B.Y.C. Dorking Club!

[DaveK]

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Anybody with me in calling this a tawny? Not a pure SG?

Not me.

I do know that there are birds out there being called "tawney" that I do not understand but for me this is one of the names that in the past was applied to the wheaton Dorkings. I said wheaton because that explains them, color wise, but Craig has said that when they were imported from England (by the late Lewis Compton, Cape May Courthouse, New Jersey) they were called by their British name which was the old "clay" Dorking. Those hens are a beautiful bright, pinkish pumpkin color. Must be awfully pretty clay soil over there. At any rate mention tawney and I think also clay or wheaton. This bird looks to be a silver duckwing or as we who like the Dorkings call it silver gray. The colored legs are sort of a puzzle but years ago we worked with a family of what should have been and certainly looked and bred like true Dorkings that threw a certain percentage of blue legs. Never understood it but the birds were large, long and beautiful except for some with the colored legs. So while not what is wanted I'm not all that ready to say she can't be purebred. Now someone who understands leg color, and that isn't me, might know a whole lot more about what is going on that way and why.

 

[ki4got]

Quote:
Anybody with me in calling this a tawny? Not a pure SG?

Not me.

I do know that there are birds out there being called "tawney" that I do not understand but for me this is one of the names that in the past was applied to the wheaton Dorkings. I said wheaton because that explains them, color wise, but Craig has said that when they were imported from England (by the late Lewis Compton, Cape May Courthouse, New Jersey) they were called by their British name which was the old "clay" Dorking. Those hens are a beautiful bright, pinkish pumpkin color. Must be awfully pretty clay soil over there. At any rate mention tawney and I think also clay or wheaton. This bird looks to be a silver duckwing or as we who like the Dorkings call it silver gray. The colored legs are sort of a puzzle but years ago we worked with a family of what should have been and certainly looked and bred like true Dorkings that threw a certain percentage of blue legs. Never understood it but the birds were large, long and beautiful except for some with the colored legs. So while not what is wanted I'm not all that ready to say she can't be purebred. Now someone who understands leg color, and that isn't me, might know a whole lot more about what is going on that way and why.

i wasn't saying she wasn't pure dorking, just noticed the leg color was off... then agian i've got mcmurray birds who have pinkish white (not red) earlobes... the roo has red the hens are pink. waiting to see what my chicks end up with.

i'm wondering how many birds out there actually don't conform 100% to the standard

 

[capayvalleychick]

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Hey everyone, I asked Bluedwarf, to join us here and post photos. He is excited about getting his first Dorking and I was happy to find someone in England who has Dorkings.

Welcome, Ian!

I think that he bought his SGD at a Poultry Club of Great Britain show.

Kim

 

[capayvalleychick]

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Nice! What age did you butcher?

I have some cockerels that will need to go, but they're still scrawny.

Kim

 

[capayvalleychick]

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Not me.

I do know that there are birds out there being called "tawney" that I do not understand but for me this is one of the names that in the past was applied to the wheaton Dorkings..... So while not what is wanted I'm not all that ready to say she can't be purebred. Now someone who understands leg color, and that isn't me, might know a whole lot more about what is going on that way and why.

i wasn't saying she wasn't pure dorking, just noticed the leg color was off... then agian i've got mcmurray birds who have pinkish white (not red) earlobes... the roo has red the hens are pink. waiting to see what my chicks end up with.

i'm wondering how many birds out there actually don't conform 100% to the standard

Thanks, DaveK, for your input.

I wish that there was an accurate photo chart for all the Dorking colors that are discussed. I never know if people are creating new colors or if they are colors from long ago.

My SGs from Sand Hill are all a slightly different shade of silver, ranging from light to dark. That's in addition to the Darks or Coloreds, which aren't used in my breeding. Which brings up another point- that color names in Britain differ from those in the US, sometimes. My lightest SG hen is the same shade as Ian's. I've wondered if she were tawney, so I'm glad this subject came up. I've never seen legs that color, but I have seen beaks that have more or less of that color.

I miss Krys Brennand, who used to be in the Club, and could explain the genetics. Not that I always understood, anyway.

White earlobes are a common issue. My hens with the best body type have white earlobes.

I'm guessing that the majority of the US SGs have faults and don't meet the standard. I hope that I'm wrong, but that's my guess.

Kim

 

[Yellow House Farm]

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Nice! What age did you butcher?

I have some cockerels that will need to go, but they're still scrawny.

Kim

I find that between 6 and 7 months is a nice place. Ours respond well to fatterning.

 

[Yellow House Farm]

Females like that speak to me of color crossing. I've had washed out SG's pop up. The blue legs seems to be something that also pops up with color crossing.

As for the different colors, I've never seen anything in text that substantiate s a "Tawny" Dorking. If you cross Whites and Siver Greys, you;ll get all sorts of patterns. I'd bet that many of these so-called "older" colors were intermediate stages between crossing the commoner color patterns.

 

[F-One]

The disqualification for Dorking earlobes is more than one third white. Most of my birds have earlobes that are redish pink. Are they more than a third white? I would say no. In a case like this I think sometimes it`s a matter of opinion. I quess I could mix up some red paint and add one third white to compare colors. Again 10 people could give you 10 different answers concerning color shades especially shades of red.

I like to read Dorking articles from the 1800s. A fellow who was referred two as a oldtimer in the 1890s stated that the purest Dorkings should have earlobes with some trace of white. Pure red earlobes show too much influence from the Old English Game which was used to reinvigorate the breed. Some breeders try to breed out all traces of white even though Dorking fowl of the truest form had traces of white on the earlobes.

 

[F-One]

I have raised up my first batch or foundation stock of Dorkings. Last week we recieved our first egg.

Two days ago we lost what I think is the last of the quitters. Raising these birds up I began to wonder if the name should be Diekings instead of Dorkings. Out of 28 chicks 9 made it to point of lay. They were self culling. Our other breeds have done well. We had a few losses but nothing like the losses I had with my Silver Grays. They just developed to a certain point and quit, then wasted away. At first I did nothing but islolate but after more losses I began to aggressively treat the weak birds with eggs, vitamins ect... Many of these birds perked up well enough to go back into the flock. I should have marked them because I feel that all of the later quitters spent time in the hospital when young.

I have two lines. One from a Georgia breeder the other from MMcM. A straight run of 23 came from GA. Four cockerals and a hen from McMurray. I lost one MMcM bird "of course the pullet" and 17 of the GA breeder birds. Oddly enough the biggest and best birds are from the Georgia flock. One is massive with a giant comb. He is as big as my 7 month old Black Giant the other remaining Ga. bird looks like the poster rooster for Dorkings but he has a side sprig. The mmcm cockerals are all very good but not as impressive as the Ga birds. My remainng pullets all look good. Sadly I had some pullets that showed some spangleling but they were among the quitters.

I plan to mate the mmcm cockerals to the Ga pullets. Their offspring will go to the Ga cockerals. Hopefully I can get more pullets this spring. Well, thats my start so far.

 

[DaveK]

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Joe, you might easily be correct about the blue legs. The one family we had were one of the red forms but it was no secret, right from the breeder's lips, that his different forms of red had gotten themselves mixed up and while pretty well segregated back to the proper color females and the counterpart males there still could be some color irregularity. Tawney was something I had to ask about recently as it wasn't part of my terminology. The wheatons when we'd gotten them were known as clay. I have seen photos of so called tawney and all manner of other things that I believe to be neither old nor legitimate Dorking colors. One of the grand old Canadian breeders said that except for the real and true colored Dorking, which he felt was pretty unique, any color that an Old English Game might be was in most instances a Dorking color as well. So the brown reds, the dark grays, the birchen grays were all old and legitimate colors. A lot of what gets pictured doesn't look like anything that has been written about or discussed before and in many instances do not even look to be pure Dorking. I believe you are one of a few who have suggested that type and breed character are what make a Dorking a Dorking. I heartily agree with that sentiment no matter where it comes from. Once we have real and true Dorkings the finer points of color can be given their due. Color crossings amongst true Dorkings with true color are not a bad thing if those doing that understand how to work with the results and get back to whatever the goal was in the first place. I myself like a number of the different colors and I do want them to look as they are supposed to. For one thing that to me is part of knowing that the birds are as they should be and well bred. Great color without a Dorking body will not cut it. As far as lobes they have sometimes been described as red, brushed with white. SOP says no more than 1/3 white. Point cut for improper lobe color would be in there somewhere. Might be near nothing but not sure. Dorkings have the lobe color they do because of the egg color they lay. They do not lay white eggs nor do they usually lay a dark brown egg. Most Dorkings hens in most of the legitimate varieties lay a tinted egg; hence a red lobe brushed with white. Some have claimed to have improved or somewhat stabilized lobe color in the past simply by setting only tinted eggs and not those that are near white. I can't speak to how well that works but it does tie in to the idea of lobe and shell color being linked.