Editing Dorking chicken (section)

== 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 [[Ancient Rome|Romans]] in the first century AD,{{r|sid|janet}} but it is not known whether the Romans brought poultry with them, nor if they found five-toed poultry when they arrived.{{r|rbst}} 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".{{r|millar|page=342}}

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 (chicken)|Sussex]] in the early part of the twentieth century; it also became popular as an exhibition bird.{{r|dave}} It was among the breeds shown at the first [[poultry show]], at [[London Zoo]] in 1845.{{r|roberts|page=289}}

The Dorking was included in the first [[British Poultry Standard|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]].{{r|1sted}} 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.{{r|dave}} Interest in the breed had decreased rapidly, and it drew close to extinction. The Dorking Club was restarted in 1970.{{r|dave}}

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.{{r|apa}} Three bantam varieties – coloured, silver-grey and rose-comb white – were added in 1960.{{r|apa}}