Dominique Thread!

[The Yakima Kid]

As chicks and juveniles most pullet breeds mix ok. It's when they reach adulthood anywhere from 18 mos to 2 years that the battles begin. Sometimes a very hard moult or a broody period will bring on aggressive behavior and once started sometimes never stops unless the hen is isolated or re-homed. My friend has a "hen-itentiary" pen where she throws her combative girls until they either calm down in a few weeks or are sent to freezer camp. I'm not talking about normal flock politics where there is a matriarch leader that keeps others in line - I'm talking about damaging behavior like tearing out feathers, digging claws into others, or chewing off the combs or wattles of other flockmates, etc. We had an alpha White Leg leader that was wonderful for 3 years and then suddenly went ballistic on the flock. She had to be re-homed and today is still assertive but in a flock of equal peers.

OK. What is a BCM?

Thank you for posting that about Mediterranean breeds. I get so frustrated when people ask me advice on what to get, then decide they can keep Production Reds, commercial white Leghorns, and a Silkie, Buff Orpington, or Polish together. This year several people on a local group have reported seriously injured birds, and one Silkie was scalped, most of the skin on her head and back removed, and she died, and it took a while because her owner didn't understand that a chicken missing that much skin is not going to live and didn't promptly put her down. All goes well for a year or two, and then disasters happen.

Aggressive birds may start by eating all of the feathers off of a bird. They may graduate to eating combs, wattles, tearing out a bird's genitalia and eating it while she is laying, stripping skin off, and eating the flesh underneath. You really don't want to go there. Sometimes you can save the situation by taking a really sharp dog nail clipper or toe nail clipper and trimming off about 1/4" of the upper beak. Although this will grow back, some hens give up after a few days of "firing blanks" at the other girls. Omlet sells bumpa bits, which can also work. We had a problem adding younger girls to the flock that would ebb and flow so I tried pinless peepers before going back to that Ohio invention of the 1930s - beak trimming. I don't like pinless peepers because not only do they interfere with vision, but I watched our biddies help each other remove them. Within minutes I had Black Star hens reaching out to each other and trying to pull them off of each other with their feet. Within a few days they had successfully removed them.

 

[The Yakima Kid]

If you want to cross in a white egg layer with Dominiques, consider using California Grays instead of California Whites. A California White is the result of a California Gray cock on a white Leghorn hen. Grays don't lay as well as whites, but they breed true, tolerate colder weather than Leghorns, and have a better temperament than California Whites - and they are light years more pleasant to be around than white Leghorns.

There are trade offs. If you have adequate forage you may find it very economical to keep somewhat less productive birds such as Dominiques or Buckeyes and avoid drama in the coop. You might find California Grays meet your needs - they sort of look like a small, more gracile utility Barred Rock; they tend to be a little flighty and nervous when young, but they mellow out and seem to be very intelligent birds.

The thing to remember about having Dominiques, is that you will be the proud owner of the Keystone Koop. Prepare for wild chase scenes as birds burst into the air like a bouquet of pheasants being flushed whenever they see or hear the door open. Watch the excitement as one runs one way around the raised bed, the other runs the other way, and the collide and fall down when they reach the end - and then get up, uninjured, and continue their hot pursuit of a hummingbird which they seem to believe is the world's tastiest bug. Thrill to sitting down to read and suddenly finding yourself weighed down by the entire flock - and as you attempt to shoo them away from your lap, they leap on your head and shoulders from behind. Mack Sennett would be proud.

 

[wsmith]

AMEN! I get mine from Cackle because I'm in the Bay Area and I can't find any either. Occasionally they come into show from out of state, but it's not common. I'm hoping to find some Dom breeders at the show over by Hollister next January; I've missed every show this year, and I need to thin out the flock before adding any more. Realistically, it might be several years before I can get any birds from a breeder.

We in the Dominique Club of America are doing what we can to encourage more folks to become Dominique breeders, but it is difficult. This past spring we had a membership drive where we gave away a new incubator, and many of us sent hatching eggs "FREE" to new folks who wanted to become breeders. Don't know if that will happen next spring or not.
The best way to locate Dominique breeders is to contact a DCA member or officer. Most of us don't ship live birds, some do. I don't, but I willingly ship fertile eggs.

 

[lazy gardener]

Good to hear from you WSmith. Hope all is well with you and yours. Eventually, I'd love to hatch some real Dom eggs from a breeder. I'm always thinking about a year ahead of reality for me!

My Dom pullets are reaching that wonderful age where they see the human as no longer being a threat. One routinely comes to check out what i'm doing. Not friendly yet, but, over that terrified juvenile period. Getting their big girl voices.

 

[The Yakima Kid]

We in the Dominique Club of America are doing what we can to encourage more folks to become Dominique breeders, but it is difficult. This past spring we had a membership drive where we gave away a new incubator, and many of us sent hatching eggs "FREE" to new folks who wanted to become breeders. Don't know if that will happen next spring or not.
The best way to locate Dominique breeders is to contact a DCA member or officer. Most of us don't ship live birds, some do. I don't, but I willingly ship fertile eggs.

Ummmm...... I'm a member of the DCA. Currently I'm not in a position to be a breeder, but I definitely want to have the best stock possible.

 

[wsmith]

Ummmm...... I'm a member of the DCA.  Currently I'm not in a position to be a breeder, but I definitely want to have the best stock possible.

Have you contacted the members in CA and OR? I know that some of them frequent shos and sometimes they will meet folks at those shows and deliver birds. The DCA website has an updated member and breeder list. Yes, it looks al little bleak, but its better than it was several years ago. Just some thoughts

 

[Sylvester017]

I do not heat my coop, I do NOT use artificial light, and I only heat my waterer if it freezes solid in less than one hour. And, my leghorns laid wonderfully all winter. I know the doms won't lay as well as the leghorns...

Sylvester017 says - The only mistake we made when we had our White Leg was to put vaseline on her comb/wattles during a frost period. BIG mistake as we should've used vitamin E oil ($4 Walmart) to massage her comb/wattles so that the feathers didn't get gunked and greasy the way they did from the vaseline - when she took a dust bath the vaseline made the dirt stick and stained her beautiful white feathers and didn't go away until her next moult. The vitamin E oil doesn't gunk up on the feathers - we apply at roost time so it has a chance to absorb into the comb/wattles overnight. We even use the vit E to massage chicken legs for scaly mite prevention - our vet recommended it.

I feed only dry foods in the winter...things like bacon fat and oil are fed in their cold congealed state. Extra fat is great when it is cold.

Sylvester017 says - Sunflowers are also a good clean fat food for Fall/Winter. Fatty foods should be avoided in Spring/Summer - bad for their liver during hot months.

Sylvester017 says - My two favourite LF are the APA Ameraucana and the Dominique. They are active, alert, jittery breeds with the soul of sweetness. Both are good cold weather breeds with the added bonus of Doms brooding their own young. Keep the Amer for good egg productivity and pea comb and no wattles and keep the Doms for small rosecombs and brooding their own. Both are lighterweight than heavy dual purpose and both have a wonderful downy undercoat. Our Amer thrives in the rain but hates the heatwaves yet still manages to be a thrifty forager.

 

[Sylvester017]

Aren't Babcocks considered on the less cannibalistic commercial Leghorn strains?

Definitely be careful mixing any birds with a tendency to aggression in the coop. This year I have heard of several severely injured Silkies and one that was scalped to death. I don't like to ever put a crested breed in with any non-crested breed because their visual handicap and different appearance is a magnet for biddy bullies.

The thing I find most interesting about Dominiques is there extreme efficiency as foragers. They manage to find significant food in our small mini-orchard, and under the cane berry and blue berry hedges, as well as under the grape vines. They eat lower hanging fruit, which doesn't bother me, and they eat grape vines that have overgrown and hit the ground. Very light on the feeder. Remember, if your yard is a typical suburban lawn they probably won't find much forage.

Babcocks from what I can remember from my folks 60+ years ago was that they were a production strain and I don't know about their cannibalistic tendencies as most breeds seem cannibalistic in the poultry world.

I didn't heed the advice of posts that said it wasn't wise to mix bantam breeds with LF but I found out the hard way. We had one White Leg that was a gentle alpha leader of the flock for nearly 3 years and then got assertive - we rehomed her. The Buff Leg seemed calmer in temperament but after her broody time she got overly aggressive toward all the gentler breeds and also was rehomed. Mediterraneans are great breeds but too assertive for gentle mixed flocks.

All crested/muffed breeds seem to be on the gentler skittish side and not just because of their crests. Our Silkies have excellent vision when their crests are cleared and still behave jittery. Crests just seem to bring out the jittery and sweetness genes in crested breeds.

Agreed about backyard foraging - there are grasses, weeds, bugs and spiders and our veggie garden provides the occasional June bug or Grasshopper which is not enough so we set out a variety of produce, meats, and seeds for them throughout the day. They get a serving of fermented feed morning and evening but eat little of it (about 1/4 cup each bird the whole day).

 

[Sylvester017]

There seems to be a tendency for rose combed roosters to be less fertile. This is why some old time Dominique breeders didn't cull all of the blade comb chicks that were born, and would keep and use the occasional single comb bird as a breeder.

Old time Doms used to be SC AND RC but in Victorian show circles when the BR group wanted to standardize their larger BRs from the Doms the BRs got the SC APA standard and the Doms got the RC APA standard. There's supposedly a feather pattern and color difference between the two breeds but basically the combs separate the APA standards but Doms will occasionally sport the old SC.

 

[Sylvester017]

Have you contacted the members in CA and OR? I know that some of them frequent shos and sometimes they will meet folks at those shows and deliver birds. The DCA website has an updated member and breeder list. Yes, it looks al little bleak, but its better than it was several years ago. Just some thoughts

I managed to contact the secretary of the DCA but they only raised Dom bantams. Suggested attending a poultry show. Yeah sure - nearest poultry show is 1000 miles ROUND TRIP to maybe possibly contact a Dom show breeder who might possibly be able to bring a bird for pickup. No thanks. I'll get my Doms from either Cackle (who raise their own breeds that they sell and is not a broker like MyPetChicken or McMurray or so many other so-called "hatchery" titles) or I'll get my Doms from my local feed store who gets most of his breeds from the lesser publicized Privett Hatchery in NM. Have no idea where Privett stock comes from but the birds always look lively at the feed store.