Lately I’ve been trying to spend more time with the chickens because they should be full grown in January and we have to decide which roosters we will keep. We have nine roosters and eight hens. The extra roosters will become dinner. Dave wants to just keep one of the red dorking roosters. I want one of each – a red, a black and a colored dorking.

Above and below is either a red or colored dorking hen. We have three of these.  We got our chicks from Sand Hill Preservation Center. They all made it through the mail – from Iowa to Virginia – and we haven’t had any losses. However, they told us they sent us six blacks, ten reds and one colored. Check on the six blacks and we know we’ve got five red roosters. We have three roosters that we think are colored based on the description on their website. Our three straw colored hens don’t look as dark as the red dorking photos I’ve seen online. I just don’t know enough to identify them for sure. In the end it really doesn’t matter as long as they provide us with eggs and meat.

Above is the black dorking rooster. I love his rose comb. He is the only black rooster we have.  Of our eight hens five are black. This guy is on the small side and I’ve yet to hear him crow. Speaking of crowing – they have been making quite a racket throughout the day. So far none of the neighbors have complained…to us.

Above is a black dorking hen and a colored dorking rooster.

We think we have three colored dorking roosters. I’ve decided which one I want to keep and this guy isn’t it. I think this is the one that has a really high pitched crow.

Above is a red dorking rooster. We have five of these and they all look alike to us.

Above is a good representative of the three types of dorking roosters we have. From left to right – red, black and colored. This is the colored dorking rooster I want to keep. He seems the most comfortable with us. His head is more straw colored whereas with the other two are more white or silvery.

We like that they like to scratch around in the compost pile.