The Dorking Breeders thread

[Sydney Acres]

I am new to this thread and owning Dorkings as well. I have red Dorkings and they are very pretty, but my motives for buying the chicks had to do with utilizing them as the dual purpose fowl they were meant to be. I am considering breeding them, but am dismayed at my ignorance about Dorking standards. Do I have to buy an APA "Standard" to understand how to select them. Will the Standard provide all the information I need? Am also looking for other Dorking owners in Virginia that I can learn from.

Thank you,

Hi Fowl Explorer,
Welcome to BYC, and to Dorkings. Unlike many of the more popular breeds, you will find that Dorking information comes to you in dribs and drabs, as there are not a lot of references or breeders. But they are definitely worth the effort. There are some very enthusiastic breeders online, both in the U.S. and international, so joining threads like this, and many of the Facebook groups, will accelerate your learning curve.

The APA Standard is definitely worth buying if you can afford it. The breed-specific information is only part of the book. The other portion is information that applies to all birds, and reading through it can be quite useful to the new breeder in assessing the "whole bird," not just a specific part of one breed. But until you can get a copy, here is a place online where the Dorking specific portion of the Standard is available at no charge: http://dorkingbreedersclub.webs.com/us-dorking-standard-colors

Besides this thread, other places that you might consider joining/reading are:
Facebook Dorking Club USA: https://www.facebook.com/groups/224639315913/
Facebook Dorking Preservation International (based in Australia): https://www.facebook.com/groups/535686866532377/
Facebook The Dorking Breed Club (based in U.K): https://www.facebook.com/groups/648553795260052/
Facebook Dorking Hens (based in U.K.): https://www.facebook.com/pages/Dorking-Hens/344979868936022?fref=ts
Facebook East Coast Dorking Breeders Club (based in U.S.) https://www.facebook.com/search/str/dorking+breeders/keywords_top
BYC Dorking Club (a slightly different focus than the BYC Dorking Breeders Thread): https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/118388/b-y-c-dorking-club

Many of the same people are on all of these sites, but the conversations that come up are all different, so you learn different things from each group.

Looking for a mentor will definitely help you make strides in your breeding program, and is well worth the effort. Depending on where you live and your willingness to travel, sometimes an online mentor is the quickest option in the beginning.

Hope you enjoy the breed. Where did you get your RDs from?

 

[Fowl Explorer]

Thanks Sydney -this is great information!

My red Dorkings came from Crowfoot Farm in Amissville, VA, and they started their flock with Sandhill Preservation Center stock. I have been told that the red Dorkings will sometimes produce a colored Dorking.

My D's were born on Easter, so they haven't reached the 16-week point quite yet, but the adolescents are beautiful. The Dorkings were the first to forage, and actually prefer foraging to hanging around the feeder more than a few minutes.

The two hens are very clever and quick, but not friendly to humans. I am a bit disappointed in the standoffish-ness of this strain of Dorking,

I got Buckeye chicks as well, also born on Easter, and the Buckeyes grew faster and beat up on the Dorkings... until yesterday (at 15 weeks old), when the biggest Dorking put the dominant Buckeye in his place. Unfortunately, power has gone to the new boss's head and we had to separate him from the entire flock. He was running around taking chunks out of all the chickens today. He is handsome, was first to crow, has bright red comb and wattles, but violent, suspicious roos are out.

I have heard that it is really no use to try to cull based upon adolescent looks because the Dorking develops fully later. I can't keep all the roos around a year to see what they look like as cocks! I may have to just wait for the 20 week point, and take my best shot, or maybe get rid of all roos, and try with a different strain next year.

I am trying to hook up with the swap meet people. Otherwise, some of the roosters are freezer-bound.

 

[Dirt Farmer]

Hi Fowl Explorer,
Welcome to BYC, and to Dorkings. Unlike many of the more popular breeds, you will find that Dorking information comes to you in dribs and drabs, as there are not a lot of references or breeders. But they are definitely worth the effort. There are some very enthusiastic breeders online, both in the U.S. and international, so joining threads like this, and many of the Facebook groups, will accelerate your learning curve.

The APA Standard is definitely worth buying if you can afford it. The breed-specific information is only part of the book. The other portion is information that applies to all birds, and reading through it can be quite useful to the new breeder in assessing the "whole bird," not just a specific part of one breed. But until you can get a copy, here is a place online where the Dorking specific portion of the Standard is available at no charge: http://dorkingbreedersclub.webs.com/us-dorking-standard-colors

Besides this thread, other places that you might consider joining/reading are:
Facebook Dorking Club USA: https://www.facebook.com/groups/224639315913/
Facebook Dorking Preservation International (based in Australia): https://www.facebook.com/groups/535686866532377/
Facebook The Dorking Breed Club (based in U.K): https://www.facebook.com/groups/648553795260052/
Facebook Dorking Hens (based in U.K.): https://www.facebook.com/pages/Dorking-Hens/344979868936022?fref=ts
Facebook East Coast Dorking Breeders Club (based in U.S.) https://www.facebook.com/search/str/dorking+breeders/keywords_top
BYC Dorking Club (a slightly different focus than the BYC Dorking Breeders Thread): https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/118388/b-y-c-dorking-club

Many of the same people are on all of these sites, but the conversations that come up are all different, so you learn different things from each group.

Looking for a mentor will definitely help you make strides in your breeding program, and is well worth the effort. Depending on where you live and your willingness to travel, sometimes an online mentor is the quickest option in the beginning.

Hope you enjoy the breed. Where did you get your RDs from?

Good post. I would like to add: http://www.englishhens.co.uk/ and http://www.yellowhousefarmnh.com/index.php

 

[ki4got]

Thanks Sydney -this is great information!

My red Dorkings came from Crowfoot Farm in Amissville, VA, and they started their flock with Sandhill Preservation Center stock. I have been told that the red Dorkings will sometimes produce a colored Dorking.

My D's were born on Easter, so they haven't reached the 16-week point quite yet, but the adolescents are beautiful. The Dorkings were the first to forage, and actually prefer foraging to hanging around the feeder more than a few minutes.

The two hens are very clever and quick, but not friendly to humans. I am a bit disappointed in the standoffish-ness of this strain of Dorking,

I got Buckeye chicks as well, also born on Easter, and the Buckeyes grew faster and beat up on the Dorkings... until yesterday (at 15 weeks old), when the biggest Dorking put the dominant Buckeye in his place. Unfortunately, power has gone to the new boss's head and we had to separate him from the entire flock. He was running around taking chunks out of all the chickens today. He is handsome, was first to crow, has bright red comb and wattles, but violent, suspicious roos are out.

I have heard that it is really no use to try to cull based upon adolescent looks because the Dorking develops fully later. I can't keep all the roos around a year to see what they look like as cocks! I may have to just wait for the 20 week point, and take my best shot, or maybe get rid of all roos, and try with a different strain next year.

I am trying to hook up with the swap meet people. Otherwise, some of the roosters are freezer-bound.

good luck with your boys... in my experience the sandhill boys seem to be a bit more hardheaded than other lines. I ended up culling/selling all I had. the girls aren't nearly as bad though I have noticed they are way more independent and flighty.

one of my sandhill red girls went 'wild broody' on me, showed up a month later with 1 chick. I've since found her nest site where she's now setting some silver grey dorking eggs (swapped for her ee mutt eggs) so she can at least be useful for a change. LOL she is fiercely protective and I pity any critter that challenges her nest or her chicks. she went after myself and hubby, plus the dog and the 2 cats to boot. not to mention the horses even!

the horstman girls i already have (and more I'm planning to get) are way better personality wise and their sons are also very nice. my current red rooster is a combination horstman/tice/sandhill and is here to stay.

 

[kittydoc]

Are all colors of Sand Hill's Dorking roos crazy/mean, or just the reds? I have just two silver grey chicks preordered from them for next year as part of a large group order, and after having just slaughtered and processed my mean Lav Orp roo, I cannot tell you the dread I have about having any more people aggressive birds. Fortunately, I have a different Orp roo split to lav who is a total sweetheart (and they came from the same breeder/pen--go figure). I had really hoped to have two "cousin" lines to work with, but may be stuck with one for a little while. I just hope I don't wind up with two Dorking cockerels that I wind up culling, because that would be my luck!

 

[Sydney Acres]

Are all colors of Sand Hill's Dorking roos crazy/mean, or just the reds? I have just two silver grey chicks preordered from them for next year as part of a large group order, and after having just slaughtered and processed my mean Lav Orp roo, I cannot tell you the dread I have about having any more people aggressive birds. Fortunately, I have a different Orp roo split to lav who is a total sweetheart (and they came from the same breeder/pen--go figure). I had really hoped to have two "cousin" lines to work with, but may be stuck with one for a little while. I just hope I don't wind up with two Dorking cockerels that I wind up culling, because that would be my luck!

I have RDs from Sandhill, so I can't speak for the other colors. The males can be more aggressive than is appropriate for the breed, both to their hens and to people (although I wouldn't consider them crazy mean compared to most hatchery bred roosters). But it can be selected out of them. Of my original 7 pullets and 6 cockerels, I selected the two overall best cockerels to mature, and the best one to mate at 2 years old. He was test mated to the 4 best hens, producing 19 cockerels. Of those, I kept the best 3 to mature, and slaughtered the sire when the cockerels were 9-10 months old. They are now 13 months old, and none of these three have ever once bitten, flogged, or threatened me in any way. They are respectful and move a few steps aside when I walk towards them, but not at all fearful. They are quite tame, and I can pick them up and do anything to them without concern. One of them is a bit too aggressive to any hen that flies into the cockerel pasture, so he will probably not be used in the future, but another one has the most respectful courting behavior, protects any hen that visits from the other two cockerels, watches over her when she is on the nest (one of the silly hens has her nest in the cockerel pasture), then escorts her all over the orchard until she decides to leave (the cockerels have their wings trimmed to keep them in the orchard pasture, the hens can fly over the 8 foot deer fencing at will).

If you find that the cockerels that you get mature into aggressive roosters, you can try selecting against those traits if you have the time and inclination (and no young children in danger), or you can buy birds from private breeders that have already done the basic selection for you. Despite most breeders working towards the same SOP, each of us will have additional things that we consider important and include in our selection process. Some people don't care how mean they are, and others don't tolerate a single attack. So you can ask breeders specifically about any traits that you consider important before you buy.

 

[Sydney Acres]

Good post. I would like to add: http://www.englishhens.co.uk/ and http://www.yellowhousefarmnh.com/index.php

Oh yes, Nick Bohemia in the U.K. and YHF in the U.S. both have excellent educational material on their websites. I would love to get some reds from Nick at The Aymestrey Flock, but unfortunately we are half a world away with very strict import restrictions between us.

 

[Sydney Acres]

Thanks Sydney -this is great information!

My red Dorkings came from Crowfoot Farm in Amissville, VA, and they started their flock with Sandhill Preservation Center stock. I have been told that the red Dorkings will sometimes produce a colored Dorking.

My D's were born on Easter, so they haven't reached the 16-week point quite yet, but the adolescents are beautiful. The Dorkings were the first to forage, and actually prefer foraging to hanging around the feeder more than a few minutes.

The two hens are very clever and quick, but not friendly to humans. I am a bit disappointed in the standoffish-ness of this strain of Dorking,

I got Buckeye chicks as well, also born on Easter, and the Buckeyes grew faster and beat up on the Dorkings... until yesterday (at 15 weeks old), when the biggest Dorking put the dominant Buckeye in his place. Unfortunately, power has gone to the new boss's head and we had to separate him from the entire flock. He was running around taking chunks out of all the chickens today. He is handsome, was first to crow, has bright red comb and wattles, but violent, suspicious roos are out.

I have heard that it is really no use to try to cull based upon adolescent looks because the Dorking develops fully later. I can't keep all the roos around a year to see what they look like as cocks! I may have to just wait for the 20 week point, and take my best shot, or maybe get rid of all roos, and try with a different strain next year.

I am trying to hook up with the swap meet people. Otherwise, some of the roosters are freezer-bound.

I'm not so sure about the RDs producing CDs, and I may be the one who started that rumor. My RDs are from Sandhill. All of the hens had a slightly different "red" color, but two of them were quite darkish and unique, which I thought looked more like imperfect CDs than RDs, despite being sold as RDs. I assumed that some CD chicks had accidentally been shipped, or that some CD breeders had been mixed in with the RDs at Sandhill, but I now think I was wrong. When test breedings were done with these hens using a classic red duckwing rooster, most of the pullets and cockerels were the classic RDs, but some of the pullets and cockerels looked more like unusual CDs, which I thought confirmed my suspicion that CDs had been mixed in. But it turns out that the U.K. version of the red dorking hen is quite different than the U.S. version of the RD hen, and the hens that I thought were CDs are actually a perfect match to the U.K. reds. When I started talking to breeders in the U.K. and Australia, they all felt that my hens were U.K. version reds, and that the reason for the CD appearing cockerels was that the rooster I used had both a gold gene and a silver gene, which gave me both some classic RDs and also some RDs with a CD appearance.

There are several different lines of Red Dorkings in the U.S., and the Sandhill ones do tend to be a bit wilder than the others. Mine are active foragers, run like pheasants, fly like wild turkeys, insist on roosting in trees, hide their eggs, brood 1-3 times a year, are excellent mothers, are protective and watchful roosters, and the hens are so well camouflaged that they are invisible when hiding. So for my free range farm management they are the perfect birds with excellent survival instincts, although they can be frustrating. Many people find them too frustrating, and prefer the lines that aren't quite so wild. Some individuals will be inappropriately anxious or flighty, especially when young, and I don't use those birds for breeding. The anxious hens tend to produce an anxious and aggressive son, in my experience. The calm hens are treasures, and mine are incredibly tame, often getting underfoot or flying onto my shoulder to request attention (which is sweet but can sometimes be frustrating also). The sweet roosters are snuggly lap warmers when they aren't focused on a cute pullet, and love to "help" me in the orchard, picking up any fruit that has fallen off the tree and bringing it to me. But the chicks can be quite independent and have strongly hardwired survival instincts, so they do panic when handled if you don't work with them daily, and didn't start when they were quite young. Even tame chicks and teenagers that don't want to be caught can be crazy wild things, totally different than my fully domesticated show line Speckled Sussex chicks (who wouldn't survive a day free ranging in the woods if I didn't feed them).

They are not fast growers, and at 9 weeks old my Dorking cockerels are 3/4 to 1 pound less than my Speckled Sussex cockerels, but they are also very agile, have already explored the farm, have integrated into the adult flock, understand the importance of watching for hawks, and are starting to develop some good "tree skills" already. On the other hand, the SS are huge but clunky, ungraceful birds that are needy and clueless, although quite sweet and very easy to manage. I have seen 3 of my dorking cockerels that were at the bottom of the pecking order suddenly explode out in retaliation and then become a bully himself, so that behavior has to be controlled. If you have an adult cock with good judgment you can put him in the cockerel pen and he will restore order quickly (don't use an adult who's a bully, as that creates chaos instead of calming everyone down).

Most breeders do their preliminary culls long before a year of age, as there will be some things that will be obvious at 5-6 months old, and some that will be obvious at 7-9 months old, etc. It's not a matter of making a final choice before they are adults, but a matter of whittling down the numbers to concentrate on those that have good potential. I had my 19 cockerels down to 8 by the time they were 5-6 months old, and down to 3 by the time they were 9-10 months old.

Be really careful at swap meets. Be sure to quarantine any birds you bring home, and don't contaminate your property by wearing the same clothes and shoes around the farm after going to the swap meet. There's lots of potential disease that you can bring home if you're not careful.

 

[Fowl Explorer]

Thanks for the info. Those Dorking females are definitely more independent!

I will probably get mine from Glasscoe. She is working with Livestock Breed Conservancy stock and I believe that strain will be more personable. However, I'm keeping the Dorking hens! One 15 week-old hen spends time sitting in front of the cage of 4-6 week old Brabanters and making noises to them. I think it is a good sign of potential broodiness. I will give those who wanted a Dorking roo a chance at them, but my mind is now made up! (Maybe made up of chicken feathers)

 

[DesertChic]

Good post. I would like to add: http://www.englishhens.co.uk/ and http://www.yellowhousefarmnh.com/index.php

Just a head's up on Yellow House Farm....he's getting rid of his Dorkings and will be focusing only on his Anconas after this year.