Classic Dorkings

The Classic Dorking or Darking Chicken

by Dorene M. Lorenz

History 

Dorkings are recognized as the only purely British breed, possibly the oldest pure breed lineage,

 and historically have served as foundation stock.  The Light Sussex and Faverolles are two breeds which boast of having Dorking blood in their ancestry.

 While most giant poultry originated in Asia, there is no real evidence that Dorkings have Asiatic blood.

Although they are classified as an English bird by the American Poultry Association, Dorkings have their own unique history with strong Italian and American ties. 

A five-toed rooster with plumage typical of Dorkings accompanies the god Mercury in a third century AD mosaic found in Carnuntum, the Roman capital of the Pannonian Province on the Danube, known now as Austria.  

While Julius Caesar was reigning over the Roman Empire, Italian writer Columella  described chickens closely resembling Dorkings in his text Rei rusticae libri.  He described the breed as "square-framed, large and broad-breasted, with big heads and small upright combs...the purest breed being five-clawed."  

The Dorking remained a prominent breed in Italy for some time, Ulisse Aldrovandi, an agricultural historian of the Italian Renaissance, referred to the White Dorking as an ancient fowl.

The Roman armies brought this versatile fowl with them as they made their way north to England.  The city of Dorking was known in the seventh century as the settlement of 'Deorc Ingas', or the place where Deorc's people lived, and the regular discovery of Roman pottery and other artifacts supports that it may haven been a Roman settlement on Stane Street, the main highway from London to Chichester on the English Channel.

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During the reign of Queen Victoria, Dorking’s poultry market was the largest in England. The Dorking breed’s very white, fine-grained, flavorful and juicy

breast meat was favored by the Queen, who was also partial to the delicate texture of their eggs.

Today, this Surrey city delights in its heritage with a ten-foot high steel statue of a Dorking cockerel located on the Deepdene roundabout.  The esteemed bird also graces their coat-of-arms.

Dorkings first appeared in the 1845 British Poultry Show, and immediately bounced across the pond.  The Dorking has a long history in America, coming over with early settlers. Many  early American homesteads benefitted from the superior qualities of the Dorking, and the Silver Dorking variety was developed in America in the 19th century.

Captain Morgan of the London packet ship Victoria, attempted for several years to import the birds to America, and finally succeeded with the assistance of a former passenger, Dorking clergyman, Mr. Courtney, in 1847. 

Morgan sent a note with the birds, apologizing for the high price, suggesting: "The chicken breeders of Dorking have adopted a sort of principle, that they will send away no birds alive, except capons, as they desire to retain them as much as possible amongst themselves, in which, by caponizing, they carry on quite a profitable trade, and they can only be had by particular favor. They have very much improved them of late years. The old white sort is altogether bred out, and the speckled and grey varieties are now all the rage. They are larger and better formed than they formerly were, and altogether are perhaps the best barn-door fowls in existence, at least these people so esteem them."  

Capt. Morgan arrived in America with a noble cock and five superb pullets of the Dorking breed. Morgan bragged that the pullets laid nearly the whole voyage, a feat unmatched by any other breed of fowls crossing the Atlantic with him.

Today Dorkings are one of the most recognizable breeds of chickens in the world.  Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia’s Frontier Culture Museum and Massachusetts’ Plimoth Plantation's Rare Breeds program include Dorkings

 as they were one of the most common fowl in America prior to the Civil War.  Dorkings have become a “threatened” breed according to the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy.

Characteristics

There are two forms of combs allowed in the breed:  the rose comb which evolved in the north, and the single comb which was developed in the south.

 Early American breeders crossed the Dorking with the Cornish or Indian Game to create an early maturing table fowl with fine quality meat.

Dorkings may need separation from more aggressive breeds, as they are very docile, and known to be shy, gentle and easily tamed.  They are fond of being petted, and though far from cowardly, are not at all pugnacious.

The Dorking are one of the most hardy and durable birds in existence.

 Rose-combed varieties thrive in colder climates, live in a colder coop, and can bear being penned up in a darker space with a roof.  Although all types do very well in confinement if the enclosure has several nesting spots, they do best with a lot of space, preferring to free range over large areas.  With high quality feed, and good care, they mature at two years-old and live up to seven years.

Appearance

The rather large but fine head usually has a fairly big, evenly serrated, single comb, tending to lop at the back in laying hens, ending on a full-feathered, rather short but graceful neck.  Because the single comb is relatively large, these birds need protection in cold weather to avoid frostbite.

The rose-combed Dorkings, have a rather crude comb that is broad in front and tapers off into a spike or leader, projecting almost horizontally backwards.

The bird’s build is elongated, with a broad, wide, deep and projecting breast. The line of their back is practically horizontal, ending in a tail of medium high carriage creating a somewhat ‘rectangular’ shape, which is more rounded rather than flat or square.  The port is usually majestic, and a pleasing, quiet air of good breeding pervades their general appearance.

Their fine, unusually short, pinkish-white legs end in unfeathered feet with five instead of the usual four toes, making for a low stand.  The fifth toe can contribute to foot problems, which can be avoided by using large, low perches.  Birds with four toes often appear among hatchlings and should not be bred, although they still make friendly and interesting pets.

  

Dorkings have brilliant red-mahogany eyes.  They are one of the few breeds that produce white-shelled eggs while displaying red earlobes, combs, and wattles.    They all have white skin.  Their fairly long tail is carried well spread; for such a large, broad, heavy, and thick soft-feathered breed  they are good flyers.

   

Color Phases

In 1874, the American Poultry Association admitted the Silver Gray, Colored and White varieties into the American Standard of Perfection. The Red Dorking, one of the most ancient of the color varieties, was not admitted until 1995. 1998 saw the admission of both the RC Cuckoo and the SC Cuckoo. The Dorking Breeders Club is working toward admission of several other old color varieties.

Silver grey and colored adult cocks reach nine pounds, cockerels eight, hens seven, and pullets six.  Well fatted, capons can go as high as 12 lbs., and during the 19th century were preferred in England to all other breeds for capons.  White Dorkings are somewhat smaller, with the cocks averaging seven pounds and the hens six.

The most common variety is the silver grey or silver partridge.  They are a strikingly handsome bird, often referred to as the traditional Norman Rockwell-style of chicken with pure white hackles and saddle on the cocks, with a black cowl and underparts.  They have a single bright red cockscomb.  Hens have a delicate slate-grey colored back with pencilled darker markings a salmon breast, and hackles which are silver striped with black.  The dark is a darker shade of grey with a black crescent and a salmon breast. 

The Red Dorking is similar to the silver grey, but is a very dark red mahogany with a black crescent on the breast and back.  Hens have a bright fold head and neck, heavily striped with black, and a rich salmon front which shades to golden brown to blend with the body color on the sides.

White Dorkings, or partridge-coloured white, are a pure white with no straw tinge. 

The Cuckoo variety can have either a single or rose comb. The overall appearance of the feathers is slate.  All sections of the bird have feathers crossed by irregular light and dark bars that are short of positive black and white, each feather tipped with a dark bar. Male may be one or two shades lighter than the female.

Colored males have a pale grey head dominated by a single comb.  The neck and saddle have light straw-colored feathers with a wide black stripe extending down the middle of each feather and terminating in point.  The front, wings, coverts, breast, body, and cape is black, and the back is  black-laced round the end with straw.  The main tale and coverts are a lustrous black with greenish-black sickles.  Hens have black heads and necks, which are banded with a narrow edging of straw color, which matches their shafts.  The front is a dark salmon edged in black.  The tail is a dark brown penciled with gray on the surface and black on the inside.

In its long history, many color varieties have been developed and have their advocates, including spangled, Japan, red speckle, penciled, black and fawn. Dorkings are also available as  bantam.

The chicks can be very difficult to sex for they look are very similar on hatching. It is not until they get their first adult feathering and either have a red or black breast that the difference is clear.

Egg Production

Dorkings are excellent layers, producing three eggs a week or around 140 eggs per annum.   They lay well, earning a three-egg rating from Henderson, although their medium-sized eggs may be either cream coloured or tinted, tending to have a more pinkish rather than a brownish tinge to it. 

They tend to lay more eggs in the spring and summer rather than the winter and the fall. The Dorking lays well for the first few years but is noted for being exceptionally broody if given the opportunity.  At times entire flocks have been known to refuse to lay, preferring to set on eggs to incubate them.

Glenn Drowns flock from Sand Hills Preservation Center in Iowa is recorded to be exceptional layers and being hardy even at temperatures of 25 below zero.    They are known for being the best of nurses.

Meat Production

Dorking meat is excellent, being lean and tender.  In 2009, the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy, Humane Farm Animal Care, Slow Food U.S.A, Chefs Collaborative and Ayrshire Farm, held a first-ever heritage Chicken Choosin’.

 The event was designed to highlight the culinary value of the rare chickens, and the people’s choice was hands down the Dorking.  Organically raised Dorking was found to be lovely to look at with sumptuous flavor in both the light and dark meat. It was also credited with having some of best textured breast and thigh muscling in the entire Chicken Choosin’ taste test.  A heavily fleshed  bird, the Dorking gives a large, full-flavored carcass with a large breast that is very lightly boned for its  size.  A famous recipe associated with the Dorking is  Surrey Roast Chicken.

In the 1847 edition of American agriculturist it was suggested that, “There is one peculiarity with the true Dorking chicken  which we have not observed in other breeds, namely: at about six weeks to three months old, they fully develope the shape and style of the grown bird, being then remarkably heavy and compact in the body, and are thus early fit for the table; and with good feed they get very fat like a young China pig. They then, for the next month or two, stretch out in length of leg and body generally, and do not get into compact shape again till nearly grown, when they develope their deep, full breaste, and long, broad, round bodies, in that superior degree, for which they are deemed so valuable by all gourmands who are so partial to their flesh.”

In 1976, the Dorking Club of North America was founded in order to locate breeders of the Dorkings and assure the survival of the breed.  Rarely seen at Poultry Shows, a Dorking Production group took Best of Show honors at the 2009 Alaska State Fair.  The Dorkings came from Sterling Meadows Hatchery, reside at the Alaska Hamptons, and are owned by the author.  Their names are Chaz, Fleta, Tilly and Ethel.