Sand Hill Dorking Chickens

[EOD Daddy]

Does or Has anyone have Dorkings from Sand Hill Conservatory?
If so, how broody are they? Temperament? and Quality of the birds??

 

[Debbie292d]

This post is over a decade old, so is not a judge of them now I'm sure, but the whole thread itself is about the breed, so thought you might find that interesting. Here's another post about the hatchery. Good luck!

 

[EOD Daddy]

Thank You! I did not realize it was so old. lol

 

[GoldenGryphon]

Does or Has anyone have Dorkings from Sand Hill Conservatory?
If so, how broody are they? Temperament? and Quality of the birds??

Howdy!
I do have a good number of Sandhill Preservation Dorkings. Beautiful birds and some of my better Dorkings. Back in 2021, I had 3 Sandhill Dorking hens, with all three going broody at once. I lost one of them, but had raised a couple more, so currently have at least 5 Sandhill bloodline hens with more coming up from an order I was able to get in early September.

While I have had Murray McMurray Dorkings in the past (with my most recent order to them being in 2019 (or so), their birds were very rarely broody and I did my best to incubate eggs from the broody birds of that shipment.

The Sandhill Dorkings roosters are beautiful roos - I gave one (red/black) to a neighbor as thanks - and are gentlemen in every sense of the word - they are wonderful roos.
The girls will drop broody as often as I let them. I had one who has consistently tried to hatch golf balls and somewhat round rocks for the past 4 years. They have good temperaments.

Well ... Angry Broody Black Dorking (her full name) will be vicious about sitting her nest and is very determined about it. She has managed to grab above my "chicken-handling" gloves and twist. When she's not on the nest, she's a bit aloof. She's very good-tempered about it though. The Red Dorkings seem to be more friendly, though one is a complete derp - she gets confused trying to catch bugs and can't figure out why they aren't cooperating with being eaten. I don't have cuddle chickens but if you're the kind of chicken keeper who likes lap/cuddle chickens, they'd probably be amenable. Chill, calm, very accepting - just don't disturb them on the nest or try to bother a chick and you'll get along great.

I've found that it's well worth ordering early and being willing to wait to get an order of Dorkings (whichever color you prefer) from Sandhill Preservation. I don't get an order every year, but being willing to work with the farm and the fact that I want broody birds means that I have to accept the delays in getting chicks. It's more than worth it - I have a layer flock and my Dorkings.

I'll try to attach a picture of a few of the birds.