Английская Википедия:Dorking chicken

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The Dorking is a British breed of domestic chicken.Шаблон:R It is named after the town of Dorking, in Surrey in southern England.Шаблон:R

History

The Dorking is among the oldest British chicken breeds. It has sometimes been suggested that it derives from five-toed (rather than the usual four-toed) chickens brought to Britain by the Romans in the first century AD,Шаблон:R but it is not known whether the Romans brought poultry with them, nor if they found five-toed poultry when they arrived.Шаблон:R The Roman writer Columella, active at that time, mentions five-toed hens as being the best breeding-stock: "they are reckoned the most generous which have five toes".Шаблон:R

The Dorking originated in the southern home counties in south-east England, and is named after the market town of Dorking, in Surrey, from where birds were sent to the markets of London. It was the principal meat breed supplied to the metropolis until it was displaced by the Sussex in the early part of the twentieth century; it also became popular as an exhibition bird.Шаблон:R It was among the breeds shown at the first poultry show, at London Zoo in 1845.Шаблон:R

The Dorking was included in the first poultry standard, The Standard of Excellence in Exhibition Poultry, edited by William Bernhardt Tegetmeier and published in 1865 by the original Poultry Club of Great Britain.Шаблон:R In the late nineteenth century, separate breed societies formed for the various colour varieties; two of these merged to form the Dorking Club, and a Scottish Dorking Club also formed. By about the time of the Second World War, none of these remained active.Шаблон:R Interest in the breed had decreased rapidly, and it drew close to extinction. The Dorking Club was restarted in 1970.Шаблон:R

Three colour varieties – coloured, silver-grey and white – were included in the first Standard of Perfection of the American Poultry Association in 1874; the red was added in 1995.Шаблон:R Three bantam varieties – coloured, silver-grey and rose-comb white – were added in 1960.Шаблон:R

Characteristics

The Dorking has a rectangular body with short, five-toed legs. As with all single comb poultry, the comb points may require protection in extremely cold weather. Dorkings are well known for their versatility as a breed for both egg and meat production. It is one of the few breeds with red earlobes that produces a white-shelled egg. The skin colour beneath the feathers is white. The weight is Шаблон:Convert for cocks, Шаблон:Convert for cockerels and Шаблон:Convert for hens.Шаблон:R There are five recognised colour varieties: white, silver-grey, red, dark and cuckoo.Шаблон:R

Gallery

• Illustrations by Harrison Weir
• Coloured Dorking

  Coloured Dorking

• White Dorking

  White Dorking

• Red Dorkings

  Red Dorkings

• Prize Dark Dorkings

  Prize Dark Dorkings

See also

• Dorking Cockerel, public art in Dorking, England that depicts the Dorking chicken

Further reading

• Thomas William Sturges (1911). The Poultry Manual: A Complete Guide for the Breeder and Exhibitor, second edition. London: Macdonald and Evans.