CSU - Chicken State University- Large Fowl SOP

[3riverschick]

Reading the older lit on a breed is a good way to get a feel for how it developed.

AMERICAN FOWL-BREEDER; CONTAINING FULL INFORMATION
ON BREEDING, REARING, DISEASES, AND MANAGEMENT OF
DOMESTIC POULTRY; ALSO, INSTRUCTIONS CONCERNING THE CHOICE OF
PURE STOCK, CROSSING, CAPONIZING, etc. WITH ENGRAVING8.
BY AN ASSOCIATION OF PRACTICAL BREEDERS.
BOSTON: JOHN P. JEWETT AND COMPANY.
1850.
pages 23 thru 27.
http://tinyurl.com/myk4ht3
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The Country Gentleman magazine
Volume 25 , 1865 , Page 397
THE WHITE ROSE-COMB DORKING.
The Dorking Fowl—Its History, Origin, etc.
By C.N. Bement
http://tinyurl.com/mwqqlu3
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The Exhibition Dorking : with Hints to Exhibitors and Poultry Fanciers in General .
By Thomas Coke Burnell , Late Lieut. and Instructor of Musketry 97th Regiment . With Illustrations . 1875
http://tinyurl.com/m2cpfso (page back to page 1 )
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A BRIEF MONOGRAPH UPON THE Origin, Varieties, Breeding and Management DORKING FOWL.
By H. H. STODDARD,
EDITOR OF "THE POULTRY WORLD," "THE AMERICAN POULTRY YARD."
AND "THE CO-OPERATIVE POULTRY POST." AUTHOR OF "AN EGG FARM," "POULTRY DISEASES,"
"POULTRY ARCHITECTURE," "LIGHT BRAHMAS," "WHITE LEGHORNS,""BROWN LEGHORNS,"
"PLYMOUTH ROCKS," "WYANDOTTES," "THE BOOK OF THE GAMES," "THE BOOK OF THE BANTAMS,"
"DOMESTIC WATER FOWL,""HOW TO FEED FOWLS," "HOW TO WIN POULTRY PRIZES,"
"HOW TO PRESERVE EGGS," "INCUBATION; NATURAL AND ARTIFICIAL," "HOW TO RAISE PIGEONS,
" ETC. PUBLISHER OF " HOW TO RAISE POULTRY ON A LARGE SCALE,""A POULTRY COMPENDIUM," ETC.
HARTFORD, CONN. 1886.
http://tinyurl.com/kfoyzpp
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Poultry Success - Volumes 16-17 - Page 10 thru 11 , 1905
How to Breed Exhibition Silver Gray Dorkings. An Interesting Paper
on Mating This Celebrated English Fowl For Best Results.
By Frank L. Platt.
Written Exclusively for Poultry Success.
http://tinyurl.com/n64h2ln
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An Old English Breed - The Good Old Dorkings Of England as an All Purpose Fowl
By W. Gilbert and S.C. Wheeler , 1909 .
Pages 317 thru 319
http://tinyurl.com/ks2lfqg ( page forward to 317 )
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The Poultry Book
Harrison Weir, Willis Grant Johnson, George O. Brown - 1912
KENT, SUSSEX, SURREY, ANT) DORKING FOWLS
Page 451 thru 512
http://tinyurl.com/n828sqy
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The Book of Poultry -
Thomas Fletcher McGrew - 1921
English Fowl - Dorking
http://tinyurl.com/kdl7u5w (page back to 391)
Pages 391 thru page 402 Stunning color plates of Dorkings.
===============================

 

[3riverschick]

Hi,
Below is an excerpt on Mating Dorkings from that "Brief Monograph..." by Stoddard. I always thought of the Dorking as a rectangular fowl . Stoddard says they are parallelograms. Interesting.


"MATING.
In mating White Dorkings, it is necessary to select birds having a pure white plumage, with no colored feathers, a good comb, not too large, and setting squarely upon the head, and birds of the largest size obtainable. The smaller size of this variety has been one of the greatest obstacles to its achieving the popularity that it really deserves. We believe that the size might be improved by mating with a White cock some of the lightest colored hens of the Silver Gray variety. From such a mating some pure white chicks would be obtained, and a cockerel from these could be bred back to White hens. A few colored feathers might appear in the second generation, but by selecting only pure white specimens of this generation to breed from, and mating them again with White birds, in the third generation colored feathers would probably not appear, and the breeder would be amply repaid in the increased size of the fowls.
In Silver Grays it is essential not only that the cock and hens should be of the standard colors and markings, but should be bred from Silver Grays themselves. In a flock of Colored Dorkings, Silver Gray chicks occasionally appear, but they cannot be relied upon for the breeding of Silver Grays. Many of the chicks from such a pen, from the operation of the law of reversion, will throw back to their grandparents, and will resemble the Colored Dorking in color and marking. The cock should have a pure silvery white hackle, free from any black stripe, saddle, wing-bows and back of the same character, and a solid black breast. The hens should be of large size, and of standard color. In all matings of Dorkings the size of the hens is an important matter. Upon the hen, more than upon the cock, depends the size of the chicks.

In mating Colored Dorkings the black stripe in the hackle and saddle-feathers is to be insisted upon, and a plentiful admixture of black upon the back and wingbows is essential. If the hackle has the broad black stripe, the back and the wing-bows will be of the desired character. We prefer that the cock should have a solid black breast, other things being equal, but a good bird otherwise is not to be rejected because the breast is slightly mottled. The hens should be well broken in feather, the black markings being clearly discernible, and they should be of good size, and of standard color.

In mating both Silver Grays and Colored Dorkings, the cocks and hens should have the same kind of comb, rose combs being mated to rose combs, and single combs with single combs.
In all varieties of Dorkings the peculiar shape of the body, a well defined parallelogram, the characteristic fifth toe, and the white or flesh-colored leg, are matters not to be overlooked.

Such matings will produce chicks that will show a good percentage of birds, when matured, that are fit for the exhibition room or the breeding pen."

 

[3riverschick]

And the final sentiment from this excellent little monograph. Just endearing. I wish someone would write something like this about the Sussex fowl:

"To the lovers of fine-bred poultry, to those who believe in a long pedigree,
to those who are fond of the delights of a good table, to those who desire
fowls for pets, to those who wish for the union of utility and beauty, the oldest,
the most aristocratic of all breeds of domestic poultry, the Dorking can be confidently recommended."

 

[aveca]

And the final sentiment from this excellent little monograph. Just endearing. I wish someone would write something like this about the Sussex fowl:

"To the lovers of fine-bred poultry, to those who believe in a long pedigree,
to those who are fond of the delights of a good table, to those who desire
fowls for pets, to those who wish for the union of utility and beauty, the oldest,
the most aristocratic of all breeds of domestic poultry, the Dorking can be confidently recommended."

I do too 3riverschick...Are we just too busy today? ..it seems just a hundred years ago, people had time to write, paint, and have the luxury of time to think about things that no one seems to have today..everything is in a hurry today and everyones irratable..I pop in on sussex thread once ina while because my cousin is a buff orp and sussex nut..

 

[3riverschick]

Quote: =============
After the math is done, Burnell says Dorkings will do fine in a yard with 18 sq. ft. per bird. That's not even double the 10 sq. ft. per bird needed in other large fowl. Interesting.
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Going thru the lit while I wait for someone to post pics of a Dorking. This is really interesting. Again from Burnell's book, the section on Feeding:
"Very little need be said on the score of drinking water, nave that it should be changed every day, and is beat kept in iron vessels, as the latter are not easily broken, and, if a little rusty, will give a chalybeate taste which will be very beneficial. For a number of fowls an iron pig-trough will answer very well, while what are sold as dog dishes will do very well for a few."

In a reprint of the 1934 Sussex Poultry book by Outram by Country Books in New Zealand, ...in the back are letters by Clem Watson. A storied poultry man The letters are very rare. In one, he relates a visit to a top Sussex breeder. A lady who won top prizes with her Sussex. He notes that she has a large iron kettle which she keeps water for her birds and that such water is good for them.

cha·lyb·e·ate

adjective
1. containing or impregnated with salts of iron, as a mineral spring or medicine.

 

[kimberly35042]

Hi everyone. I'm a complete newcomer to dorkings and took a shotgun approach to try and get decent "beginnings" of breeder stock with eggs and chicks from a couple different sources. My youngest group are 3 week old Troxel reds and the oldest group is the hatchery silver grey dorkings (sgd). They are only 4 months old and really too young to evaluate, but I have a specific question regarding tailset. 4 of the 5 cockerals all have "high" almost identical tailsets. The 5th has a much lower tailset no matter what his pose (alert, scared, roost, eating, running, etc.). In these pictures, he is on the left.






And one by himself (not sure what happened to his eye in this picture? He's fine in person!) Again, he shipped 2/10/13 so he's almost 5 months old (19 weeks).

 

[kimberly35042]

I forgot to mention how excited I am that you guys are FINALLY on dorkings !! I've learned a lot from the other breeds you've talked about and appreciate a thread like this so very much. Thank you for taking time to do this. It is very helpful.

I have pictures of the other cockerals, but I'm not sure how much could be gleaned at this age. Please let me know if I should post more. I am amazed at the difference in size of the pullets at this stage, really amazed.

 

[3riverschick]

Current Breed: Dorking. Come join us, bring pics!

 

[capayvalleychick]

My youngest group are 3 week old Troxel reds and the oldest group is the hatchery silver grey dorkings (sgd). They are only 4 months old and really too young to evaluate, but I have a specific question regarding tailset. 4 of the 5 cockerals all have "high" almost identical tailsets. The 5th has a much lower tailset no matter what his pose (alert, scared, roost, eating, running, etc.). In these pictures, he is on the left.






And one by himself (not sure what happened to his eye in this picture? He's fine in person!) Again, he shipped 2/10/13 so he's almost 5 months old (19 weeks).

Their tail angle will rise as they mature. The ones that look like they have too low of tails may end up having the correct 45 degree angle. I know Walt doesn't like the fluff at the base of the tail. Wings look like they are nice & level. I like the nice rounded, forward chest on the one in the first photo.
This breed is very slow to mature, so you won't see the finished product until they are much older.

 

[kimberly35042]

Thank you Miss Kim! Here are his siblings for comparison. I fully intend to get bands on them this week. Other than the "flat" tail guy above, they look kindof similar although one has a wider back and breast (at this point).