B.Y.C. Dorking Club!

[ki4got]

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That has been my experience, also. Feet are an easier fix. My hen with the split comb/sprigs has passed it on to probably all her offspring. That's what is making me question what other defects might be as bad... like earlobe color etc. How can I find out for sure?
I'm doing better at ignoring color for now, but I've heard that brickiness in the Silvers can be a pain to get rid of.

Kim

i had 2 roos with the red cast on their wings, they got sold (freezer camp destination likely). side sprigs are bad. ear color will come with time, and selecting for slightly more tinted eggs I think. most of my girls have a bit of a wash on their ears. some more than others. the ones that have less white also lay slightly darker eggs. i'll deal with that when i am happy with conformation and size. then i can start working on egg size and color (and ear color will come with it).

 

[DaveK]

Kim. a lot of defects will yield to selection which doesn't mean scrapping every bird that has them. Just keep reducing the incidence while improving over the long run. If you find that a bird is passing on a certain BAD defect to all or most of it's offspring you may elect to completely cull that bird and offspring from your plans. Just be careful that you have something else to fall back on. Brickiness in hens might be hard but if it's not ruining cock color and is just a harder colored hen than ideal why not use them if they are your overall best. Especially if there are others that may not have the same defect. You might not be able to round up a single bird with no obvious defects but with some variation and not doubling up on defects you should be able to move ahead. I have a friend, an APA judge, who has told me he approaches a class by removing any and all visible defects mentioned in the SOP. But then goes on to say that this has often left him with, and I quote, "pretty mediocre class winners". Holy Crap!!! Besides the outlook there what is that doing to the exhibitors and the whole idea of exhibiting and awarding our best? No one gets it right all the time but YIKES! Don't manage your breeding program like that. Nothing is completely perfect. Looks to be? Work with it a while. You'll find the buried imperfections. Dorkings are going to be honestly and blatantly imperfect in our modern society. So you end up eating them and once they are on the table ear lobe color doesn't matter so much as long as there is still breeding stock out there on the lawns. Free advice is worth what you pay sometimes but I would go for type, quality and overall impression. Far better to have stupendous but imperfect Dorkings than faultless mediocrity. Talk to Craig, find folks that are working with and well versed in GOOD Dorkings. No one will advise throwing the baby out with the bath water. Size and TYPE are essential to a good Dorking. A faultless bird that is not jaw dropping in any way is just the next meal on the table. Also, if there is the opportunity to add something that will help you improve what you have go for it. It may be a spectacular red hen or it may be some quite nice silvers that have their origins as "hatchery" stock. Hatchery in silvers often means direct ties to Duane Urch which ain't the worst we could do by any means. Also, type should be judged by both sexes. A lot of birds pictured all over the net are very passable hens with less than passable male relatives. Not where we should want to go.

 

[DaveK]

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i had 2 roos with the red cast on their wings, they got sold (freezer camp destination likely). side sprigs are bad. ear color will come with time, and selecting for slightly more tinted eggs I think. most of my girls have a bit of a wash on their ears. some more than others. the ones that have less white also lay slightly darker eggs. i'll deal with that when i am happy with conformation and size. then i can start working on egg size and color (and ear color will come with it).

This would be exactly my own approach to lobes and as Karen has said - AFTER some of the essentials to a quality Dorking are better nailed down. The SOP is a guide to what we would like to see in the exhibition coop. It is not always a decent guide to managing a breeding program, especially a new one starting out with a breed pretty well riddled with imperfections. One thing that does happen with improvement within the flock is that as the overall qualities, both essential and details, gets better the culling can be harder and more rigid. But you have to get there first. Going hell bent for election as far as the details "...because the SOP says..." won't get one far in Dorkings. Not for the most part. Lobes are permitted to be up to 1/3 white anyway. I always said they looked to have been streaked with a fairly dry paint brush. Details often get focused on because they are easy to see. That doesn't make them more important than the type and overall quality they are supposed to be attached to. It can become sort of a tail wagging the dog scenario when approached from the wrong angle.

 

[ki4got]

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This would be exactly my own approach to lobes and as Karen has said - AFTER some of the essentials to a quality Dorking are better nailed down. The SOP is a guide to what we would like to see in the exhibition coop. It is not always a decent guide to managing a breeding program, especially a new one starting out with a breed pretty well riddled with imperfections. One thing that does happen with improvement within the flock is that as the overall qualities, both essential and details, gets better the culling can be harder and more rigid. But you have to get there first. Going hell bent for election as far as the details "...because the SOP says..." won't get one far in Dorkings. Not for the most part. Lobes are permitted to be up to 1/3 white anyway. I always said they looked to have been streaked with a fairly dry paint brush. Details often get focused on because they are easy to see. That doesn't make them more important than the type and overall quality they are supposed to be attached to. It can become sort of a tail wagging the dog scenario when approached from the wrong angle.

i don't remember who told me this, but when selecting birds against the SOP, take it in the same ORDER as the SOP... size first, then shape, and color last. and when choosing birds, to weigh first, then examine them by feel in the dark, so your eyes aren't distracted by pretty feathers.

it does work. the ones i had selected for in the daylight were not the ones that won me over in the dark...

not that i have much to cull from yet, but i was using that as a gauge to know which direction to go with the birds, and selecting which hens to put with which roo. right now i'm down to 1 roo though, as i'm doctoring my senior roo for an infected 5th toe. possiby a case of 'bumblefoot' but since i can't afford the vet out here, i'm treating what i see. which is a very swollen toe with an ulcerated area that looks like a ruptured abcess. thankfully TSC carries everyting i need to treat it... he's currently in the hospital cage, complaining LOUDLY about this indignity. LOL but since it's the only wire floored cage i have, where i can make sure he doesn't get it filthy again, he's stuck with it... once it starts to heal then i might be able to wrap it and let him walk on the ground again. but that's at least a week off i think. so 'junior' is getting a chance to visit with the girls while the big guy's 'on leave' LOL.

ETA: i remembered where i found the info about selection and culling... from Yellow House Farm's website. he says it much better than I did here. http://yellowhousefarmnh.com/starting-your-own-heritage-flock if you haven't read it before, i recommend it now. if you have read it, read it again. i've picked up some things recently that i missed or just didn't sink in the first time around. Thanks Joe.

 

[rtroxel]

Sorry to interrupt the flow I haven't been on in awhile, but I currently have 15 SG eggs that I will ship on demand. $12 plus shipping (Just sent some to WA for $13). Let me know if anyone is interested.

As to the Reds, I finally got some fertile Red eggs, so I hope to fill the orders I have waiting pretty soon! Sorry for the delays!

Rudy

 

[LilyD]

Had to take some new pictures. The babies have outgrown their first brooder and so I put them in a large rabbit cage that I kept for that reason. They are getting so much personality and already they are mellow and laid back although they would rather jump all over me than have me pick them up lol. Had to share.



I am still thinking two girls and a boy. The two girls would be on the left the boy on the right. They are just starting to get their feathers in now.



These are their cage mates two Light Brahma chicks from my own eggs.

My pictures aren't the greatest. I will have to take some when I take them outside this weekend to celebrate their 1 week birthday lol.

 

[neopolitancrazy]

Sandhill called tonight! my chicks are en route!! 16 black and 11 dark gray. I can hardly wait to see them!

 

[ki4got]

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Sandhill called tonight! my chicks are en route!! 16 black and 11 dark gray. I can hardly wait to see them!

congrats! you'll have to share pics when they get settled.

 

[Kibi78704]

Hi, All. I am new to BYC, and am very interesting in Dorkings.
Does anyone have any thoughts about raising them in a very hot climate? I'm in Central Texas, where we had about 70 days of 100+°F last year. It's already in the high 80's and low 90's. I'm thinking that single combs would do well here, but would like some feedback, if possible.

 

[ki4got]

welcome to byc! i can't say for the climate, because my own dorkings didn't get here until last fall, but i would think any bird with a large comb/wattles would be at an advantage in the heat.

i would think that well placed foliage would be a big help with the heat too. maybe a tree or vines over the coop to provide shade, or low-growing shrubs they can dig under for dust bathing. mine have chosen 2 wild rose bushes to dig under. they lay in the holes, dust bathe, preen and generally 'siesta'. then again my birds are mostly free ranged, except for specific breeding pens, so they can choose the area that suits them the best during the warmest days.