trying to pin down what would go into making a "colored Dorking"

[Sonoran Silkies]

Dorking are silver with an autosomal gene that adds red. The gene that causes the red in salmon faverolle is called Dk a red pigment enhancing gene. Salmon faverolle are silver wheaten and the colored dorking is wild type. The trouble with red enhancers is that they a quirky and you do not always get the same expression in birds. I have seen this in my birds.

Tim

I thought salmon was silver wheaten plus mahogany? And are you saying that coloured dorkings are essentially the same as salmon, with the e-allele changed?

 

[Illia]

I thought salmon was silver wheaten plus mahogany? And are you saying that coloured dorkings are essentially the same as salmon, with the e-allele changed?

x2


If someone is actually getting these coloreds to breed true, they're either Cream/Dilute or indeed the same as Salmon (except duckwing)

 

[DaveK]

i would disagree that the colored is a golden/yellow... the color has and should breed true each and every time. colored hens are distinct from red or silver hens, as are the cocks.

I guess to pin it down I'm just going to have to wait until i get my birds and grow them out and start getting chicks, and i won't cross breed birds, just to produce a color that already exists in the breed.

Craig Russell has had way more experience with the variety than any of us. He wrote an excellent and very involved article for an APA Yearbook that has been sent to a number of those who were interested. One thing stressed is that because we are dealing with red/gold modifiers the male color isn't going to breed 100% true in it's expression of those modifiers. They are a base color somewhat similar to golden which means too much and they tend towards red, too little and the cocks become silvery and too light. Hackle and saddle striping are characteristics of the colored cock and the hens according to eye and poultry geneticist Krys Brennand (recent correspondence) are being influenced by melanising factors. All of this is explained in Craig's article. When we had them we were able to get true coloreds and the hens (who can have somewhat of a range of patterns) did breed very true within their own family. They were not the very, very dark APA Standard version. The cocks were pretty good about breeding true which is all any of us can expect. Always had the hackle/saddle striping and because I admire and believe in straw colored hackles/saddles and richly colored backs there was always the effort to keep the richly colored cock bird. But with those birds we were able to do it without raising a million. Somehow cocks more golden duckwing than anything have become the visual representative for this variety. That basic ground color heads towards the right idea but may not be rich enough and somehow these birds lack the striping. I can only guess as to what has happened and is going on there. I do know for a fact that the colored cock bird, being middle of the road between silver and red, is going to vary in it's expression of "in between". But should still be basically a colored Dorking male. It might just be that neglect and possibly some poorly handled color crosses have given us a bad deal at the moment. For those that like them obtaining the best of what is available and then charging full steam ahead with a program that will allow for selection may bring them back. One thing about the old colored stock is that they were often huge, very handsome and imposing birds. Well worth the effort.

 

[ki4got]

Thanks Dave, I think you had sent that to me a while back. I'll have to go back and look for it again.

and while it does discuss some factors of the color, I don't think it has exactly what i was looking for. but i guess with time I'll figure it out for sure.

 

[emcn77]

Sorry to crash an old post...I'm new to the Dorking development. I'm currently working on developing Silver Grey Dorkings and know very little, except that the standard is way off. I'm looking for quality stock, and have searched all over. One seller I contacted in Canada has some Silver Greys that he's been working with for 10 years and is willing to ship hatching eggs. However, he states that sometimes the hens "have a black chick" and that is best rooster for size is a Silver Grey that "has reddish hue to him" but he uses since he's large. Can I work with this stock?