The Dorking Breeders thread

[Yellow House Farm]

The is thread is established for the discussion of the Dorking within the framework of the American Poultry Association's Standard of Perfection.

The Dorking is one of, if not the single, oldest general purpose breed extant today. It is a fowl known for excellence but that has suffered in recent decades from a lack of breeder support.

Today the Dorking has very few breeders, whether in North America or oversees. It is in need of breeders willing to engage in APA/ABA-centric conversations that might hone and inform husbandry.

Please reserve conversations regarding non-standard color-projects and crosses for the Dorking thread located in the section entitled General Breed discussions & FAQs.

 

[pigsflyacres]

I'm excited to see this new thread. Thanks for starting it. My chicks from Dick Horstman should arrive next week. Then I need to be patient and wait for them to grow out to see what I have and where I'm starting. I think a standard bred bird should have utility. I think its what those standards dictate. I know its going to take me a bit to know my birds and what I'm working with. I know where I want to get. I want birds that are roasters at 24-26 weeks. I also think my pullets should be laying by this age. I want them to lay during the winter. This doesn't mean that I can pick my breeders at this age, but I think I should be able to do a cull down at that age. Except I don't have the experience or the eye to do this. So I'm real happy to see this thread because I hope it can help me in figuring out my cull periods.

I want big, stunning standard bred birds that have utility.

Jennifer

 

[Yellow House Farm]

Jennifer, that's awesome. Horstman's Reds are a good place to begin. I handled a Red pullet of his at the North Eastern Poultry Congress. She was highly typical. Carcass-wise she needed work; she was one of those birds that looked good to the eye but when handled lacked in substance. However, though that statement might seem harsh, it really isn't. It means that the frame is there; it will simply require selection criteria that make weight part of the process. My experience has been that change in this area can be had fairly quickly.

Your age goals are appropriate. I go over birds at 24-26 weeks, too. I weigh them before I put them into show cages for observation. I tend to eliminate the lower 50% weight-wise right from the start.

However, it has been my experience that appropriate levels of productivity for traditional standard-bred fowl can be had with relative ease. It's the other standard qualities that are harder to achieve. Saying that, mass of frame, is tough. It's a bit of a wild card. Without question, the most massive, non-industrial fowl I have ever seen have been the product of the fancy.

 

[pigsflyacres]

carcass weight is going to be a goal. Once a upon a time, these birds were the pinnacle of a good roaster. Modern genetics has created faster growing birds, but I think it can be argued that they don't taste better. I also think it can be efficient to grow them out with proper management of range. I've got a plan for these birds. I'm going to give them a purpose other than the show room. That being said, I want APA people to look at them and want to work with them. So I'm going to have to put them out there and do a good job of breeding to standard. I look at what you're doing with your whites and I know it can be done. I don't have the background or experience to expect fast progress. But, I'm a good learner!

I'm planning on running 4 pens of Dicks birds. I've got a red chick that hatched out from some shipped eggs. Too soon to tell what it is, but I believe its a cockerel. I'm going to watch it carefully. If its on par with Dicks birds I will use it. The stock it came from is Tice/Troxel. Good stock. One way or another it appears that all the stock is going back to Jeannine Peters, wholly or in part. This is who I got my original stock from. It will be nice to see Dorkings on my property again. I'm especially pleased that they go back to her birds.

Jennifer

 

[pigsflyacres]

There is a move to import stock from england. I'm neither for or against actually. Some days I'm one way, some days I'm another. Mostly I think I don't know enough to have an opinion. I know that english stock is bred to a larger standard than US stock. I've crossed a Red to SG hens in the past (all my red hens got eaten by a rare endangered weasel that I wasn't supposed to do anything about). The cockerels from that cross were monsters. Larger than their sire, faster growing. Just darn good meat birds as roasters. The couple that survived the next massacre were really good at 24 wks. The pullets seemed to not benefit as much from the cross. They inherited some of the Sandhill traits that I found irritating. No real increase in size.

YHF, you outcrossed to SGs and have posted a bit about your results. It might be nice to have some of that info here on this thread. I think its important to realize just what can happen when you out cross and what kind of a commitment it is. One of the things that has me concerned about imported blood is that it essentially is going to be like crossing to another breed. We should get some size and hybrid vigor, but I think there will be a lot of surprises. I think it might be better to use another variety as opposed to going straight to imported blood.

I think our breed is neglected. I don't happen to think its beyond repair. When you read old books and articles, they were bemoaning the downward spiral of quality in the early 1900s. Maybe we always think it was better than it was?

The forums on our breed web site don't offer the kind of educational opportunity that this thread theoretically could. Its not just my own personal education I'm thinking of, but people who are thinking about this breed and haven't made the commitment yet. I'd like to see people see how much they can get out of Dorkings.

Jennifer

 

[ki4got]

I'm a bit late to setting up my silver greys this year, but I have the 6 best year old (or slightly more) girls with my best rooster (2 years old). the weather worked against me, among other things, so I will start incubating and hatching in the next month to grow out and select for next years' breeders...

 

[pigsflyacres]

I'm a bit late to setting up my silver greys this year, but I have the 6 best year old (or slightly more) girls with my best rooster (2 years old). the weather worked against me, among other things, so I will start incubating and hatching in the next month to grow out and select for next years' breeders...

Can you tell me a bit about this breeding? What are you trying to accomplish? Is the cock bird the sire of these hens? Where did your stock originate? Do you have a back up cockerel or cock bird to do side matings with?

Jennifer

 

[neopolitancrazy]

I am very excited to see this new thread, thanks Joseph!

I got some Sandhill non-standard Dorkings that needed more work than I wanted to invest in 2012. Last year I got young adults from Mr. Urch, and chicks (saved 2 pullets) from McMurray. However, hatchability was not as good as I expected this winter/spring. I am optimizing their diet, (hopefully, but am going to get the ration tested before I brag about the specifics, smile) and will do test matings this autumn of my cock with all 3 females to see if one female has stronger embryos/young chicks than I have produced thus far.

Last year, I weighed chicks frequently in an effort to spot culls as early as possible. This year, I am wing-banding all chicks coming out of the brooder and weighing at 12, 16, and 20 weeks, to cull the poor-doers before test pairing all survivors.

If anyone has a chicken feed ration they consider particularly good, I would love to know the "recipe." Thanks.

Best wishes,
Angela

 

[pigsflyacres]

I am very excited to see this new thread, thanks Joseph!

I got some Sandhill non-standard Dorkings that needed more work than I wanted to invest in 2012. Last year I got young adults from Mr. Urch, and chicks (saved 2 pullets) from McMurray. However, hatchability was not as good as I expected this winter/spring. I am optimizing their diet, (hopefully, but am going to get the ration tested before I brag about the specifics, smile) and will do test matings this autumn of my cock with all 3 females to see if one female has stronger embryos/young chicks than I have produced thus far.

Last year, I weighed chicks frequently in an effort to spot culls as early as possible. This year, I am wing-banding all chicks coming out of the brooder and weighing at 12, 16, and 20 weeks, to cull the poor-doers before test pairing all survivors.

If anyone has a chicken feed ration they consider particularly good, I would love to know the "recipe." Thanks.

Best wishes,
Angela

I hope your ration is an improvement for you. Testing will help you work out the kinks. Let us know when you feel that you've gotten it down. I'm always interested!

I know you've been frustrated with your hatchability. Its sounds like you have a plan when the weather cools. Hopefully, finding the problem will be relatively easy.

Jennifer

 

[kimberly35042]

Hey Joseph -- great to see this new thread. I too was completely enthralled with Nick's UK reds. And as much as I wanted to contribute to bringing those genetics here, I felt my dollars would be better served building infrastructure to the current farm setup and investing in a cabinet incubator since I also have geese, and those eggs take up a bit of space. Nick was complimentary of my own reds, and their weights are nice for young birds, so I decided to work with what I have.

This spring is my first year growing out dorkings from my own birds from eggs that Rudy sent last year and one pullet that survived the trip USPS, I am excited to say I'm about to hatch the LAST of the dorkings and have been able to use 3 of the 4 cocks that are on the yard. There are 40 or so growing out in the barn brooder, and about that many left to hatch. I hope to have the numbers necessary to be able to make good choices going forward as well as send limited started pairs out to like minded breeders (depending on quality of the birds of course). We have a fall harvest scheduled for October, and I'm equally excited about filling the freezer and roast dorking on the cool (Alabama) winter days.

Like others, I'm having troubling results with hatching. And I'm guessing it is running about 60%. I've put the last set of eggs in a small brinsea just to see if it yields better results, and I also got eggs locally from a mixed flock to test hatchability from the GQF although I'm not sure if that really proves anything since the shell porosity (is that a word??) will be different.

I think spring is over for us with temps reaching near 90 all week. Oh well, off to the barn.....