The Dorking Breeders thread

[Dirt Farmer]

thank you for the assessment- I feel much the same as per SOP. BOTH his saddle and hackles are longer and much fuller than I would personally like as they throw off his actual body lines. You'd think after 6 years I'd have that fixed by now, huh- lol

Anyway, out of 10, I've selected these 3 as my best SG that I have to work with this season.

I just caught on that this was a re-post regarding weights. I went back and read the original assessments. With regard to your weights I'm guessing they are better than most. Looks like they have a good chance of making standard weight by adulthood. Good job. I'll post some weights on my Sand Hill Colored once they're a little older, currently only 6 months.

Has anyone on the thread purchased chicks from Sand Hill? A bunch of us around Indianapolis placed a group order, and several of us are getting Dorkings. I ordered chicks that are an experimental color for Dorkings--the Columbian/Delaware pattern. Do any of you folks have birds that color? If so, I'd love to see photos (especially of them as chicks!). We're just hoping we can tell the different Dorkings apart from each other, since I think we have three different colors ordered going to three different people.

They are scheduled to ship in early May, and I'm excited to get a pair. I hope I get one male and one female (anything but two roos will do, though!).

Is anyone else on this thread from Indiana or neighboring states?

I got some Colored last fall. Separating the chicks may be a challenge. When I got mine I wasn't sure what a Colored chick should look like. I had also ordered some Reds, and some Blacks were thrown in as well. There were some packing peanuts from breeds I was unfamiliar with so I assumed any chick with four toes was a peanut. Make sure to save the paperwork that comes on the box. The listing of breeds and numbers of chicks will help you figure it out, but it took me weeks. You may be more familiar.

 

[Sozo Acres]

I am in Middle Tennssee. I am getting my first assortment of Dorking from Sand Hill in May. I am thinking of breeding white or red. Not sure yet. Some of that depends on what kind of stock I get. Love learning here!

 

[RhodeRunner]

I am in Middle Tennssee. I am getting my first assortment of Dorking from Sand Hill in May. I am thinking of breeding white or red. Not sure yet. Some of that depends on what kind of stock I get. Love learning here!

Sandhill is better than your average hatchery, but if you are truly interested in breeding Red and White Dorkings, there are better quality fowl available. I image other people here can help you find more breeders, but these two do ship.

Yellow Hosuse Farm - White Dorkings
Dick Horstman - Red Dorkings

It is late in the season, but even if you get on their waiting list for next year, you will be further along when it comes to breeding.

 

[RhodeRunner]

Sounds like we need pictures

Here are two of the pullets with the white dots.

 

[Dirt Farmer]

Here are two of the pullets with the white dots.

Some of the older writing on Dorkings mentions "Speckled". I always assumed it described the pattern of the Speckled Sussex. I had a couple birds that looked similar to yours that I think were sports from Colored Dorkings.

 

[Sydney Acres]

Hmmm, just like you said, a typical Red Dorking with random speckling in areas. If it's not a mix, then it's probably a random mutation of feather color. If it follows the same pattern as a Speckled Sussex, it will get more and larger speckles as it gets older (which is why you always have to ask how old a SS hen is before evaluating her color). Most white feathers or patterns can be hard to breed out of a line, but you won't know unless you try, assuming that she ends up being breeding quality in other ways.

Opps, just realized that there's more than one pullet involved. Please change all the singular pronouns above to plural.

 

[Sozo Acres]

Sandhill is better than your average hatchery, but if you are truly interested in breeding Red and White Dorkings, there are better quality fowl available. I image other people here can help you find more breeders, but these two do ship.

Yellow Hosuse Farm - White Dorkings
Dick Horstman - Red Dorkings

It is late in the season, but even if you get on their waiting list for next year, you will be further along when it comes to breeding.

Thank you for that information. I will definitely look into it. I have already found and have been reading on Yellow House Farm's website.

 

[RhodeRunner]

Some of the older writing on Dorkings mentions "Speckled". I always assumed it described the pattern of the Speckled Sussex. I had a couple birds that looked similar to yours that I think were sports from Colored Dorkings.

Interesting! I never heard of the older documents tht mentioned "speckled" dorkings, but certainly believe it. It seems like they came in a great deal of colors, in the years past. I also hadn't given much thought to them having Colored blood, but that sounds rather realistic. The colored and red hens can look very similar, and that would be an easy mistake if one of the previous breeders worked with both colors.

Now what to do with these little sports? Keep them, or eat them? hehehe Either option doesn't sound bad

 

[RhodeRunner]

Hmmm, just like you said, a typical Red Dorking with random speckling in areas.  If it's not a mix, then it's probably a random mutation of feather color.  If it follows the same pattern as a Speckled Sussex, it will get more and larger speckles as it gets older (which is why you always have to ask how old a SS hen is before evaluating her color).  Most white feathers or patterns can be hard to breed out of a line, but you won't know unless you try, assuming that she ends up being breeding quality in other ways.

Opps, just realized that there's more than one pullet involved.  Please change all the singular pronouns above to plural. 

Chickens sure like to throw curve balls. I used to hatch recessive whites from my Spangled Orloffs, Mottled Bredas from a pen of blue/black/splash Bredas, and now these little buggers. lol. They couldn't have cross bred with anything here, but I've only had them for a couple of years. They would have to be super nice birds for me to consider putting them into the Red breeding pen, but I might give them their own pen if they seem like decent birds.

 

[Dirt Farmer]

Interesting! I never heard of the older documents tht mentioned "speckled" dorkings, but certainly believe it. It seems like they came in a great deal of colors, in the years past. I also hadn't given much thought to them having Colored blood, but that sounds rather realistic. The colored and red hens can look very similar, and that would be an easy mistake if one of the previous breeders worked with both colors.

Now what to do with these little sports? Keep them, or eat them? hehehe Either option doesn't sound bad

I went back and looked at some of the Google mentions from "speckled dorking" just out of curiosity. Seems that they were related to, or the same as, the grey dorking. I've heard of grey dorkings but never seen one. Not sure they still exist in any numbers. I found a blurry picture of one of my "speckled". Upon further review, they weren't the same as yours.