DORKING ALERT!
Familiar science & fancier's journal, Volumes 3-4
Pages 184 and 185 and on....
TIGHT OR LOOSE FEATHERING.
Some time ago I purchased some colored Dorkings, whose grandparents emanated
from a luxurious home in an aristocratic quarter, and about the same time I
purchased some silver-grey Dorkings, whose grandparent was one of Baily's hens,
and hence had lived in open quarters. As to age and size they were about equal,
but I do not think if I had tried my utmost, and of set purpose, that I could by
any possibility have had two sets of pullets more diametrically opposed to each
other, for, while the colored Dorkings were soft and loose, or open-feathered
birds, the silver-greys were hard and close-feathered¡ªso beautifully
closefeathered that at a little distance it was difficult to distinguish where
one joined another, and as tightly fitting and as close to the body as a lady's
glove on her hand. On arrival, and in my ignorance, I admired the colored
Dorkings the most; but when the weather began to get cold a marked difference
was immediately observable, and which increased. In short, the colored Dorkings
in cold weather resembled an East Indian black in the streets of London on a
frosty day¡ªblue, shivering, and chattering, and always aiming at warmer
quarters, while the silver-greys walked about in utter defiance of slush, sleet,
and snow, and as comfortable as English lads frolicking on the ice. The colored
Dorkings eat fully one-third more food, and do not lay more than one-fourth of
the eggs. Since December, when the silver-grey Dorkings commenced to lay, up to
the present time, they have laid every other day generally; besides this they
have frequently laid numbers in daily succession, and occasionally I have had
more eggs than birds, i. e., two in one day. I do not believe that even the
black Minorcas could have beaten the silver-grey Dorkings during the last six
months, whatever happens in the other half of the year. These are in truth
splendid layers, and their food is plain and substantial, viz., barley, Indian
corn, buckwheat, vegetables, and household scraps.
In every respect they fare alike, but notwithstanding that the point of color is
in favor of the colored Dorkings, they are the most unprofitable birds that ever
belonged to me, while the others, on the contrary, are most profitable, and all
the difference lies in the closeness of the feathers. This closeness of feather
should not be confounded with abundance of feather, for I have some Cochin hens,
aud the close-feathered birds lay more than the loose, open, and very
abundantly-feathered ones. I now attach more value to close and tightly-fitting
feathered birds than to color, and firmly believe by strict attention to that
main point (not forgetting the others) to be able to defend the Dorkings against
all comers. Modern breeders, in their desire to improve the size and color of
the Dorkings, have done it in such a way as to deal a severe blow to the
reputation of this splendid breed of fowls. For the purpose of being able to
produce large cockerels and pullets at the autumn and winter shows, they have
resorted to an artificially created warm temperature, so as to hatch a brood of
chickens as near to the 1st of January as possible. This being done for some
generations, loose-feathered birds is the result, and a very moderate supply of
eggs the consequence. A remarkably large Dorking pullet which I purchased for my
best trump card, laid the fewest eggs of any hen I ever had, and ultimately died
from congestion or inflammation, produced by moderately cold weather. No bird
commencing the summer with a decent constitution could have been more
unprofitable, and in the way of food she was a glutton. When this bird arrived,
our family circle broke out in raptures, and particularly in this direction:
"What beautiful soft feathers 1 like touching some lady's muff!" Being densely
ignorant on the matter, I of course was equally delighted, but did not mourn for
her when she went the way of all flesh. When I hear (or see in print) some
breeders saying that much depends on the character of the soil¡ªdry, gravelly,
and chalky, in contradistinction to any other combination of geological
materials¡ªwhether Dorkings flourish or not, I think of my damp and altogether
unlikely place, and my closely-feathered Dorkings, and marvel at the great
number of the most diverse opinions which can be held on any given thing, when
the real and all-important point is altogether ignored. Of course the best place
for birds which are bred up in hot-houses is a tropical country, but if English
breeders want the large population of the British Islands for customers, they
must breed to suit their requirements, and not for very exceptional customers in
the neighborhood of Timbuctoo, which perhaps would have suited the large pullet
spoken of. Notwithstanding that the black breeds arc generally the best
egg-layers, yet in this climate it is better to have a close feathered white
bird than a loose-feathered black one,
and which is the reason why, here and there in this country, we hear of white
Dorkings, Cochins, Leghorns, and Minorcas, laying better than darker-colored
birds. I am very sorry, indeed, to see breeders virtually sacrificing closeness
of feather for the sake of having early broods in some cases, and large birds in
others, by resorting to an artificially-produced warmer climate, for closeness
of feather once gone, or more properly a shunt having been given towards
looseness of feather, cannot be again, in my opinion, attained by the same
stock. To obtain closeness of feather, such breeders would have to commence dc
novo with stock birds already possessing that indispensable qualification
towards abundance of eggs. If we take two boys, one black and one white, and
expose them to the influences of very cold, frosty weather, when stark naked,
and for a number of days in succession, they will both die with, perhaps, a
day's difference between their ends; and this quite irrespective of whether the
one stood on a dry, chalky soil, and the other on damp ground. And what I am
astonished at is, that the infinitesimal should be made so much of, and the
momentous should be ignored as something of very little value.
