Dominique Thread!

[gootziecat]

How are Dom's at eating ticks? Most chickens I've had won't touch a tick.
Sylvester 017, where did you get your Doms? My experience with Doms hasn't been as good as yours.

 

[PheasantsFirst]

Not very good pictures but they'll work. Here are my six Dominiques, hatched in April. Some may be pictures twice.

 

[Alaskan]

Our Dominiques have been very good at clearing away caterpillars climbing the trunks or living among the roots of our fruit trees; they also harvest the June drop and other fallen fruit. We had a couple of patches of weeds - but the Dominiques have been great helpers in clearing them out. The other day one appeared to be chasing a hummingbird under the belief that this must be the world's largest *bug.*

 

[Delight in Dominiques]

How are Dom's at eating ticks? Most chickens I've had won't touch a tick.
Sylvester 017, where did you get your Doms? My experience with Doms hasn't been as good as yours.

. I think I remember you from the Fredrick Show. If you are going this year, and you let me know I will bring some of this years
LF Doms for you to have. John

 

[Sylvester017]

How are Dom's at eating ticks? Most chickens I've had won't touch a tick.
Sylvester 017, where did you get your Doms? My experience with Doms hasn't been as good as yours.

Believe it or not our Dom was a hatchery chick 8 days old and the last Dom in the feed store end-of-season. The feed store orders the bulk of their variety chick breeds from Privett Hatchery in NM (location?). There is one particular breed of chicken excellent at foraging for ticks but can't remember the breed now as it was a while back that I read it. I'll bookmark this post if I ever come across the info again. Sorry I have such a bad recollection.

Supposedly chickens eat all insects but I have a picky flock. Some eat certain insects and others avoid the same bugs. It took our flock a while to get used to snapping up the earwig pinch-bugs but now consider them delicacies. Snails, worms, and crickets are their favorites because they are larger and easier to catch than scratching for little fleas, ants, or pinch-bugs. I have one Silkie that does the crazy circling "whirling Dervish" to catch flying June bugs mid-air where no other chicken in the flock bothers. They like moths but are harder to catch. They don't seem to like the crunchy grasshoppers unless we hold them firmly in our fingers for them to peck. Dragonflies are softer and more tempting a treat. Spiders are a treat and the Silkies always have spider webs caught in their crests. They chase lizards but the reptiles are too fast. If I'm digging in the soil they all come running to help me scratch for worms which they often see when I can't. If we kill a fly in the house we feed it to the chickens but they won't chase them outdoors because the flies move too quickly. Maggots if they find them are treats.

Chickens like people have different tastes and behaviors and it's always interesting when one does something out of the ordinary.

 

[Sylvester017]

Our Dominiques have been very good at clearing away caterpillars climbing the trunks or living among the roots of our fruit trees; they also harvest the June drop and other fallen fruit. We had a couple of patches of weeds - but the Dominiques have been great helpers in clearing them out. The other day one appeared to be chasing a hummingbird under the belief that this must be the world's largest *bug.*

That's a chicken for you! Catch it FIRST if it's flying and ask questions AFTERWARDS! Many times the chase is more fun than the kill.

 

[rocketdog]

Well, this morning,, I got another surprise. The Dominique hen with the large comb began crowing! Still learning, but definitely crowing. My husband said, what's wrong with your rooster, he sounds hoarse, then we realized it was the other one. Both are very good boys, but I think I need to re-home one. They are almost 4 months old.

 

[Delight in Dominiques]

Well, this morning,, I got another surprise. The Dominique hen with the large comb began crowing! Still learning, but definitely crowing. My husband said, what's wrong with your rooster, he sounds hoarse, then we realized it was the other one. Both are very good boys, but I think I need to re-home one. They are almost 4 months old.

. I have to say this Spring was for the first time I heard my 6 year old Stichler Hen crow out in the breeding pen. Sounds very similar to a juvenile cockerel.

 

[sunnysideup2]

Well, this morning,, I got another surprise. The Dominique hen with the large comb began crowing! Still learning, but definitely crowing. My husband said, what's wrong with your rooster, he sounds hoarse, then we realized it was the other one. Both are very good boys, but I think I need to re-home one. They are almost 4 months old.

You may be the right person to ask about this. I have 2 -12 week old Dom pullets. At one point I started to worry that one of the girls ( Jezebel) was a roo. She is much bigger than the other and has long thick legs. I posted a pic about a month back. Now they are 12 weeks they look very similar except one is much heavier. For the last 2 days Jezebel is making a strange sound. I'm not sure if it is communication or a respiratory sound. It suddenly dawned on me that her voice may be changing, and she is indeed a roo. What did your pullets and roo seem like at 12 weeks? Their heads look they same and no comb to speak of.

 

[rocketdog]

My #1 rooster started crowing at about 3 months, give or take. I had noticed that the "hen" Dominique looked every bit as large, with huge feet the same size as his. I worried that she was the same size, and had a much larger comb than the other hens, but those 2 are the only dominiques i have, so no frame of reference. They behave basically the same as before, not the most friendly of all my chicks, but certainly no shrinking violets. The first rooster started crowing over a month ago, so I assumed that #2 was a hen. He showed no signs of aggression toward the hens, as #1 has, so I had no reason to believe he was a rooster.(They were sold to me as pullets, and all the others seem to be so).