B.Y.C. Dorking Club!

[jgervais]

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Good read, well done!!

Thanks so much - were really enjoying our Dorkings in the yard and on the table - happy to have a forum like this to share with

 

[rtroxel]

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i'm wondering if the fertility issues are mostly with this strain or the breed in general? the eggs I had shipped from florida, and while all but 3/21 were fertile, only 2 developed beyond 18 days to hatch... wondering if it's somehow related. (same hatch i had 9/9 fertile local bantam eggs and 5 EE hatch successfully, so i'm fairly sure it wasn't incubator related)

if it's strain related, are mmcm or sand hill's any more fertile in comparison? of the 12 eggs i just sat from my trio (new to me) only 6 of the eggs are actually fertile.

Despite the fact that both Capa and AK have issues with fertility, that isn't a big enough sample size to make such a generalization about a whole strain. Also, CA and AK probably have significantly different climates/day lengths, etc. than Montana. Basically there are lots of reasons that could cause 2 males to have poor fertility but don't necessarily mean that the whole strain is not very fertile.

On the same hand, I guess, two birds COULD indicate something, but I would like to see a lot more evidence before I would discount what is probably the most common strain of SD in the country.

 

[Yellow House Farm]

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Good read, well done!!

Thanks so much - were really enjoying our Dorkings in the yard and on the table - happy to have a forum like this to share with

Excellent! It really is shocking how darn good a Dorking on the plate can be!

 

[Tracydr]

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Good read, well done!!

Yeah, great blog!

 

[Bentley]

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Good read, well done!!

Yeah, great blog!

I hope their are enough Dorkings for the rest of us while you eat yours, haha!! That is what they were bred for though so I am glad to hear they taste great!!!

 

[X2Farm]

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Delicious!!!

Yanno, my lunch didn't seem so satisfying after seeing this... of course, corndogs don't compare well to Dorkings

 

[Ginny]

So happy to find this thread. I have wanted Dorkings for some time. Finally ordered 5 pullets and a roo this spring. Basically I wanted to raise meat chickens, but some eggs would be nice too. One pullet was found dead one morning in the hen house. Another flew out of the yard and was eaten by a fox. I'm down to 3 pullets which started laying at around 5 months, then stopped at about 6 months and haven't laid since. They are 8 months old now. I'm wondering if this is normal for winter (in Louisiana?) or I got some poor quality birds. They are beautiful, sweet, curious, but no eggs. And then there is the roo. Flogs me every chance he gets. Is this normal for the breed?
Thanks.

 

[capayvalleychick]

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You are right. I didn't mean to imply that, it was simply an observation. I just got an email from someone who bought hatching eggs from a breeder with an unrelated strain and they had similar infertility. I wonder how McMurray's fertility is???


jgervais- Great blog post! I've never butchered a Dorking that young. Do you have any idea of the weight?


Boy, it's like Spring on my ranch. Not the weather, but the babies. There are 4 Dorking chicks, a week old litter of piglets and a calf born last night.

Kim

 

[capayvalleychick]

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I'm sorry for your bad luck. I would guess that the time of year is the reason that your hens stopped laying. Some people add a light on a timer to the coop, to encourage egg laying during these shorter days.

Dorking roos are usually passive, but some can be nasty. One of mine (the Squirrel

) goes after my husband. There are different opinions on how to deal with this. I choose to be Alpha Roo and chase the bad boys all over with a stick until they submit to me.

I think that your hens will probably lay fine next year. Dorkings are not known for being great layers but mine are decent layers.

Best wishes,
Kim

 

[Mrs MIA]

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You are right. I didn't mean to imply that, it was simply an observation. I just got an email from someone who bought hatching eggs from a breeder with an unrelated strain and they had similar infertility. I wonder how McMurray's fertility is???


jgervais- Great blog post! I've never butchered a Dorking that young. Do you have any idea of the weight?


Boy, it's like Spring on my ranch. Not the weather, but the babies. There are 4 Dorking chicks, a week old litter of piglets and a calf born last night.

Kim

I have young birds from MMH that I got this year... I ordered something like a dozen pullets and 5 cockerels, and wound up with 2 cockerels and 4 or 5 pullets in the yard... they were fine for the first couple of days, then one by one just seemed to give up all will to live and I'd find them dead in the morning.

BUT, the two boys look fairly nice, and all of them are a good size. Not laying yet, but that's ok... I won't be separating out the breeds until March, so they'll have plenty of time to work out the kinks.

Out of three boys, I had BETTER get some chicks in the spring!!!

I will keep you posted.