should we keep recommending buying from the hatchery producing these? I know my Dorkings aren't perfect, but they're what I have right now. We're going to do some experimantal outcrosses to see if we can improve vigor.

There are very few SQ Dorkings available from anywhere. None of the sources can supply the demand. I don't think there are any SQ WHite Dorkings available at all. Colored Dorkings are near impossible to breed to the Standard. Cuckoo Dorkings, for just being admitted to the Standard, have practically disappeared from the scene. I know of a couple of underground breeders who are said to have excellent stock, but they keep to themselves and, therefore, are not viable suppliers. There are very few national hatcheries that carry stock. They only carry the SG. Of the two primary sources, one is fairly good, one is rather aweful. Then there's Sand Hill. Dorking people fit into the rank of "Beggars can't be choosers" or the very lucky. I could grab at an ideal that is perfectly viable for White Rocks and insist that I'm not going to raise White Dorkings until I have SQ stock, but if I do that, the few that are avaiable will pass me by, and pass from our history.

If we follow the decline of poultry, we notcie that only those breeds that were extremely common at the beginning of the fall are still in any way reliably available today, e.g. certain Rocks, certain Wyandottes, RIR, NH, Buff Orpingtons, certain Leghorns, Black Minorcas, Light Brahmas. They, having greater numbers were able to withstand depopulation more feasably. However, if they were already rarer, e.g. Crevecoeurs, Houdans, La Fleche, Redcaps, certain Hamburgs, most Dorkings, etc..., the chance finding SQ stock of high quality and being able to access it is less likely. Breeders of these breeds may have to resort to beginning with less that ideal stock and using traditional methods of breeding up, if they are to attain their goals.

We began with Sand Hill White Dorkings. Ok.

We have abreeder friend who shared a nice cockerel with us. Definite improvement.

We have been working up from here. All along I have been looking for better stock and following leads, but six years into this game of "Hunt for White Dorkings" I may have just received my first real lead on another strain. Still, I'm very glad to have been working with our original fowl, and the time has not been lost. Our customers, primarily people who now poultry through the plate, have even remarked on the continual improvement of our roasters. Now we trun to other issues such as comb and toes, etc.... If this other strain works out--great. Then we will have two strains. If it doesn't, well, we have several years of hatching and culling into our strain. Last fall a poultry judge and buddy came over to pick up some muscovies and, in so doing, toured the property. He was impressed both with the number of Dorking we breed annually and with their quality--not because they are show stoppers---but because they are showing signs of strong improvement. He could see where they were going, and that pleased me, because I knew whence I was beginning.

"Start with the very best stock you can get" might mean something drastically different if one is discussing White Leghorns than if one is discussing Houdans. The hope for Houdans lies in those who are willing to begin with inferior sstock and work their way up for 10 years. I think that will be the case with our Dorkings, too. Such is life.