The Controversial Black Dorking

A beautiful Black Dorking pullet.

The Controversial Black Dorking

Dylan Barile

At one point in history, Dorkings came in many color varieties that were never admitted in the the American Standard of Perfection. As a matter of fact, Dorkings were kept in just about every color as were Old English Games. The two breeds were often crossed for a commercial hybrid meat bird. Farmers and fanciers alike came up with colors such as Dark Birchen Grey, Brown Red, Spangled, Pyle, and about a half a dozen different varieties of Red, to name just a few. In this historical though non-standard lineup, also appeared solid colors like Buff (probably Black-Tailed) and Black.

My first thought when starting with Dorkings was to solely focus on the recognized varieties. I thought I would have my hands full if I were to maintain the standard varieties (6 if you count the 2 comb types of the Cuckoo, which I still have yet to acquire), but I, like most poultry folks, usually have room for just one more pen of birds. So I jumped into Black Dorkings. The birds grew fast and are hardy, vigorous, and productive. The pullets, who are proving themselves to be great layers, laid maybe 3 small “pullet eggs” each before shifting into the large and extra-large territory.

The Black Dorking is still not not an APA sanctioned standard variety though she has been around for quite a long time. In 1850, The New England Farmer, a popular publication, talked of the Black Dorking (along with Fawns and Speckled) being a “mongrel race” but we'll ignore that opinion for now. In 1866, The Rhode Island Society for the Encouragement of Domestic Industry, noted trios of Black Dorkings on exhibit at one of their annual shows. Since I keep Coloreds and have for about 5 years, I should say that they occasionally throw black or nearly black offspring which the Germans call “Dunkel” (Dark). These are almost always females. In 1871, William M. Lewis, in The People's Practical Poultry Book, tells us that “The Black Dorkings are said to be of large size, and of a jet black color, the neck feathers of some cocks are tinged with a bright gold color and some of the hens bear a silvery complexion”. It ought also be mentioned that some old time cockers would call these birds black regardless of their colored hackle. Lewis goes on to say that “Their combs are usually double, and very short, though sometimes cupped, rose, or single”. I'm not really sure what double meant then, but according to my friend and Dorking expert, Craig Russell, “cupped” probably implied rose with a large pit or indentation in it, although not like that of the Buttercup. This would be a disqualification today. There are no “cupped” combs in my flock, but the rose combs truly need a great deal of work.

As with any selection, I culled for size and type first. I guess we can inadvertently add a few combs to this culling regimen because most of the poorest combs were on the smaller birds anyway. All of the pullets that had good weight and fair type made the cut regardless of comb quality. There were 4 cockerels that survived preliminary culling to adolescence (six months old). One cockerel was huge compared to his brethren, though his comb only had 4 or 4.5 true points. Craig always told me that “Fewer than 5 points is usually too sparse, and generally, more than 6 are too crowded.” he also went on to say that “As long as the comb compliments the bird's size and is a beautiful comb, (meaning no thumb marks, not flopped, it is well proportioned, etc) points don't matter as much.”. Essentially, the comb needs to fit the bird.

Black Dorking Cock showing the white smut that comes with clean white legs.

I kept this first male as the the main breeding male in the flock. There was one rose comb male and his comb was fair but he was about 2 pounds under the largest of the 4 males so he had to go. I chose to keep the largest of the remaining two males. This one happened to have a nice comb and white legs though they were smutty-white (plates 4 and 5). I kept this male only as my flock's backup breeder. Ideally I would like a pure black bird with pure white legs, but like all of the Dorkings available today, there are the other more pressing issues of size and type, of course not to mention earlobes, egg color/finish, feather width, and toes, though toes should probably fall under “type”.

The Blacks, though now teetering on the edge of extinction, were fairly prevalent in England and North America for quite sometime. They were most likely never petitioned to be admitted into either Standard, and this is certainly attributed to one main issue- PRIDE.

All varieties of Dorkings in both the American and English standard have white legs. This is not so with the Blacks, Dark Birchen Greys, Brown Reds, and maybe a few others but we can cover them in another article. Whenever the old time breeders would start to drum up support for admitting the Blacks into the Standard, they were usually divided into two camps. One camp wanting the Blacks to be standardized with black legs and the other with white. Now, I'm not saying one way is right and the other is wrong, but what I will tell you is that one way is a heck of a lot easier and more economical than the other. Here enters PRIDE. The black-legged camp maintained, and rightfully so, that the black legged bird was far easier to breed because you didn't have to contend with the obnoxious white or light gray/slate under color and outright white feather color that will show up at every, and I do mean every, turn. Most of these breeders didn't object to the black legs because you could tell it was a Dorking by size and type regardless of leg color and that was the important thing, plus a solid black bird is more beautiful than one with white showing through. Let's simply face the fact that it is damn near impossible to breed a white-skinned, jet-black bird with white legs. In my flock, the few birds that had white legs also had the most white showing in overall feathering, not only in under color but at the base of the tail and a bit in the wings (these were all culled except for the backup cockerel).

Black Dorking Cockerel with clean, jet black plumage and dark legs.

The second camp held the Dorking elite, the Dorking purists if you will. This camp, for the most part, believed that because the Dorking was a Dorking it had to have white legs, period. If you had to battle white under color then so be it. It is hard to argue that white legs on a black bird are not dramatically beautiful. These folks had such passion, love, and fervor for the Dorking they would not allow it to be “watered-down” or “mongerelized” by standardizing legs of any color other than pure white. Many of these people believed that you had real chickens, the Dorkings and maybe the Games, and then you had everything else. Craig has told me that these folks often said of Sussex and Orpingtons “The only good thing about them are their names, if that, and since both of these breeds are just mongrel Dorkings, why don't you just keep Dorkings?”. Both the Sussex and Orpington have black (or birchen in Sussex) variants with black legs, not white. Of course you could include the Minorcas and maybe one or two others with white skin here too. These passionate Dorking folks believed their birds were special and would never minimize their Dorkings by comparing them to what they considered mongrel trash like Sussex or Orpingtons. I, like the folks in the first camp, made the decision to focus on the solid black plumage with no white under color showing, and not the white legs. I know it is possible to achieve a nice solid black bird without black legs, take the Wyandotte, Plymouth Rock, and Leghorn but these of course have yellow skin and legs, not white... a whole different ball game.

If you have the space and finances (enter ease and economy), you could probably hatch a few hundred each year and select for white legs and jet-black plumage, but I don't think the problem of white under color would ever disappear. You would have to raise far too many to find too few with clean white legs and solid black plumage and the excess white plumage would still probably show up. One way or another there will be a controversy. Black legs on striking, solid black birds OR clean, pure white legs on birds with some white in the plumage; neither are good but the black legs are most certainly the lesser of the two evils. Standardizing the white leg would make a challenging thing even more challenging. Now, who wants to join me and start keeping Black Dorkings? I promise it will be worth it.