B.Y.C. Dorking Club!

[Urbanfarmerkc]

Quote:
I think they need to be breed with egg laying in mind. I would guess they used to lay better than the ones we have today. I couldn't imagine the old time farmers having much patience with chickens that don't lay. I gave mine to a local school who is working on the breed but my girls were excellent winter layers and layed up until May then stopped. With selective breeding, I think we could improve that significantly.

I say this but as I continue to play in the rare heritage breeds, and we discuss improving the breed for show quality, I've begun to wonder more and more if we shouldn't work on utility first then toward the perfect look later. By utility, I mean egg laying, difficulty laying (vent health), and other such things. When we get those up to par then look at coloration, comb size etc and so on...

Just my thoughts...

Dave

Maybe, mine are from old heritage stock, none of those hatchery birds. I think you are right, the survival of the breed depends on their usefulness. I know a lot of people get furstrated with them because of the poor egg numbers.
I feel my hens make up for it in raising chicks and their beauty. They are excellent mothers and because of their size, they have no problem raising 12 chicks and still have plenty of room under them.
I have noticed the commercial hatchery birds are much smaller and not "Sherman Tank" like.

YOu know, there is a LOT of value in these birds for brooders. I had a coon get into my pen one night before I put the girls up and I had the Dorkings mixed with 3 Cochin hens. I lost all the Cochin hens and their chicks but the Dorkings had run to the middle of the yard with their chicks in tow and bunkered down there. I ended up saving most of their chicks. They know how to be great moms.

 

[BlackBart]

Yes they are great Brooders, fierce protectors of their chicks.
Here is a picture of two SG Dorkings and two Barnevelders all crammed into the same nest box. Why I have no idea ? there is plenty of room for each of them to have their own box.
Three are young birds but beware of the matron Dorking on the bottom left, she takes no prisoners

She is my super Dorking

 

[RareBreedFancier]

Yet another sad update for me. My remaining Dorking roo (the one in my avatar) has fallen ill and so have his hens.

I have sadly decided that I have no choice but to cull all the birds here. This is a devastating decision but I can't in good conscience breed and sell eggs and birds that could infect other flocks.

Ironically enough, one of the main reasons I chose to keep rare breeds was because they can be wiped out by disease outbreaks if they are only kept in a few small flocks. *Sigh*

 

[X2Farm]

Quote:
Oh Hun, I'm so sorry to hear this

Been there myself.

 

[Urbanfarmerkc]

Quote:
I had an infestation of Mareks Disease and almost lost all my chicks but decided to try out echinacea before I culled them. I was successful thwarting the disease but they were carriers from that point on. It might be worth it if you can figure out what they have.

Here is some suggestions:

colloidal silver and/or echinacea for bacteria (builds immune system)
echinacea for viruses

Hope this can help.

Dave

 

[RareBreedFancier]

Thanks for the support and hugs.

It appears to be MG, the newly sick birds show classic symptoms. DH refused to let me send out a bird for testing to confirm because I'd have to pay for it.

Interestingly I have 2 small aviary type pens with solid roofs near the main pens and those don't appear sick. The main pens have chicken wire roofs and the

feral sparrows and starlings can get and that is where the problem is. I'm sure they got it from the wild birds.

I pulled a bantie Cochin and 2 Silkies out of the main hen pen recently because the big hens were harassing them and put them in with the big chicks that hadn't been integrated yet. Those hens seem fine, so do the chicks and so do the 2 Araucana hens in the adjoining pen that are out of quarantine but haven't been integrated yet either. I'm torn as to weather I sit and wait and watch to see if those other birds get sick or if I just cull those too. My heart wants to keep them because they look ok now but my head says that's just asking for more trouble.

 

[Unusually]

Sorry to hear of your troubles RareBreedFancier, I hope you can clear it up.

I set 19 Barnevelder egg in the incubator today, I wont bother setting any Dorking eggs for a while yet as I am sure that they would not be fertile. I hope that they will be by November, then I will set every egg I get from my three girls.

I do have a dozen egg on order from a Dorking breeder a couple of states away that hopefully will be here in the next month.

I have big (dorking) plans for this spring!!

 

[capayvalleychick]

Quote:
I spoke to an avian vet about MG. She said that most flocks that free range are carriers and it is not a reason to cull. The wild birds spread it and the only way to avoid it is to have an enclosed area. She said it is much healthier for chickens to free range, even with the exposure to MG. You can treat the symptoms.

I've read here on BYC that people say that you have to destroy any birds with MG. But if everybody tested their birds, they would find that there wouldn't be many chickens left if they did.

A couple years ago, some of my chickens came down with respiratory symptoms. I took several birds to the state lab for necropsy & testing. All tests were negative but they said that the symptoms were similar to MG. I then took a couple more hens to the avian specialist. She said it was good that I had the testing done to rule out any serious disease but there was no need to cull my flock. If I would have listened to the advice here on BYC, I would have lost all my birds for nothing. There haven't been any more sick birds, since.

I hope that this might help.

Kim

 

[IlliniPatT]

Parti Cockerels available

Hey guys.

I live in Illinois, south of Chickago, and have 5 beautiful Parti Cockerels. I feel I can only keep 2, maybe 1. They are black with very cool white flecks. I won them on rare breed auctions from Pocono farms in Pennsylvania. One is almost all black. If anyone is interested in them please let me know. I would love to rehome them. I have no experience with shipping.

I also have some lemon split orpington cockerels that will need rehoming in case anyone would like one of these guys.

Thanks,

Pat

 

[monkeemakr]

Rare Breed,

So sorry to hear about your Dorkings. I know it breaks your heart. Hoping for the best with the rest of your flock. Is it possible for something such as this to produce a resistance to MG/MS? It seems I read somewhere that one of the main hatcheries was MS+ and some people were actually buying from them intentionally to have disease resistant birds? Saying a prayer for you and your flock.