Dominique Thread!

[Sylvester017]

Some molting pics -- Oct 2019

NO TAILS
Dominique hen 2 years old

Two molting Dom hens and molting Cuckoo Breda hen (front)

Offset V-pattern of cuckoo feather

Creepy looks of molting feather-footed Cuckoo Breda hen (white lobes)

No tails -- Cuckoo Breda hen (left) and Dominique hen (right)

By January 2020 these Dom girls got their new tail feathers and NO CUSHION. Seems like the colder winter weather brings on the heavy cushion feathers but after molt it doesn't seem to be coming back. Here's hoping they stay cushion-free and keep their U-back form for a little while!

A couple of feathers came in solid black and hoping that corrects itself

Cuckoo Breda U-back top of photo and Dom U-back bottom of photo

No cushion on Dom U-back

My Cuckoo Breda has grown in her big full tail - love her U-back which is much better looking than the Dom U-backs!!

But all in all I love ALL my girls LOL!

 

[Sylvester017]

Pics of our 2 Dominique hens and Cuckoo Breda hen dusting themselves in their sandbox this morning. I am so disappointed that my Dom girls grew in full cushions again on their backs -- yet my Cuckoo Breda (in front outside the box) as always has a more beautiful U-back and straight teepee tail!

2 Dominique hens (rear), a Partridge Silkie, and Cuckoo Breda (outside box)

After molting the 2 Doms did not immediately grown in cushions but now a few months later they have them. I thought U-backs (no cushion) was a dominant trait in Doms?! Guess this is just one of several frustrating traits that show breeders try to correct.

 

[Sylvester017]

Happy Moms' Day ❤

 

[Faraday40]

Pics of our 2 Dominique hens and Cuckoo Breda hen dusting themselves in their sandbox this morning. I am so disappointed that my Dom girls grew in full cushions again on their backs -- yet my Cuckoo Breda (in front outside the box) as always has a more beautiful U-back and straight teepee tail!

2 Dominique hens (rear), a Partridge Silkie, and Cuckoo Breda (outside box)
View attachment 2125898View attachment 2125899

After molting the 2 Doms did not immediately grown in cushions but now a few months later they have them. I thought U-backs (no cushion) was a dominant trait in Doms?! Guess this is just one of several frustrating traits that show breeders try to correct.

That's strange how they grew a cushion. Mine didn't stand very pretty when young but as she aged she looked better. (acquired the U-back stance you mentioned)

I really miss my Dom, Bubbles. Perhaps you could post a few more pics so I can get my fix for pretty Dominiques.

 

[Sylvester017]

@Faraday40

Teehee! My Dom girls are not exactly show quality pretty but they have some good points (JEWLZ is better-looking, is an active forager, and quite a conversationalist -- but DANA has the smarter sweeter personality). JEWLZ has shown hackled bravery lunging through the cattle fence to attack a fluffy stray dog w/ its Chihuahua companion when they squeezed into the back yard heehee! While DANA has been the vigilant protector of our lone 2-lb elderly Silkie hen.

These are recent pics of JEWLZ and she has the pretty Rose Comb that hugs her skull w/ leader(spike) at the rear

After molt the Dom feathers grew in with a U-back -- DANA (left) -- JEWLZ(right)

JEWLZ with new feathers/tail growing in -- no cushion at first

DANA with new U-back feathers -- she always had more silver in her color

DANA (front) with CHAR (feather-legged Cuckoo Breda at top of photo)

DANA with new feathers, no cushion back, and more silver in her color, her Rose Comb is not as flat as JEWLZ' comb but has a nice leader at the rear

A couple months after molt my Doms grew in those lumpy cushion backs -- I'm thinking somewhere in their history a breeder must've crossed some Barred Rock into my Doms' ancestry to maybe increase their productivity or get rid of their broody tendencies?! Although if one does their research Barred Rocks and Dominiques were once the same breed in the early 1900's until the original Dominique breeders squabbled about whether their Dom SOP should have Rose Combs or Straight Combs and the two factions split. The straight-combed Dominiques were then crossed with bigger cushion-tailed breeds later transforming into larger productive Barried Rocks while Dominique purists attemped to keep the Doms their original U-back w/ rose combs w/ cuckoo patterns rather than barred feather patterns.

Currently my two cushion back Dom hens (Cuckoo Breda head-white earlobes)

Hope you enjoyed the fashion show! I absolutely love Dominiques. There are so many SOP standards to breed for in these girls -- but ultimately I'm in love with their personalities. They seem to crave human companionship from the time they're chicks!

3 little chcker-doodles!

Rub-a-dub-dub! 3 Chicks in a Corningware dustbath tub!

Smiles - S

 

[centrarchid]

Hatching another 16. Have 15 already. Another 40 in incubator past candling. Shooting for 16 after that.

 

[Delight in Dominiques]

Hatching another 16. Have 15 already. Another 40 in incubator past candling. Shooting for 16 after that.

Great to see you are getting Dominiques on the ground, best time of the year. I have plenty of hens ready to brood anything that is set under them.

 

[centrarchid]

Great to see you are getting Dominiques on the ground, best time of the year. I have plenty of hens ready to brood anything that is set under them.

Only one of my American Dominiques actually being used as a broody. Balance of chicks are hatched with incubator.

I hope to get a solid 80 chicks on ground before hatching done. Probably will not cull a single pullet.

 

[Delight in Dominiques]

Only one of my American Dominiques actually being used as a broody. Balance of chicks are hatched with incubator.

I hope to get a solid 80 chicks on ground before hatching done. Probably will not cull a single pullet.

Didn’t hatch any this year. Have plenty of previous generations that are under lock and key. Used four single matings last year and wanted to see the outcome of the pullets with comparing their egg and body size to their mothers. Been a hard road the past five years of bring down the size from course structure while still selecting for correct fleshing of the Dominique.

 

[Delight in Dominiques]

A 2 year old hen that is one of my best overall females that I have produced to date. Very balanced throughout.

Color has been improving quickly over the last three years, better gray tones with good cuckoo barring. The male I believe was a cock when the picture was taken. I sold him to a Dominique breeder in the end of 2018. She took the picture around a year later.