Heritage White Dorking Thread

[Yellow House Farm]

Greetings! This thread is being established to create a space specifically for the White Dorking. It is an excellent and ancient variety of a wonderful breed. The Dorking is among the very first breeds that truly served a dual-purpose function, and throughout its history, it has been especially acclaimed for the quality of its flesh. The White Dorking combines the advantages of high quality meat with the easy to finish carcass of a white bird.

In The Poultry Yard by William Charles Linnaeus Martin published in 1893 it states: "The rose-combed white Dorking is the Dorking of the old fanciers. B. P. Brent says, 'the old Dorking, the pure Dorking, the only Dorking is the white Dorking'". In light of the more than 120 years since the publishing of this book, much has come to pass in Dorking history, and this statement is no longer a realistic pronouncement. Nevertheless, it does hint at the kind of primacy and authenticity that surrounded the White variety of the Dorking when the other varieties were being drawn out of it by crosses in the 1800's.

I hope that this thread will flush out any other breeders working with the fine variety and, perhaps, inspire others to begin their own journey as a breeder and fancier of the White Dorking.

 

[Yellow House Farm]

Speaking of White Dorking Breeders.......

An enormous round of applause needs to go to Jeremy Woeppel of XW Poultry Ranch for his success at the Nebraska State Fair. He took Reserve CHampion English with a White Dorking. Moreover, he has a photo in the Poultry Press on page 40. Excellent! I wonder what the last time was that there was a White Dorking in the Poultry Press--a little bit of break-through chicken history right there!

 

[Yellow House Farm]

Setting up our last run of pullets for selection. It's been exciting to go over pullets this season. There are some really strong candidates. Here are some early morning shots of the set up.

 

[Sydney Acres]

Well I have to say that I am more than a little disappointed in Yellow House. When Joseph had said on this thread that he didn't think that he would not be selling chicks this year I thought well darn that stinks and I made arrangements with Jeremy. Then I get an email from Joseph saying that he would in fact be taking orders, I was really excited, so I placed my order and sent in a check and it went through. I emailed back and forth with Joseph a few times about when they may be delivered. I've been talking about them to everyone and explaining the breed and so forth. It is now past time when he said that they would ship I've emailed a few times asking how things are going with no response. Well today my wife calls me while I'm at lunch and tells me that I got a letter from Joseph saying that he wouldn't be able to fill my order. That really stinks, I hope that Joseph didn't suffer any loses or anything. I'm waiting on a response from Jeremy to see if he can still fill my order this late in the Spring, hopefully he can. I just feel like I've wasted months waiting on Joseph because his line is supposed to be the best, only to be let down.

Yes, that is the issue with rare breeds -- there are only so many breeders, each of them only hatches so many chicks, and when the last one is sold, that's it. There's no more. It's all a matter of getting in line early. It is important for all buyers to remember that you are buying live animals, not manufactured goods. When a hen doesn't lay well or an egg doesn't hatch there's no chick available to be sold. You can't just make more. Putting in an order is never a guarantee that the order will get filled, even if it's prepaid. That just secures your place in line. But it is disappointing, especially if you don't have a backup plan in place. I once had to wait 3 years for the specific chicks I wanted, only to have them be nothing like I had hoped. Hopefully Jeremy will be able to help you out, but if not you might want to get in line for next year at the earliest possible date.

 

[Yellow House Farm]

Pre-selling chicks breaks one of the cardinal rules, namely, don't count your chicks before they hatch. When one is a commercial hatchery, one is able to dedicate all of one's professional energy to the affair; when one is not a commercial hatchery, as we are not, there is the possibility that life will get in the way. When that occurs one has no choice but to bend to life and acquiesce.

When we were unable to fill some of the orders we received, we were troubled, yet being troubled does not magically produce more chicks. Thus, we had no choice but to write a letter to our customers and make our apology, returning their money, of course. Now, having been disappointed in the past, we knew the news would be tough, and we made every effort in our letter to acknowledge that sadness and frustration.

Perhaps in the future we shall have Dorking stock to share again, if we continue to ship chicks. Our other professional hats are very demanding, and shipping chicks is a lot of juggling. Insofar as it is a labor of love, as opposed to a profitable venture, sometimes it has to cede to life.

On a side note, being a breeder and having dealt with other breeders for years, when one is attempting to procure stock, especially quality stock only available from--and because of--breeders, one must be willing to roll with it until it happens. Sometimes it turns out exactly how we plan; sometimes it doesn't at all. At any rate, I'd recommend avoiding the public rant move against the only two breeders in the country who make the desired variety available in any material form to the American community.

Remember, there's always Sand Hill if one wants a commercial hatchery. Best of luck!

 

[Jwhip]

Just letting everyone on this thread know I will have chicks available this Spring. Really looking forward to this bunch. Most of my males are at standard weight and really starting to get some Dorking looking birds. Finally... I'm not done yet but getting closer.

 

[Jwhip]

Thanks. Now it is your turn to get a photo in the press.

 

[Yellow House Farm]

Trying to pick out a new breed for my self so I've got a ton of questions.
1) do they go broody? Yes, but like many, they are most reliable in late spring. In early/mid-spring they're fairly focused on laying. It's actually fairly easy to keep them from going broody even into the summer, but one must collect the eggs at least daily. A few days of laziness in june and you'll have three hens piled in on the eggs clucking away.

2) can I get a good carcass by 5/6 months of age? Yes, at that age you'll have an appropriate carcass for a heritage fowl.

3) what's the laying ability like? Pretty good considering that they're a dual-purpose bird with an emphasis on meat. They come into lay at an appropriate age and lay steadily until molt unless interrupted by a bout of the broody.

4) cold hardy? Very. We're in the middle of a second cold snap with several days at around 0 degrees. They're fine, and several pullets are still cranking out eggs.

5) good feed conversion ratio? This isn't something I can answer honestly. Nobody in the small-scale community really deals in feed conversion. That's actually a complicated system of feeding and record keeping that is owned by the commercial industry. There are home-grown ways to do it, too, but that's a whole different conversation. Perhaps a more appropriate question is are they good foragers, and the answer is yes. They are old-school foragers, like Games and Mediterranean fowl. They can glean a lot of their keep.

That's all I got for now. Thanks.

 

[3riverschick]

Well, you want to inspire... I have narrowed down my breed preferences and think that I would like to focus on Dorkings. They're the top pick at this point anyway. Do any of you breeders sell hatching eggs?

No, no, no. You want started birds. Or breeder birds which are being retired this year and still have a season or 2 left in them. Jwhip and Yellow House farm have lovely birds.
They are the only white Dorking folk I really know. Pay the extra for these birds. It will pay long dividends in the last analysis.
Not only will you get known quality, you will also redeem a lot of time and be on track to hatch chicks with the rest of us this next Spring.
Best,
Karen
Plus, you get to spend the winter getting to know your birds and the breed and any breed specific management techniques.

 

[gjensen]

I am sorry there has been disappointment here. I understand the disappointment, but do not be disappointed with the person. Life happens. These are not people in business or making money by what they do. If we are fortunate enough to get a start with good birds, then it is a privilege of sorts. If this is what you want, keep plugging at it, and it will happen.