BrotherJosh, welcome to the brood! Embrace your new addiction
Wendell, those are some beautiful boys, and I am curious about two things. First, is precocity valued in breeding chickens? I know in horses and dogs it is, primarily for the competitive advantage it offers in performance - precocious racehorses win races at a younger age and as a result often increase their value as future breeding stock; precocious dogs win at dog shows earlier and thus finish championships sooner; and in both species, those who are able to pass that trait on to offspring gain popularity, sometimes even when the offspring show fragility more often than the get of other lines. In chickens, I can see the advantage in knowing sooner whether you have a male or female, and perhaps precocious females may begin to lay sooner than average for the breed. Are there other things that would make it a desirable, or undesirable, trait?
Second, what particular traits of the cockerels you prefer, make them preferable? I know nothing about the breed standard for Dominiques, so while I see beautiful cockerels, I don't know what makes them best - I realize it is probably a combination of things, such as defined markings, greater contrast, leg color, feather quality and quantity, stature, size - I'm interested in learning about how you select your best, since you have offered us such great pictures to compare them. It is one of the more difficult aspects of breeding, and often one of the most rewarding, especially if you have an impossible choice and are able to work with another fancier who can give your third and fourth choices a try with their own hens to see how your decision bears out.
I have a particular penchant for that sort of thing, but at this time no ability to follow it myself, too many hours away from home working, DH who currently wants nothing to do with roosters, and limited funds for proper housing. Hope you don't mind if I live vicariously through your adventure
Ashley, it sounds like you already have some great ideas! I agree, the tiller attachments for lawn tractors are very expensive. You might find a used one for sale once fall winds down a bit, the problem with our native weeds is their ability to survive and reproduce in the harshest conditions. I have often said if we could figure out how to make fuel from bindweed, we would be rich beyond our wildest dreams! On some, a pretty strong solution of white vinegar and water will kill them, if applied on a sunny morning and probably repeated a few times to really kill them off. Over the winter you can cover some areas with plastic held down with rocks or cinder blocks or something heavy and that will kill most things, but not bindweed of course. Tilling and amending before winter sets in is still your best bet at a good start come spring, for sure, and I really love the idea of meadow grasses and paths, it sounds like it will be really nice. The xeric plants we have had the best luck with are Blue Mist Spirea and Russian Sage.
