Nice hens! I will PM you some info on where you can get some good, healthy, non-hatchery breeding stock.
My silver grey Dorkings came from two places--two from a BYC friend on my state's chat thread, and two from a startup hatchery that was located very close to me but failed. I bought a bunch of chicks from that hatchery, but they were pretty sick and only two survived. The hatchery closed right after I got my chicks.
I have 4 Dorkings total, all girls. The feisty little hen is called Mari. I drove down to Maricopa to get her from the BYC friend, so she is Mari from Maricopa. The other one that she gave me is Dora the Dorking. Yeah, not much imagination.
The other week Mari and the rooster (a Leghorn) got into it. She was squawking and spreading her wings at him. I came back a few hours later and she had some peck marks on her comb and was a lot quieter. My guess is he'd finally had enough of her antics after weeks of this. He's actually a sweet roo, and will walk over on the perch to get his feathers stroked. Not aggressive at all.
Daffodil and Buttercup, the other two Dorkings, are the ones that will rush the gate. Sometimes Mari will come toward me at the gate with her wings out and squawk at me, but I just spread my arms and squawk back and she usually turns around in a hurry. It's the other two that will try to get out.
lovely photos.
I was pointing her toward some people on Facebook who breed to the SOP and sell chickens in limited amounts. Big Ben seems to have quieted Mari down and taken over as ruler of the coop.
