- Feb 23, 2014
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I recently bought two 17 week old pullets from a fellow advertising them as Silver Gray Dorkings on Craigslist. When I visited his home and spoke to him, he told me that he'd ordered the pullets from Murray McMurray Hatchery as baby chicks. I totally believe him because he seemed completely on the up and up, and he only had three pullets to sell. He wasn't trying to make a bunch of fast money reselling a lot of hatchery chicks. Also, his teenage daughter was part of the conversation and explained that they'd ordered the minimum allowable number of Dorkings and Cochins in February so she could decide which breed she wanted to focus on for 4-H. She'd settled on the Cochons, and there were indeed 6 or 7 pretty, standard Cochin pullets running around. I mention all this to say that I do believe his claim that he ordered these "Silver Gray Dorking" pullets as chicks from Murray McMurray.
So anyway, I brought two of them home. They're sweet and friendly, and extremely pretty pullets. However, they look smaller than the SGD pullets I see in online photos, and I have noticed that they both have a (very pretty) rose.coloring covering their chests that, again, I am not seeing in online photos of SGD hens. Today was the aha moment, however, when I noticed that neither of the alleged pullets has the characteristic Silver Gray Dorking 5 toes. They both have only 4 toes. As I understand it, that means that neither pullet can be a purebred Dorking, period.
So what the heck do I have? Here are some photos of one of the pullets, including feet. They both look pretty much exactly alike. In fact they're very hard to tell apart. Any guesses as to what these pullets could be? And why would a major hatchery be selling particular breed of purebred chicken that's so obviously *not* purebred per the most notable physical characteristic of that breed? That seems especially sad in the case of an endangered, ancient breed like the Dorking.
So anyway, I brought two of them home. They're sweet and friendly, and extremely pretty pullets. However, they look smaller than the SGD pullets I see in online photos, and I have noticed that they both have a (very pretty) rose.coloring covering their chests that, again, I am not seeing in online photos of SGD hens. Today was the aha moment, however, when I noticed that neither of the alleged pullets has the characteristic Silver Gray Dorking 5 toes. They both have only 4 toes. As I understand it, that means that neither pullet can be a purebred Dorking, period.
So what the heck do I have? Here are some photos of one of the pullets, including feet. They both look pretty much exactly alike. In fact they're very hard to tell apart. Any guesses as to what these pullets could be? And why would a major hatchery be selling particular breed of purebred chicken that's so obviously *not* purebred per the most notable physical characteristic of that breed? That seems especially sad in the case of an endangered, ancient breed like the Dorking.
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