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Dorking By: Myra Crane The Dorking chicken is one of the oldest chicken breeds. They are thought to have originated in Italy, and then introduced into Great Britain by the Romans, possibly with Julius Caesar. England is where they were developed the most into what they are today. It is also believed that Dorkings where the first chicken breed to be brought to the Americas by our American ancestors. Since then, Dorkings have been used to create Light Sussex, Favorelles, and some other breeds.
There are many different types of Dorkings. Silver Gray, White and Colored were first introduced in a poultry show in 1845 and admitted into the APA in 1874. Red Dorkings were admitted into the APA in 1995 and Cuckoo's admitted in 1998. There are other colorations of Dorkings that are non-standard and are becoming endangered. These include Black, Brown red, Creole, Dark Birchen Gray, Light Gray, Spangled, Speckled and Wheaten Dorking.
White Dorking roosters weigh about 7 1/2 lbs. The hens weigh about 6 lbs. Silver Gray and colored weigh slightly more than Roosters at 9lbs and Hens at 7 lbs. They are all known to have white skin and 5 toes. The unusual thing about them is that they have red earlobes but lay white eggs.
They have short legs, a square body, and large single combs or a rose comb. They were developed for their fine quality of meat, making a nice table bird, yet they are good layers also.
Hens are known to lay an average of 140 eggs a year. Hens are good at going broody and make great mothers and are also know to be very docile. The roosters are known to be very protective of their flock.
Since the single comb roosters have very large combs, keeping them outside in cold weather can be dangerous since their combs will freeze. All around, they are very pretty and a good bird to have. ©Copyright 2003
The Gander Gab
*all information contained
was gathered from several sources
and combined for learning purposes
on The Gander Gab.
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