B.Y.C. Dorking Club!

[DaveK]

Rare Breed Fancier, great old pictures. That single hen I posted the photo of was running with a male like the one in the pair picture. These are the darks, a silver version of the colored which should be straw. Again I will throw this all back at Craig's article and say he explains this all way better than I can. I will send the pdf this evening. Would like to se the picture posted to this thread and tech support said that as a pdf there was no changing it. Hopefully they were wrong.

 

[capayvalleychick]

I sold these culls to someone as barnyard chickens and she is using them to try to create what the British call Dark Dorkings. The roo has striped hackles, which is something that I am trying to breed out. These colors breed true for her. The original hens with this color came from Sand Hill. I DO NOT want Colored Dorkings but ended up with all kinds of colors after ordering from Sand Hill.



Kim

 

[capayvalleychick]

60 of my SGD eggs are being incubated for me right now. Thanks to ronott1. Please send good thoughts/energy/prayers that I get something good out of this.

Kim

 

[Yellow House Farm]

Nice pic's, Dave. I thin that the male in the trio phot exhibits much of what is wanted in a cock bird, possessing that rick golden hue in hackle and saddle. It does seem that many, even most, photos I've seen of "coloreds" display males that are very light. Of the three photos that you posted (and working strictly from memory as I don't have my Standard with) the last one seems to be a fairly strong female. In my mind, a female colored is essentially black with golden shafting. I don't believe that there is supposed to be stippling. The breast is a dark salmon, the hackle is dark female duckwing style. As seen in the second photo of the backwards facing cock in the pen of hens, I think the the overall problem with colored females is that there is often stippling in feathers that are supposed to be solid black with shafting being the only color. i wouldn't be surprised if your theory of crossing in Reds is accurate, which might be opening up the problem of overly abundant stippling.

Colored females seem to be a constant source of challenge. If I were to undertake coloreds, I'd want to do they exclusively. I'd want to start with two or three strong trios or three or four strong pairs. I'd then hatch like the dickens.

 

[ki4got]

60 of my SGD eggs are being incubated for me right now. Thanks to ronott1. Please send good thoughts/energy/prayers that I get something good out of this.

Kim

glad you were able to find someone to hatch for you. 8) it's definitely addictive. can't believe i went the whole month of january without hatching anything. LOL but i do have 5 dorking bantam mutts, depending how they mature they may have promise for a project or 2. and 2 mottled bantam cochins hatched out this morning. same sized eggs as the dorking x's, the youngest of the mutts hatched yesterday and wow. she's already half again bigger than the cochins. the week old chick is twice the size easily, of the rest. (bantam cochin x sg dorking)

 

[ki4got]

Nice pic's, Dave. I thin that the male in the trio phot exhibits much of what is wanted in a cock bird, possessing that rick golden hue in hackle and saddle. It does seem that many, even most, photos I've seen of "coloreds" display males that are very light. Of the three photos that you posted (and working strictly from memory as I don't have my Standard with) the last one seems to be a fairly strong female. In my mind, a female colored is essentially black with golden shafting. I don't believe that there is supposed to be stippling. The breast is a dark salmon, the hackle is dark female duckwing style. As seen in the second photo of the backwards facing cock in the pen of hens, I think the the overall problem with colored females is that there is often stippling in feathers that are supposed to be solid black with shafting being the only color. i wouldn't be surprised if your theory of crossing in Reds is accurate, which might be opening up the problem of overly abundant stippling.

Colored females seem to be a constant source of challenge. If I were to undertake coloreds, I'd want to do they exclusively. I'd want to start with two or three strong trios or three or four strong pairs. I'd then hatch like the dickens.

ok this is copied straight from the dorking breeder's club website...
Quote:
so it seems to me, that you don't want the darker golden cockerels pictured, and the hens are not just solid black with shafting, but a darker version of the silver grey or red hens, with edging on the breast feathers and straw colored shafting on the feathers.

 

[DaveK]

Joe, you've described the APA Standard hen in every way. I have seen one, back in the early or mid '70s and she was with a very proper colored male. Since then the stippled hen with straw shaft, black lacing and an overall impression of being very dark (think beaver brown stippled and dark salmon breast) has seemed to be the rule. We had them, Tilt had them and before any of that John Schlicting in Wisconsin had them. The overall appearance of the females posted is the pattern but too light in color I think. One thing that has made me wonder about red Dorking influence. The single female called "dark" by her British breeder is more on the money if she only had the modifiers giving her the appearance of straw shafting. But that is more the bird I understand to be a colored hen than any of them. That big duckwing cock would much more fit if he had the hackle/saddle striping. Would love to know if what we are seeing there breeds true or is he just a golden duckwing. Sadly he wasn't used.

 

[ki4got]

This was sent to me by DaveK... converted it to a usable (non-PDF) version.
Quote:

 

[dorkings]

Dave,
That is one very nice looking rooster you posted on your profile. I am enjoying learning from you all.

 

[DaveK]

Karen, so glad to see that article by Craig Russell out where folks can actually read and make use of it. Is there any way you can post the photo of that "dark" Dorking I sent? Would give some who are still wondering a very good idea of what to look for in a cock bird as long as they remember that he is to be straw and not silver based, visually. I actually hate all this discussion about color as I feel the emphasis should be on TYPE, SIZE and TYPE

which were the original priorities that made the Dorking what it once was. However, wiith so much interest in certain colors I feel we should all be operating with some sort of knowledge base and not just flying by the seat of out pants or forming ideas based on birds posted and incorrectly labeled. It would be great if some jaw dropping birds were being produced that could then be further refined as to color requirements.