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It is interesting that your are also Sand Hill Reds Yes, the temperament was one of the things that drew me to this breed. Had it not been for the testimonies from you folks on this thread, I would have tossed these guys out a long time ago! Plus I found hope with the second line of Red...

BGMatt - I have had the same issue with my Red Dorkings that I got from Sand Hill a couple years back. Once the feathers start to show up on their backs, necks and behinds, they start to pick to crap out of each other. I have lost so many chicks due to this issue. I too have had chickens for...

FYI for any folks who do not frequent the Facebook scene. Jimmy Dean Parker, president of a now struggling national Dorking Breeders Club has made this request on Facebook: “Great afternoon fellow Dorking enthusiasts! I have finally finished school and am catching up on chicken stuff. I need...

I have only had Dorkings for a couple years now, but I have had the opportunity to dress out several Dorking cockerels and a rooster and was amazed at the difference between this breed and my Doms. The Dorkings were much easier to dress out (pluck & eviscerate) and produced a clean, plump...

"Spartan" - very little frills; just an open wire coop with enough cover to protect the feed and roost (sorta); no light or heat....

I agree that the Dorkings do not like to be crowded but I have found that they do fairly well as trios in my larger tractors (4'X6' & 5'X8'). Funny, but keeping a Dorking roo, 2 Dorking hens and 2-3 Dom hens together is much easier than keeping just the roo and 3 or more Dorking hens together...

All my birds are now in chicken tractors. Since free-ranging is not a wise option for my birds (the pred population here is horrible), the tractors were the next best option for me. They are small and "Spartan" but all my chooks seem to thrive in them.

LOL! Hopefully it is not (quite) that bad. Just sell your stock locally and be honest about it. If someone is looking to add to an existing flock, you would not want to sell them stock from your flock even though, odds are, their flock has it too....

I believe that this is why raising and protecting our Heritage breeds is SO IMPORTANT! The reason that commercial poultry growers are so paranoid about any disease is that they cannot keep their overly inbred stock in such deplorable stressful conditions and squeeze out every drop of...

Will not go into Doms on this thread, but I will say that the Dorkings I got from Sand Hill were/are extremely flighty and aggressive - not what is the typical temperament for the breed. It is interesting that you find the same "issues" with your Sand Hill Doms....Hmmm....not sure what they are...

Another very good source for breed info is the ALBC (American Livestock Breed Conservancy, www.albc-usa.org ). They have a Chicken Breed Comparison chart that is excellent! You may also want to add the American Dominique to your "short list". They are not only good foragers, calm & hardy -...

I have made my first culling of my first hatch this season. Based on the chicks’ size & foot structure, I whittled down my first hatch from 25 to 14 nice Red Dorkies (& the 2 Doms). The culls went to my local feed store where the owner is deciding on if he wants to keep the bitties for himself...

I went through my 25 Reds today and it appears that only 5 are male based on the markings. They have all been banded, photo-ed and recorded, so I will find out how well I "guessed" on their genders. Love that pic, above. After my lovely young "assistant" and I were finished with my bunch...

Thanks! I will try to do that!

Also, I have posted pics of all my 2013 breeding Dorkings here on BYC - can someone here help me figure out how to post a link to that album? Still learning the tricks of the thread....

Finally! I have chicks! 25 beautiful chicks out of flocks "B", "C" & "CC" There are also 2 Dominique chicks in the pile, just for comparison

If you are doing it for the money (profit) that would probably make you a hatchery; and we all know that is a whole ‘nother ball o’ wax!

Nice print but there are some big discrepancies with our Red SOP. I am not sure, but I believe the while ear lobe was not even ideal for the old English standard. On the other hand, it looks a lot like what you might see on my farm right now....

Wing bands – what size bands work best with Dorkings and what is the earliest age you can band them? It would be best for record keeping to be able to do it as early as possible, but would a wing band as big as one needed for an adult Dorking be too cumbersome for a day or two old chick? Leg...

In my 20 years of keeping chickens, last year a young Red Dorking hen did something that NONE of my Dominiques could ever pull off.... She successfully hatched a clutch of eggs, on the ground! She had her very protective rooster in the pen with her too. In this neck of the woods, a nest on the...