B.Y.C. Dorking Club!

[TOL Chick]

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Yes, he LOVED her. I am actually going to use her with my RC "tawny" roo who looks more SG to me. Bill was hilarious - when he opened my coop and saw Ms. Grey and Brandon, he turned around and looked at me - "Why are you ordering chicks?" and then the "better than average start" comment was also exciting too

So I will obediently follow his leading

Girl ---- Are you holding out on me? I didn't know you had colored!

Are they just an offshoot from what you have?

I wonder what would happen if the Dark grey girl was bred with a white rooster. Looking forward to seeing what Akasha will produce with a SG roo.

LOL - I have a "true" trio of Tawnies (RC & SC), a salmon hen, and the dark grey hen. I did hatch birchen and dark browns as well, all came from Teri in AZ. I believe the original stock came from Sandhill Preservation, and if you read the description of their birds, mine certainly are similar. The birchens and browns did not survive the cull.

I'm thinking we need to consolidate pics of folks different colors somewhere... The Breeder's Club maybe? What say you?

 

[tgrlily]

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Girl ---- Are you holding out on me? I didn't know you had colored!

Are they just an offshoot from what you have?

I wonder what would happen if the Dark grey girl was bred with a white rooster. Looking forward to seeing what Akasha will produce with a SG roo.

LOL - I have a "true" trio of Tawnies (RC & SC), a salmon hen, and the dark grey hen. I did hatch birchen and dark browns as well, all came from Teri in AZ. I believe the original stock came from Sandhill Preservation, and if you read the description of their birds, mine certainly are similar. The birchens and browns did not survive the cull.

I'm thinking we need to consolidate pics of folks different colors somewhere... The Breeder's Club maybe? What say you?

Excellent plan! The Breeder's Club is the perfect place for that.

I just read a great excerpt from The Book of Poultry by Lewis Wright written in 1891. If I did this right, the link should be the chapter on Dorkings. Someone posted it on the yahoo group.

 

[TOL Chick]

Sweet find Renee - love those old books! Thanks for sharing...

And this to me would be another thing for us to "collect" on the Breeder's Site?

 

[tgrlily]

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Make it so, Number One!

Sorry --- couldn't resist!
We need to have a virtual meeting in a chatroom or a maybe a phone conference with the powers that be in the club. I think I can set up a chatroom through the yahoo group. The lightbulb just went on!!!!! Chats may be a good thing too!

If you want to talk -- text me. I have to leave for work & won't be back online till this evening. Busy girl behind the chair today!

 

[BlackBart]

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Hi - i have a similar hen, and I was told she is a dark grey - here is a pic to help

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/uploads/56414_img-20110125-00069.jpg

She is very pretty. Is the dark grey a variety?
Almost the same feather pattern but darker, hmm .....but no peach chest.
The SGD that don't have a peach chest are not bred here. It is a fault. Not sure why it pops up but it does in, say, 5 in 100 birds.

I've read some breeder info about the Dorkings on a UK site. Very interesting.
BTW my Dorking hens are starting to go broody. They are known for that and make excellenct mothers or surrogate mothers.

 

[Urbanfarmerkc]

I'm getting really excited about how active our little Dorking group is getting. Wish some more activity would develop on the club website. You guys have inspired me to put more attention on my Dorkings (my first love anyway). It does help more than you know to have so much support out there as we are moving forward.

I am keeping back a group of SG pullets for next year and I'm going to breed them back to one of my offspring Delaware Roos. I'm going to go for pure vigor to integrate them then breed out over time. I want more vigor in my birds. I'm also going to go WHOLE HOG on my Reds if I ever actually get any... LOL

Next season should be a really exciting one!!!

Dave

 

[BlackBrookPoultry]

My dark gray (or whatever color she is) bred with my partridge chantecler and this is what I got:

This is the same chick at 3 weeks

 

[TOL Chick]

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Hi - i have a similar hen, and I was told she is a dark grey - here is a pic to help

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/uploads/56414_img-20110125-00069.jpg

She is very pretty. Is the dark grey a variety?
Almost the same feather pattern but darker, hmm .....but no peach chest.
The SGD that don't have a peach chest are not bred here. It is a fault. Not sure why it pops up but it does in, say, 5 in 100 birds.

I've read some breeder info about the Dorkings on a UK site. Very interesting.
BTW my Dorking hens are starting to go broody. They are known for that and make excellenct mothers or surrogate mothers.

Teri's stock originally came from Sandhill. Here is their dark grey description:

Dark Grey Dorking: Slightly variable in color, but similar to Dark Brahmas in color. Chicks $6.00 each (10)

 

[Yellow House Farm]

Yes, it is great to see so much brouhaha surrounding this great breed. The energy is awesome. Dorkings are in serious need of preservation. And all of these efforts will strengthen them.

The "Dark Grey" is an interesting color pattern. It pops up when the various Standard color patterns are crossed. One difficulty is that it is not in the APA. On of the efforts that would be suited to the club would be to form a Standardization committee for various colors and comb types currently excluded from the Standard, which would help to guide the stabilization of the color pattern and boost varieties beyond the Silver Grey. It would, though, be a long-term project that would be no small effort.

Activity in the Dorking Breeders Club is a tricky subject. Nowadays, we appreciate the instantaneous nature of the web, but a lot of Dorking people are old-school and prefer the idea of a bulletin. If folk were mobilizing to write articles--formal or informal--it would truly help to motivate the troops on another "front".

 

[tgrlily]

Hello, Joseph

I know there were articles written by at least two of us on BYC for the next newsletter. I do hope that the energy we have here on BYC proves to be highly contageous! If we can manage to get Dorkings to the number of people that want them, we may start winning the race against extinction. I believe it will take the use of modern technologies including the internet and genetic testing as well as a good dose of thinking outside the box to get the breed & the club up on their feet. I would love to see stock from "old-school" breeders in the hands of those comfortable using technology before their flocks are lost to the world. As it is right now, they might just as well be lost, since we can't access them.

A standardization committee is a fabulous idea! People are working on all sorts of projects with Dorkings... some to strengthen the breed, others on new colors. A member of the yahoo group is working on Spangled Dorkings. Depending on the popularity of some of the non-standard varieties, it would be great to add them to the SOP. It would also be nice if colors currently accepted were made more readily available! Perhaps we should concentrate on that first.

There was reference to a Dark Dorking in the book excerpt I posted earlier. Could the "Dark Grey" be the same color

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