Dominique

I ve had several LF breeds over the years and the dominique has become my favorite for my barnyard. All breeds have good and bad traits and most will fit in the backyard/barnyard flock. Being on the small side of the large fowl breeds, my doms eat almost half as much as the other large fowl, yet the roos finish very nice for a non cornish X but the hens may be just average layers of medium sized eggs. Still, stingy eaters, voracious foragers, cold hardy, and mostly varmint proof,( very alert and blend in well ) I give the Dominique an A+.

      I traded my mallard ducks for a small flock of Dominiques. I thought it was neat that I could tell the males and females apart while they were still chicks and thus get only one rooster.

      Though I handled them often, they never attached to me as I could have wished. They'll come when I call, "Here cluck, clucks", but they don't care to be held too overly much.

      I got these chickens for their eggs. They did start laying a lot, but they stopped dead before the cold season came in and haven't started up yet. That was a great disappointment.

      My rooster's name was Hancock. I paid especial attention to him as he grew up so that he'd be friendly. But once he grew up I had a little trouble out of him. Whenever I'd go into the coop he'd charge at me. I soon had to carry a stick when I went in there so that I could gather the eggs without him coming at me. Eventually I got him tamed down.....(by locking him up in a little pen whenever he was bad, and playing with his hens in front of him.) He absolutely hated when I picked up any of his hens and would try to jump on me.

       I had originally got six of these chickens when they were young chicks. Within a week one strangely got sick and died even though I tried to help it. The rest grew up to be healthy. When I first put them out in the coup, some dogs got in and killed another. So I was down to four and decided I wanted more chickens. A friend sold me two young barred rocks. I introduced them to the flock and they transferred some sickness to my rooster and two of my hens. They died. Now I'm left with 1 dominique and 2 barred rocks.

I have one Dominique in my mixed flock and she is my favorite. Paula Deen loves treats and has a huge personality. She is more laid-back than my RIRs, but will let you know she should get treats first. She was a foodie from the start hence her name. She is really sweet.  I decided to get one as I learned there are not many of them and they are considered a heritage breed and are critically endangered. 

I have one dominique rooster and he's very friendly, calm and tame. He's also very quiet for a rooster.