Dominique

Just for the record, Cackle will provide Marek Inoculation for the asking. $10 bucks for as many as 75 or 80 birds).

Cackle Hatchery at least breeds their birds at their own farms...McMurray has for quite a while, been a distributor.

I'd recommend folks to buy from quality breeders if at all possible, leaving the commercial hatcheries out of the picture. JMHO

Fine bird. I have my first one . He is about six weeks now.

Where were Dominiques brought here from & when?

I contacted the American Dominique fellow listed on the website about the nature of Dominiques. There are some beautiful breeds to choose from and the Dom wasn't my first choice because of the mundane feathering. However I was interested in the Dom because they are a lighter weight LF about 4-4.5 lbs average w/ gentle temperaments and decent productivity (about 4 eggs/wk) which is what I was looking for to mix w/ a gentle flock of under 5-lb birds. Plus they have a nice camouflage for free-ranging. Huge eggs or table meat was not as important as temperament w/ somewhat decent productivity. The American Dominique breeder said that Dom chicks are an outgoing, curious, friendly, soft-chirping talkative baby and those traits continue into adulthood. They will fit the need as a pet as well as utility bird. Plus the broodiness has not been bred out of them if we wanted to raise our own flock. I took his confirmation to heart and purchased a Dom chick who was not just friendly and outgoing but downright curious about everything on our clothes, our glasses, our hair, our fingers, our computer, the mouse, etc. She was incredibly softer than other chicks to touch. She was a constant forager and made big hens look lazy. Most chicks will come running to look for treats but bore easily and run off but not the Dom pullet chick. After checking everything out, she'd nestle in our clothes, or hand, or arm, or lap or wherever close to us. She imprinted w/ us always chirping to us to make sure we were closeby as she went exploring. Unfortunately she suffered a traumatic seizure at 19 days old right before our eyes and was gone instantly. It happens w/ chicks in all breeds as well as juveniles - we had lost an Ameraucana pullet just 2 weeks before yet her sister was fine. You never know what happened w/ one chick when all the others are fine. But we definitely will get more than one Dom again next Spring thanks to the few days we had w/ her!

I must add that the reason I did not give a full 5 stars is because we were not able to raise our chick to an adult. Sadly for whatever reason we never found out how many eggs she could lay, how big they'd be, or how she would integrate with our lightweight LF flock. But I am of the firm conviction that she definitely matched the qualities the American Dominique Club breeder identified and fully trust her chick traits would have continued into adulthood. I love the kooky gentle APA Ameraucana and Buff Leghorn pullet we have with our two Silkies and were very confident the Dom pullet would've been a gentle-tempered, economically industrious, and sweet addition to our mixed lightweight flock.

Let me just throw this in...I really like the Dom breed of chickens but they are not for me. My point in commenting is to raise an issue with the color of the bird being 'camouflage'. That is a myth because the color of the bird has little to do with it's abilities to avoid predators but rather their abilities to recognize the presence of predators and ability to fly, run or hide in whatever cover might be handy.

There will be some who try to debunk my assertions but I rest upon my families' seven decades of poultry raising and I have personally witnessed just about every kind of predator attack ....multiple times.

Still...in my opinion, the Dom is a great bird and if I didn't have my own favorites, I would strongly consider them!

I actually LIKE the barred feathering! to bad I lost mine

Hi - regarding hellbender comment about camouflage feathering. Yes, some birds are predator bait simply because of being in the wrong place at the wrong time, or not being aware, or IMO the coloration can be a detriment. Standing up high over a flock the solid white coloration like in Leghorns is very visible. I know predators have a different spectrum of vision from humans but anyway you look at it, the bright white is very visible when viewed aerially. Even solid black is quite discernible. Speckling, barring, multi-colors, pencilling, lacing, blue/gray, browns, all seem to get blurred more from an aerial view. White Leghorns are prominent to detect BUT because of their intense agility, wariness, and alertness have never been predator bait in our past flocks - probably the only white breed aware enough to avoid predation 99% of the time - those that get attacked are fierce fighters - this from our experience. However I have discontinued getting White Legs for free range (hopefully to reduce their stress of being spotted aerially) and have chosen Buff Legs now who have the same agility and alertness as the White but with a subtler coloration. The Buff has a calmer temperament but still has the wariness of her White cousins. Just my 2 cents worth.

To Speedbird - I never thought I would like barred feathers either. I still consider the overall look a little boring probably because of the common Barred Rocks always pictured with RIRs in backyard photos. We had BRs on my folks farm. However once I held a very soft feathered Dom chick and felt how very soft her growing juvenile hardfeathers were, I was hooked. I've read other Dom owner reviews and blogs about how incredibly soft the Dom feathers are. It must be the thicker underdown they have. No wonder they were used for Colonial pillows and comforters!

Dominiques came from France, I believe. I'm not positive on the timing, probably in the 1700's.

Actually, Barred Rocks look like Dominiques - not the other way around. It seems that Barred Rocks were a cross of assorted breeds - including Javas and Dominiques.

Dominiques were apparently a land race that resulted from everything dumped in a colonial chicken yard. It would be very hard to figure it out - but we do know that both the Dutch and the English immigrants came from countries that had fowl with pretty rose combs with a plume on the end. Until the mid-19th Century, they were found with both blade and rose combs, and ranged larger in size.

A poultry show redefined them as a medium sized rose combed birds, moving the blade comb and larger birds out of the breed. Shortly after that, a number of breeders discovered that they had mistakenly believed that their flocks of large, blade combed birds were really Barred Rocks, and folded them into the Plymouth Rock breed.

Some believe that Upham, one of the founders of the Plymouth Rock, put undue pressure on the show committee to redefine Dominiques in order to improve his market position and reputation as a breeder.

I'm with CESpeed; biddies don't understand that you're saving their lives when you give them unpleasant medical treatment - they think that you're torturing them for reasons unknown, possibly trying to kill them.

Give her time. I recommend hand feeding the occasional blueberry; I have never met a chicken that didn't love blueberries.

You should make her some toys, maybe that will distract her!!

What kind of toys do you make for chickens? I'd love to know. That's hilarious!