B.Y.C. Dorking Club!

[DaveK]

Quote:
Folks should read and digest this. I would never discourage an active interest in one of the obscure but little seen colors as long as they are legitimate Dorking colors that we know have existed and can still find threads of. But obscure or more common colors aside I do honestly think that a preservation effort is going nowhere with the "I have my breeder roo and a spare" mindset. As mentioned people need to think in terms of families, not trios or quads. The Autumn issue of the SPPA Bulletin has an excellent article by Dr. Charles Everette on breeding fowl and this point is very nicely addressed. In days of old when a lot of people kept chickens it might have been easier to go out in the world or even the neighborhood and find what might be needed. Nowadays if you want to maintain your efforts you had better retain a family of birds. Doesn't mean you need 50, just keep all the puzzle pieces you might need. Dave

 

[capayvalleychick]

I'm not someone who shows for fun. I did enter a show so that people could simply see a Dorking. I use the APA SOP as a guideline, so that my birds don't get so far from type that they are no longer Dorkings. My concern about earlobe color is just in trying to meet the SOP. I thought that white lobes were a DQ?
My hens with the best body type have the whiter lobes and lay off white eggs. Here's what I mean by white ear lobes: (I know the combs aren't right either.)

McMurray pullet

Star.Rose hen (my breeding)

Kim

 

[Yellow House Farm]

Hi Kim! By all means show for fun

I really look forward to them.

Well the second pic shows much more white than I think we "should" see, but i think that it is comonly seen. The only way away from it is to hatch in number and cull away from it. It will probabaly take a few seasons. I think that most of us are dealing with too much white. As Dave mentioned in a few posts and as I have also read, white in Dorking lobes is rather historically accurate. I'm not even sure that a Dorking should have a perfectly red-lobe. We have several pullets this year with a red lobe, and most of our males do. We;ll see what time brings. We certainly do not have Mediterranean white eggs.

A Horse of a Hen!!!! That's great....I want one

If you go to "Google books" and pull up the title The Poultryman's Handbook, scroll down to page 132. You'll see the best drawing of an ideal Dorking cock that I have ever seen. It will be a happy day the day that boy hatches here in white!

 

[F-One]

I have read that all red earlobes in a Dorking may show too much influence from the OEG. The purest strains should a have a small amount of white. This is paraphased from the 1890s.

On a side note, the standard OEG was used historically to reinvigorate Dorking blood. Sometimes you hear about folks crossing Dorkings with other breeds to get vigor. If one has to cross with another breed, the only choice IMHO is the OEG. Silver Duckwing for Silver Gray, BB Red for Reds. To do this would take years to breed back to true, but it would be historically accurate for the breed.

 

[ki4got]

Quote:
ok i finally found it. that was in the 1912 edition... and for the benefit of those who don't want to go searching i captured the image.

 

[capayvalleychick]

If white in Dorking earlobes is historically accurate, can that part of the APA SOP be changed? Maybe at least make it a minor fault, instead of a DQ?

I've read about some Canadian Dorkings that are near perfect, except for the ear lobes, and they get DQ'd in shows.

Kim

 

[lceh]

I'm thinking Kim's suggestion is a really good one!

 

[ki4got]

what other breeds have red earlobes and lay white eggs?

 

[F-One]

All white earlobes are not historically accurate, but mostly red ear lobes with traces of white is quite historically accurate at least for the past 140 years or more. I think the Standard reflects this with its " no more than 1/3 white" which if I'm not mistaken includes shades of pink. I mean 2/3 red 1/3 white will give a medium shade of pink. So I think medium pink to red would still be in the Standard. I think this question would be best answered by a poultry judge. Like a lot things though, three judges may give you three different answers.
It is quite possible that the Roman ancestor of the Dorking, Sussex and Kent fowls had all white earlobes. Keep in mind too that the OEG and others lost to history were developed along with the Dorking type fowl. Its very possible that's were the Dorking fowl aquired their red to mostly red earlobe. Dorkings are and were available in some of the same colors as the OEG. Just who influanced who is most likely lost to history.

 

[ki4got]

Quote:
ok well i found the answers to my own questions LOL that would be the white holland and lamona both of which benefitted from dorking influence.

pictures i saw of the lamona showed a bird very similar (IMO) to the dorking, but apparently the breed is extinct for all intents and purposes...