I hatched 20 some of Cheryl's SPPR's last summer. I narrowed the boys down to 4 of the best looking ones and now I've chosen the one that I am going to keep for breeding. They turned 1 year old at the beginning of July and are big and beautiful! If no one in the Bay area/Northern California wants them, they are slated for the dinner table.
What a nice young pullet ! Forget rabbits !Yup! A month ago I wanted to eat everything and get into rabbits!
Here's something I just posted on another site. Unfortunately the sun wasn't working with us, and we had to do a make-shift posing station which was only so successful. In none of these photos does she hold herself in a truly natural pose. She's holding her feathers more tightly to her body in preparation to fly, giving her the appearance of being more tightly feathered than she is. However, the Dorkings one sees are usually too loosely feathered. Try to imagine her totally relaxed at the feeder having breakfast before the pesky human snatched up for an inopportune photo shoot.
Notice:
1). the length of back.
2). how her breast descends from her neck to form an intersection with her body a quasi-right angle.
3) Notice how her breast is carried "well forward".
4) Notice how her shanks descend from her body without visible sign of thigh.
5) She carries her wings in alignment with her back, well folded
6) because of her nervousness, she's not holding her tail in a natural position. The first photo has her tail too spread, the second too folded. The second is closer to the Standard; it should be well folded with the base appearing slightly wider than the tip; it is not fanned.
7) her toes aren't perfect; there's no enough separation and they should be angled up more.
8 ) She shows a long, deep abdomen betraying her laying capacity with another +/- right angle responding to the cut of the breast. She is not "tucked-up" in any way.
9). Her fluff is correct. Dorking fluff is "moderately full, smooth in surface". Dorkings are not poofy. There should be nothing of the Cochin or Orpington in their feather quality. The fluff fills out the rectangle but stops short of overflowing in any way.
10) Her feathering is up to Standard: "moderately broad and long, fitting fairly close to the body." Again, Dorking are in no way loose feathered. They should have clean lines and no drooping feathers. For all of their size and broad contours, their outline is sleek.
11) Her neck is "short and arched" and her neck feathers are "full and abundant, flowing over shoulders, tapering to the head."
12) The last photo shows her feather quality as being "moderately broad and long". I'd like even more width of feather, but what she has is respectable.
13) She's still a bit shy of Standard pullet weight, being 5lbs., but that's alright at this point. I'm certainly not feeding them for weight. She spends her days free-ranging and being quite active.
She's not the perfect Dorking, but overall she is show quality. I expect, too, that she will be generally productive, as our strain is wont to be.
In short, she's a good little bird
I know this is a dignified, ambitious thread but I can't help but say that Valentine's Day came to my mind's eye upon seeing this lovely pullet in red and white...Yup! A month ago I wanted to eat everything and get into rabbits!
Here's something I just posted on another site. Unfortunately the sun wasn't working with us, and we had to do a make-shift posing station which was only so successful. In none of these photos does she hold herself in a truly natural pose. She's holding her feathers more tightly to her body in preparation to fly, giving her the appearance of being more tightly feathered than she is. However, the Dorkings one sees are usually too loosely feathered. Try to imagine her totally relaxed at the feeder having breakfast before the pesky human snatched up for an inopportune photo shoot.
Notice:
1). the length of back.
2). how her breast descends from her neck to form an intersection with her body a quasi-right angle.
3) Notice how her breast is carried "well forward".
4) Notice how her shanks descend from her body without visible sign of thigh.
5) She carries her wings in alignment with her back, well folded
6) because of her nervousness, she's not holding her tail in a natural position. The first photo has her tail too spread, the second too folded. The second is closer to the Standard; it should be well folded with the base appearing slightly wider than the tip; it is not fanned.
7) her toes aren't perfect; there's no enough separation and they should be angled up more.
8 ) She shows a long, deep abdomen betraying her laying capacity with another +/- right angle responding to the cut of the breast. She is not "tucked-up" in any way.
9). Her fluff is correct. Dorking fluff is "moderately full, smooth in surface". Dorkings are not poofy. There should be nothing of the Cochin or Orpington in their feather quality. The fluff fills out the rectangle but stops short of overflowing in any way.
10) Her feathering is up to Standard: "moderately broad and long, fitting fairly close to the body." Again, Dorking are in no way loose feathered. They should have clean lines and no drooping feathers. For all of their size and broad contours, their outline is sleek.
11) Her neck is "short and arched" and her neck feathers are "full and abundant, flowing over shoulders, tapering to the head."
12) The last photo shows her feather quality as being "moderately broad and long". I'd like even more width of feather, but what she has is respectable.
13) She's still a bit shy of Standard pullet weight, being 5lbs., but that's alright at this point. I'm certainly not feeding them for weight. She spends her days free-ranging and being quite active.
She's not the perfect Dorking, but overall she is show quality. I expect, too, that she will be generally productive, as our strain is wont to be.
In short, she's a good little bird
