The Dorking Breeders thread

[Yellow House Farm]

Just got home from the APA Eastern Nationals. (Knoxville) Happy to say I did well.

I got BV (hen) and RV (cockerel) with my colored, RV with a red cockerel and BV/BB with a silver grey pullet.

I don't have pictures yet, but will have them posted soon. There were 12 birds entered all together, if I'm remembering correctly. The other Dorking breeders present were P Allen Smith and Craig Russell.

Not sure who the judge was though. I would have liked to see what he liked/didn't like about the birds he judged.

Very cool!

 

[ki4got]

 

[DesertChic]

Beautiful bird!!! Congratulations on your hard-earned victory.

 

[capayvalleychick]

I got BV (hen) and RV (cockerel) with my colored, RV with a red cockerel and BV/BB with a silver grey pullet.

...
Not sure who the judge was though. I would have liked to see what he liked/didn't like about the birds he judged.

Karen, it's good to see that your work is paying off. It's great to see so many Dorkings being shown. Wonderful that you got your Colored Dorking out there for people to see.

It's an added affirmation when you can enter a class that has entries from multiple exhibitors, and win.

Too bad that you couldn't discuss it with the judge. I learn so much from judges observations at shows. It would be a beneficial learning experience for those of us working with Dorkings if we could hear and see each selection process.

 

[ki4got]

Quote: well, I kept looking and they hadn't been judged, walked away for 2 minutes and came back, the judging was done. *shrug*

 

[rcooperrider]

We are showing in junior competition at some shows in Oklahoma. Thus far, I have not seen another Dorking! Our lone silver-gray pullet gets BB/BV by default. We are very interested in a good blood line to breed her, and are also interested in other colors, but don't plan on mixing the colors. We plan to breed for exhibition. Any recommendations on a good place to find stock? Our one bird is a McMurray hatchery chicken, but seems to have good confirmation according the the APA SOP. Since there is no competition, and judges seem to know very little to begin with, I can't be absolutely certain. She is also very intelligent and sweet.

 

[JanetMarie]

I am researching which breed to conserve, and want to carefully choose. I have some questions for breeders please:

With the Dorking being a foundational breed is it correct that they take less maintenance than a composite breed, such as the amount of chicks to hatch out each year, grow them out, then choose the ones with the correct type to keep?

In starting a flock, is it okay for the health of the birds to breed hatchmates, since I can only find one breeder that sells hatching eggs of the colored rose comb variety?

Any other helpful information welcome. Thank you in advance.

 

[Sydney Acres]

I am researching which breed to conserve, and want to carefully choose. I have some questions for breeders please:

With the Dorking being a foundational breed is it correct that they take less maintenance than a composite breed, such as the amount of chicks to hatch out each year, grow them out, then choose the ones with the correct type to keep?

In starting a flock, is it okay for the health of the birds to breed hatchmates, since I can only find one breeder that sells hatching eggs of the colored rose comb variety?

Any other helpful information welcome. Thank you in advance.

No, they do not take less maintenance than a composite breed. A foundation breed takes just as much hatching, judgement, selection, and culling as any other breed to develop your flock to SOP standards. Also, the more rare the breed, the more important it is to select properly, as just a few prominent breeders can change the direction the breed takes, for better or worse.

Yes, you can breed hatchmates to each other, as long as you use a rolling breeding program and careful recordkeeping to avoid too much inbreeding. (You can ask your hatching egg supplier if s/he has multiple breeding pens set up. If so, you can ask that the eggs be marked as to which breeding pen they came from. That would allow you to avoid full brother/sister matings if you want to.) Most flocks are started that way. There are many well maintained breeding flocks (in general, not specifically of Dorkings) that are over 100 years old that started with a single shipment of birds, and have never brought in outside genetics. Mammals are more affected by inbreeding than birds, but that doesn't mean that birds are unaffected. Care and selection is required for success.

Rose Comb Colored Dorkings, while beautiful, are a very ambitious challenge for a breeder. The Colored Dorkings are difficult to breed true, quite uncommon compared to the other colors, and often require two separate flocks to maintain the proper SOP color -- one to breed the right colored males, and one to breed the right colored females. Since the rose comb is not the SOP for this color, your stock is limited to either the few breeders that have already started this project, or to obtaining Single Combed Colored Dorkings and perfecting them, then later adding in the rose comb. Either way you won't technically be "conserving a breed," since the RCCD is not technically an SOP breed, but that doesn't mean that it isn't a worthwhile project, or that you can't contribute to the improvement of the qualities of Dorkings in general. You should probably PM someone who posts as Rockashelle on BYC. She has been working with RCCDs for several years now, and can give you some insight on the rewards and frustrations that she has encountered.

 

[JanetMarie]

No, they do not take less maintenance than a composite breed. A foundation breed takes just as much hatching, judgement, selection, and culling as any other breed to develop your flock to SOP standards. Also, the more rare the breed, the more important it is to select properly, as just a few prominent breeders can change the direction the breed takes, for better or worse.

Yes, you can breed hatchmates to each other, as long as you use a rolling breeding program and careful recordkeeping to avoid too much inbreeding. (You can ask your hatching egg supplier if s/he has multiple breeding pens set up. If so, you can ask that the eggs be marked as to which breeding pen they came from. That would allow you to avoid full brother/sister matings if you want to.) Most flocks are started that way. There are many well maintained breeding flocks (in general, not specifically of Dorkings) that are over 100 years old that started with a single shipment of birds, and have never brought in outside genetics. Mammals are more affected by inbreeding than birds, but that doesn't mean that birds are unaffected. Care and selection is required for success.

Rose Comb Colored Dorkings, while beautiful, are a very ambitious challenge for a breeder. The Colored Dorkings are difficult to breed true, quite uncommon compared to the other colors, and often require two separate flocks to maintain the proper SOP color -- one to breed the right colored males, and one to breed the right colored females. Since the rose comb is not the SOP for this color, your stock is limited to either the few breeders that have already started this project, or to obtaining Single Combed Colored Dorkings and perfecting them, then later adding in the rose comb. Either way you won't technically be "conserving a breed," since the RCCD is not technically an SOP breed, but that doesn't mean that it isn't a worthwhile project, or that you can't contribute to the improvement of the qualities of Dorkings in general. You should probably PM someone who posts as Rockashelle on BYC. She has been working with RCCDs for several years now, and can give you some insight on the rewards and frustrations that she has encountered.

This information helps a lot in choosing. I won't be pursuing RCCDs since they are a project. Whatever breed I do choose, I will make sure they are bred to SOP. Thank you for your time.

 

[Sydney Acres]

Quote:
If you are interested in Single Comb Colored Dorkings, they are SOP and need all the help they can get. If your are interested specifically in rose combs, the White Dorking is the only color in the U.S. where the SOP calls for a rose comb. The British Standard allows for additional colors to have rose combs.