all the Dorking I received from Ideal ended up dying very young, out of 4 of them 2 died in the brooder, 1 died shortly after going to the coop, and 1 died around 3 months old. In every case they just slowly got weaker and slower than the other chicks and eventually ended up dead. I suspect inbreeding lead to a weak immune system and my lack of experience dealing with illness in birds are the reason. I bought 3 dorkings from a local breeder recently and all 3 are healthy but not breeding age just yet. I want the females to hatch chicks for me, and the male will be breeding with the Female dorkings and Red Rangers. If I ever get decent Delaware and NH Reds I will cross those with the dorkings too and see if I can get high quality meat faster. I would even be willing to cross the Dorking with CornishX if I end up with any I keep for breeding. I hope my dorking male likes fat chicks lol.
