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DORKING BOOK!
DORKINGS in NEW ZEALAND
The value of publishing DORKING, POULTRY, FOWLS & CHICKENS is that the world shrinks and fellow Dorking enthusiasts touch base! And in February 2006, Liselle did so. While she hasn't established a network with all New Zealand breeders she has made a fabulous web of contacts. Here is some of her story and an update on the Dorking in New Zealand.
more NZ pictures courtesy of Liselle!!
[added July 2006]
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v27/seaweed7/DSC01007.jpg
"I just received your Dorking book in the mail and it is wonderful. I notice you say that Dorkings are supposed to have died out in New Zealand by 2003. I have some Dorkings I got from a very well known poultry judge in Kaitaia. I live in Dunedin. He apparently got them from a guy in Wellington who has been breeding them for ages. I showed them at the local poultry show last May (2005) and there was one other pair there. My roo beat his hands down but his hen beat mine as mine is not nicely coloured. There is also a guy in Christchurch who has Dorkings. I spoke to him the other day and he "thinks" he has some cream ones. I also had a guy from somewhere on the east coast of the North Island ring me as he has some which are weak and he wanted to improve his line. Oh and I do have a 4 toed Dorking hen I got from a guy up in Geraldine although he is selling/has sold his flock. Out of the breeders on the rare breeds web site, I am the only one who still has them.
"I have also discovered a lady near Timaru called Ann Steele. She has lots of poultry breeds. She is sending me a couple of silver grey pullets. Hopefully they will be of OK quality. They are not expensive. From what I can tell, hers come from the guy in Christchurch who has Hensville. Although she did tell me that her roo got killed in a fight last year so one of her friends got another from down here somewhere."
So there are obviously Dorking breeders throughout New Zealand, and decent interest in the breed. Liselle continues, "Firstly the other guy who had Dorkings at our poultry show said he got his from the guy who brought them into the country. My understanding is they were one of the original breeds of chook here so I think they must have been lost and re-imported. Or maybe re-imported to improve the lines. Mine lay quite well. As well as any of the other chooks I have. Granted I have no brown shavers or leghorns but still, they hold their own in egg production. They also lay in the winter which my others don't."
With the small number of folk involved in breeding Dorkings in New Zealand, Liselle is keen to chat with any one about breeding, she goes onto to say, "The other thing was the heavy poultry judge at the show said I should breed as many as I can or we would loose them as a breed. I sold a trio this year to one of the poultry club who lives in town. He'd originally taken them to an A&P show to sell them on behalf for me but decided to keep them for himself. They were not show quality colourwise but were good shapes and sizes. Although I got an email from him the other day saying the roo is slightly cow hocked so I need to look out for that. This guy is going to put a motion to the local poultry club that we have a class in our show for Dorkings. Rather than them going into the AOV heavy breeds variety." In Australia, a class dedicated to Dorkings is rarer than the breed itself, however, most clubs look favourably on such requests if a handful of exhibitors will make a commitment to support the class.
Liselle can be contacted via email (I now don't include dynamic links to email addresses as this is the main way these email addresses are lifted from websites for spam attack - you need to manually copy the email into your address book!)
All photos this page copyright Liselle, above the flock, below a couple of the issues facing New Zealand breeders in 2006, the light coloured pullet handled by Liselle's oldest daughter Alanna, and below the yellow legs on the the pullet and small white flecks in the rooster's breast - faults found around the world in Silver Grey Dorkings.
Liselle's Dorkings 2005