Review of Dorkings as a table bird *update: pics and weight of our last Dorking rooster*

[jgervais]

Well, my big beautiful rooster took his spurs to my 2 1/2 year old daughter, needless to say he wasn't around long after that. He met his fate the following morning.
On the bright side he was delicious!

He was the last of the Dorking roosters (I did successfully hatch 7 dorking babies, so mabye one will be a roo...) He was the largest Dorking we had raised so far.
He was about 10 months + the day he died and weighed in at 5lbs exactly once he was processed.

I finally tried brining with the correct ratio of salt and water for the first time. Wow, that made such a huge difference. Even a bad mo fo like this rooster turned out so juicy and tender. I dont know why I did not bring properly before!!!! I was worried he was too old and tough, but he was so delicious I wish i had another!

Heres the story:
http://simplelifeainteasy.blogspot.com/2012/07/how-to-brine-chicken.html

 

[LilyD]

I love your postings and I saved your recipe to try when I process my roosters this year. One question about your recipe, what type of container did you use. It looks like a large pot but what was it made of? Also did your roast your chicken or did you cook it another way? Okay so it was two questions but both very important


Right now my three silver gray dorkings are just little bits. They are 9 weeks old right now. I have a trio two girls and a boy and I have been very impressed with them so far. The girls are pretty friendly and are okay being touched and scratched but the boy needs some more work. He's a bundle of trouble and gets himself in so many messes each day but he is so cute he can get away with it. Hopefully he won't get mean cause I don't want to have to get rid of him.
Hoping they grow up big and beautiful and give me lots of babies, although I think I will have to order some more next year to supplement the ones I have.

 

[jgervais]

For brining I used a huge plastic bowl with lid. The collapsible kind from pampered chef... so maybe its actually silicone..

To cook him I have this amazing enameled oval cast iron pot. I put it on the back burner on super low, with about a cup of water on the bottom just to make some steam, and let it cook for probably 4 hours. I wanted it to cook just a little faster than a crockpot would have, but I think a crockpot would have worked great too for this one.

This was a reallllly tough rooster, so anything faster than 3 or 4 hours probably would have left it a little tough.

The brining worked so well that I think im going to try roasting one again next time, a younger one. When I tried to roast one of my chickens before it was too tough and dry, but I also did not brine it which I think will make a world of difference.

I wanted to keep my rooster so bad! But I have young children and even just one slip up is too much, so he had to go. He was very good to his ladies and overall a great rooster (well, 99% of the time I guess). I treat the roosters like cesar milan treats dogs - establish dominance and you usually will have no problems at all. Though there are just some roosters who came straight from hell! I'm glad to hear youre enjoying your Dorkings! I love to see them scratch around the yard, they are amazing foragers compared to other breeds (In my opinion)

 

[LilyD]

Yeah I am the same way. I have sent more roosters to the stew pot because they have spurred people who were out with the chickens, but the good thing about this is that the roosters I have are so mellow and relaxed that you can do anything with them and for the most part they pass that trait to their kids both boys and girls.

I am hoping that Trouble as we have started calling him is going to be like that. He is a great looking rooster so I am really hoping he will have the personality to match.

I had heard that you can roast birds that are older as long as you make sure and start them out slow and at a low temp in a roasting pan with a cover then you take the cover off for the last 15 minutes or so to brown the skin at the end. I haven't tried it myself since the birds I did last time were about 10 months and too old for that type of cooking. This batch will be done at 20 weeks and I am hoping to be able to roast them and have them be delicious. Another idea is to try one of the turkey bags to help hold in the moisture. My aunt did that with one of the older birds we gave her and she said it was amazing. So far I have cooked mine in the crock pot for about 24 hours each and they have fallen off the bone even up to a year old with no issues. The taste is so much more than store chicken ever could be. Can't wait until my Dorking Trio gets big enough for me to hatch some eggs. Can't wait to see the difference between those and my other DP birds.

 

[jgervais]

I have a few hens that are not laying well these days... is it bad I keep looking over at the soup pot?

 

[LilyD]

I have a few hens that are not laying well these days... is it bad I keep looking over at the soup pot?

No worse than looking at the boys and dreaming about drumsticks lol. I have a few that are free loading and have been thinking the same thing. They turned 1 year in April. The only thing keeping them from becoming dinner is the fact that it's so hot here I was hoping maybe that's holding up the laying. We shall see once it cools down.

 

[jgervais]

Seems like all of my Dorkings have been broody all summer... I have 9 hens and get like 3 eggs a day :-/ Maybe Dorkings are better for soup pots!

 

[LilyD]

Seems like all of my Dorkings have been broody all summer... I have 9 hens and get like 3 eggs a day :-/ Maybe Dorkings are better for soup pots!

Gosh I hope not I would love to have enough eggs to hatch out this upcoming spring. I only have two girls and a boy and so far they are super sweet and mellow. I have gotten lots of praise for their temperament and already have orders for girls for next year lol. I am going to post pictures on the Dorking Breed forum so I can get critiques on what they will need breed wise for next year when I start saving babies. So far I am impressed with just how solid they are. They aren't very big yet but they are compact.

 

[milleryardchx]

If its too hot in July most chicken breeds slow on egg production. then pick up in the fall then moult then get back to it in dec. Well I have been working on my own meat flock of delaware over white rock and I just placed an order for dorkings from Gabbard Farms. I will have a tractor for purebreds but some of my home grown crosses I might put a dorking rooster with next summer and see what I get for maybe a faster growing meat bird.

 

[speedy2020]

I have 1 Dorking rooster and want to breed with my hens. Unfortunately, he just too mean & flighty so I have to put him down. He sure taste much better then any other chickens (marans, delaware, rir, plymouth rock, etc..).