I know that the more I learn of breeding the less I'm put on by color, while at the same point, the more I respect good color. It's the realization that all of these fluke colors can be had in any given season by simply crossing the principle varieties, but if the structure isn't there, who cares? Who cares if they're not good Dorkings? Then again to specialize in a color is hard. Mottling is hard. I was just with Brian Knox going over Silver Laced Wyandotte bantams....now that was hard, I mean really intimidating.
Regarding the Cuckoo Dorkings, I can only imagine. Moreover, while these breeders were focusing on the cuckoos, they were allowing the principle colors to slip further down the drain. We might get to the point where Dorkings are so strong that we can think about creating quality cuckoos, but that won't be for a long time. Even then, in large fowl I can only think of a scant number of breeds that can maintain more than three varieties over time in any sort of quality. I doubt the Dorkings will even have more than three varieties of quality, and it will be in White, Red, and Silver Greys. Cuckoos in large fowl are a dead end. No one likes cuckoo because all it is imperfect barring. The only breed that can sustain cuckoo is the Dominique, and that's only because it has so much lore behind it; all other breeds with a cuckoo variety don't have any worth seeing, at least whenever I've seen them. They just look dirty. Moreover, the Colored variety isn't stable. To breed it well, were good stock actually existing, would be tough enough because it is a pattern that creates so many culls, but insofar as there aren't any Colored Dorkings of any real quality existing, well, that's a multiple hundred chick a year variety over an untold number of years.
I think the single most poignant way to galvanize this understanding is to attend lots of shows throughout the year: White and Barred Rocks, White and Light Brown Leghorns, White Wyandottes, RIR, certain Cochins, sometimes NH, sometimes SC Black Minorcas, sometimes Black Langshans, sometimes Faverolles, on occasion SS Hamburgs. When I see these breeds in these specific varieties, it's like getting chicken religion because they show the way and the fruit of extreme focus. Every time I stare at them, I come back with more resolve. They remind me that it is actually possible to breed absolutely outstanding birds, but that there actually is a right way and a wrong way, in the sense that there's actually a way to get that uniformity, to get that width of feather, to get that structural validity, but I recognize that it's not going to happen by reinventing the rules or by hatching 20 chicks a year without records and intentional matings.
All of these crazy colors are like genetic pollution, and many on ebay and other sites are selling them. Sand Hill unfortunately is offering a panoply of silliness; Feathersite promotes fake varieties with names pulled out of a cereal box. There is a core of folks currently getting into Dorkings that seem to have focus put into practice. As long as folk get their stock from these strong sources and don't mix them all up. They'll get there.
