Dominique

We have one of these wonderful girls, Joy, and she is a consistent layer with a really sweet personality. She is constantly talking with quiet clucks and squeals, which is so much fun to hear. She is always interested in what you're doing, what you have in your hands, can she eat it... she's great. Best of all, she has been a consistent layer of small to medium eggs. She is our top bird, for being as small as she is (she's our littlest bird), she definitely can be a little bully. She plucked the butts of her fellow girls, but a set of pinless peepers has mellowed her out. I'd definitely recommend this breed, (even with Joy's happy plucking)!

they are very pretty and friendly i love them even the roos are nice they are very calm and SO SOFT! i love having them around they are wonderful chickens

Our Dominique is still young and hasn't started laying eggs yet, but she is my favorite bird of the five we have (OEG bantam, Faverolle, Speckled Sussex, Welsummer). She's beautiful and friendly. We recently added two young hens to the flock and she has pecked the Sussex, although it doesn't seem that she hurt it. She does like to peck, especially if you're wearing rings! But she seems to peck out of curiosity rather than intent to hurt. I highly recommend this breed.

I bought my birds about a month ago and got 2 Dominiques. Honestly I bought about 20 assorted birds and these are one of my favorites. They hang out and will let me pick them up. They can be noisy though. When I go to give the birds treats she yells and yells until I give it to her also. But I like the breed. A possum got the other one so next year I may buy a few chicks again.

we'll see how it goes. Just added these ladies today .

I purchased my first Dominiques from Cackle Hatchery in Missouri and they were very true to true Dom standard. My next pullets are on order from McMurray, because I wanted Marck's vaccinations.

My Dominiques are beautiful girls, each has a very distinct personality, the Dom hens seem to be the rulers of the roost. They have the best camoflauage from predators of any of my hens. They are great foragers, while the other hens are relaxing in the sun, my Doms are out scratching and eating bugs.

My girls were very good layers too. Mine layed a large to x-large egg nearly everyday. They also tend to be very clean chickens and keep themselves well groomed. I live in Northern NY near Canada and it gets very rainy and muddy here with lots of snow and the Dominiques keep nice and clean and they do very well in cold weather.

With Buff Orps, Dominiques are my favorite breed of hen. I'd highly recommend them.

I bought these birds because they were the last ones at the feed store when I wanted chickens. I should have researched them more. They are VERY friendly and easy to handle. Some will fly up and perch on my arm if I hold a treat up. They don't seem to eat much, but they are a small bird, and, though I've not butchered one, they don't seem to have much meat.

I am going to add a few Australorps to my flock because I want more eggs. We have CCR's that prohibit chickens, so I promised my neighbors eggs if they wouldn't complain. I don't have a lot of space, so I need maximum eggs from minimum hens.

I have a one year old Dominique hen along with 2 black sex link, 1 golden sex link, and one golden langenvelder. Our Dominique (Bertha) has the most gentle nature. She lays large, dark brown eggs almost everyday even through the winter (we added additional light in the evenings.) The black and white speckling of their plumage is beautiful. I would definitely choose this breed again.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 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

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 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+.

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.