Dominique Reviews

After my light Brahma got taken by a cat, I ended up buying two teen Dominiques - named Dottie and Spottie. They're both pretty relaxed animals. I unfortunately didn't raise them as chicks, buying them about eight weeks old. They're still adjusting to me, but don't like to be held. I'm slowly working my way to them. They love the yard and like to eat grass. They like sitting and poking at things within their "nesting" vicinity. They've gotten along with my Easter Egger after a rough week of pecking, and they're all sleeping together. They're a great addition to my flock.

Our Dominique is close to a year old.  She was constantly handled and loved to sit in our laps for love and petting.  she would lightly peck at our pant leg to get us to pick her up, and she would peck at the back door to get us to let her inside.  One day in January, she was sitting with her head down and not moving.  She was clearly sick.  Since she was our favorite I took her to a Avian & Exotic animal vet.  The pumped her up with antibiotics and other fluids and sent me home with two RX's that we had to shove down her throat twice a day for two weeks.  She got well but has never been the same.  She charges us to bit us, and she bits so hard that she breaks the skin; and the wounds are deep.  She is third in the pecking order, and picks on my Speckled Sussex unmersifully.  We can't believe that she would remember the medication drama after all this time.  I wanted to give her away, but my husband won't do it.  It breaks my heart, but i can't be near her because my arms are already scared.  Anyone have had a similar experience.

      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 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+.

When I was buying my chicks 5 years ago, I mentioned to the feed store owner that I wanted friendly birds. A couple overheard the conversation and came over to join. They said “If you want friendly birds, you want Dominiques.” Then they went on about how wonderful the breed is. I wanted variety, so I ended up with a RIR, Australorp, Buff Orp, Easter Egger, and a Dominique. The Dominique became my favorite by far. I lost the Australorp a couple of years ago, but still have the others. They’re all nice, friendly hens, but my Dominique is a true pet. She will walk away from treats to come sit on my lap. She snuggles up to me as close as she can get and loves to have her head scratched, all while making sweet, soft, happy hen sounds. In personality, she reminds me a lot of the hand-raised cockatiel I used to have. Her eggs are only medium sized, but she has been a good layer. At 5 years old, she just started back a couple of weeks ago from her winter break and so far is still laying 2-3 eggs per week. She was the first to lay too. Beat any of the others by over a month. She takes a short break in December/January and then she’s back to work. I'm sure she's bound to be near the end of her "career", but she's such a pet, that I hope I'll have her around for awhile longer.

I use to have a few of these happy birds in our flock as a child. They were the only ones that loved to be around us more then digging in the yard all day. I never had an issue with bad moods from our hens. It's been a long time since I could have more chickens and I'm just moving into a new place and would love to start up with some Doms. I adore this breed. I live in Michigan so if anyone has some babies coming in spring (so now) and are looking to sell or re-home, I'm ready to be a mommy hen again

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

Medium-sized bird that is a very reliable, all-season layer.  Eggs tend to be small to medium-sized, but have yolks that rival large eggs.

As a child, my family had always had chickens--RIR's--and we had more than our fair share of mean roosters out of them! So, when my city-boy husband said he wouldn't mind some chickens, I said, No RIR's! (Don't hate me all you RIR fans out there--I've just been flogged too many times by RIR roos!) I did a lot of research based on the criteria we agreed on--brown egg layer, cold-hardy, not broody, good temperment. The Doms had all these traits, plus their wonderful, naturally-camoflauged coloring that protects them to some degree from predators, especially flying ones. You would think that a flock of black and white chickens with bright red combs would really stand out on a green lawn, but sometimes they have to move before I see them! We also liked the fact that they are kind of rare now, and that we are preserving a piece of history by having them.

Our roo wasn't mean as a general rule, but began to be overly protective of the food and water.  He was very good to his hens, though--letting them have the choicest treats first and putting himself between them and danger (they were all chased by a neighbors dog one day, and I when I caught up to them, our roo was standing between the dog and his hens!).

I don't know if I would describe them as aloof or standoffish. They aren't lapdogs, but if I'm sitting out on my deck--especially if I'm eating something--it won't be long before I have a couple of hens perched on the arms of my chair! We can pick them up and pet them, and if they aren't exactly thrilled by it, they also don't fight or peck you for it either. Our cat is the same way, so....

I'm not sure about classifying their eggs as medium either. I use egg cartons for large eggs, and almost all of our eggs fit the spaces or are even too big for them. They did begin with small eggs, like any new bird does.

Since then, we have gotten a couple of Australorps, whom I am also very fond of, and a Silver-Laced Wyandotte that I am not fond of, as she is a crazy thing that acts like we're trying to eat her every time we come near her. So, I have to say, the Doms are my very favorites.

1 beautiful Dominique hen.

Easy to care for, strickingly attractive in large groups because of their uniform color / barring. Great mamas, super friendly, talkitive, but roos can be a handful during breeding because of their size.

This is a very loving and hearty breed. They follow me everywhere and eat out of my hands. They also love to be scratched right above their shoulder area.

I know I shouldn't choose favorites, but my 3 Dominique hens really are my favorite chickens. Each one of them has tons of personality. One will peck my pants until I go and get a treat. Another will be sneaky and get around behind me and peck my butt (while the first one is still pecking my pants) until I get a treat for them. 

They each lay 4-5 eggs/wk and are very friendly, they even come up on the driveway to greet me when I'm trying to back my car out (in the summer). I often have to get out and shoo the chickens away from the car so that they're not dead chickens.

Dominiques are very calm birds, they don't get scared easily. Unfortunately, my one Dominique often likes to go off by herself. So I'll look out the window and I'll see eight chickens. An hour or so later, there'll still be eight chickens. At this point I'll realize that the one hen isn't nesting so then I have to go out and find her. After fifteen minutes or so I'll find her just kind of standing in a bush eating raspberries or something. It gives me a scare every time because I keep thinking, 'A hawk got her, she's dead this time.' Then I'll find her just sitting in a bush calmly eating bugs or berries and I'll admit, I get kind of mad. She makes up for it, though. 

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. 

Love the size of these birds.  Not as big as a standard but not as small as a Bantam.  Great egg production, dual purpose and they don't eat me out of house or home.