Colorado

[Minchi]

Wendell, I don't know how to thank you. I copied and pasted your letter to my friend, and she expressed deep gratitude. She was not able to speak freely at the time, but said the news was not good, and will let me know more tomorrow. If it's okay, I might suggest that we come to visit you and Beth one day to see your chickens She grew up in a farm family - she and her brother milked the cow each morning, made their own butter, gathered eggs, butchered their own chickens, and almost never bought anything from a store. She's a neat gal. Thank you again. You made a positive difference for us both today.

I am really sorry to hear that the news was not good, but Wendell is awsome. I wish I had something like this when my father got sick, it would have helped.

 

[Minchi]

Today I got home from work and found three eggs all different colors. I am so happy....tired but happy!

 

[suncatcher]

Suncatcher- I almost forgot! There is a breeder directory on the Colorado Poultry Association website. Not sure how maintained it is since it hasn't seemed to change in the last two years, but its another resource.

Thank you, will check it out.

 

[suncatcher]

If one of my girls (probably the Cochin if anyone) goes broody, I'd like to be on the list to buy some hatching eggs in the spring. I have gone back and forth on getting an incubator, but am leaning heavily toward natural hatching. The more I read from you and others about Dominiques, the more I think I would really like to have some to add to my flock.

I'm also thinking about ordering some chicks from Duane Urch in the spring, because he has some rose comb leghorns, which I would like very much to raise. I love the whites but am pretty certain the color is a death sentence here (of all the pigeons that have hung around our barn, the whites are always the first killed by birds of prey - makes me wish they were all white so the population would disappear, but that's another topic LOL). If anything I would look for a white roo for breeding purposes if I needed one, but for now would stay with browns, blacks, and reds. Reds I will have to look around for, and I might try some from McMurray if I don't find anything else I can afford, but Duane has browns and blacks and I'm told his chicks are pretty good quality. His price list says chicks are $7 each with a minimum order of 25, which is a lot compared to hatcheries, but probably not a lot compared to good show quality chicks, so I figure somewhere in the middle with at least a chance of getting decent starter stock. Anyway, if anyone wants to combine orders let me know. I have his price list if you want it. Also if anyone has ordered from him before and has experience to share, I'd appreciate it.

I promise I have no intention of using Dominiques to create cuckoo leghorns!

I too am staying away for the lighter white colored chickens, just have one right now, and no plans to add any more white to my flock. Can you PM me Duane Urch's price list, I may want to go in on an order with you.

 

[Pozees]

Duane Urch has good birds.

My Dominique Rooster and two of the pullets are out of Suzette ellington's line, Old Dominion Dominiques. Her stock were originally from Bill Post. Bill Post also posts on BYC as NYREDS. His Dominiques were fabulous, and won many shows. I am working on my own line. Mark Fields, who wrote the book "The American Dominique" likes my rooster "Abe". We'll see what we get next spring. I will hatch out one batch first before selling any eggs, and we will also hatch out a few batches of chicks, Dominiques are naturally sex linked, so we can pick out pullets as soon as the chicks are dry. Very easy to tell genders. Any roosters that don't sell we will grow out and pick out 1, the rest get butchered. We will only keep about 10-15 or so pullets from next year's hatch.

We were talking about hatching out some of our easter egger pullet eggs as well. Would those offspring be called Domineggers?

LOL Should be interesting to see what they look like!

The sex linking is by a head spot, right? By any chance are you giving ACV in the water to test the theory it increases the ratio of pullets in a hatch?

Have see Bill Post's posts, they are so educational!

 

[wsmith]

Before ordering chicks from Duane Urch or any other large scale breeder, you maight want to go to the specific breed pages here on BYC or the breed club and see who else is raising the breed you want. For example: I wanted some of Bill Post's line of Dominiques. He can be hard to get a hold of, and a little pricey. I made contact with Suzette Ellington, who sent me eggs FOR FREE, I paid shipping. Grantedm they were pullet eggs, and untried. Hers were one generation off Bill's line. I got a 50% hatch rate on those eggs. That saved me close to $100. Get in touch with people from the breed's club. Many times there are folks in the club that want to get new people involved, and will assist you in getting good stock for a reasonable price.

 

[wsmith]

LOL Should be interesting to see what they look like!

The sex linking is by a head spot, right? By any chance are you giving ACV in the water to test the theory it increases the ratio of pullets in a hatch?

Have see Bill Post's posts, they are so educational!

The head spot, along with leg and beak coloring. Head spot alone can be confusing sometimes, but combined with the other two, it's nearly 100% accurate.

Bill can be a little....direct........ which isn't necessarily a bad thing.

 

[wsmith]

LOL Should be interesting to see what they look like!

The sex linking is by a head spot, right? By any chance are you giving ACV in the water to test the theory it increases the ratio of pullets in a hatch?

Have see Bill Post's posts, they are so educational!

I usually give ACV during the summer months and about once a month or so otherwise. The theory about inceasing the ration of pullets has been tried with inconclusive results. Dominiques usually are about 50/50, with slightly more cockerels, which is OK for me.
My biggest concern is fertility rates. Show Dominiques have a lower fertility rate than hatchery birds. This has to do in part with the single comb vs rose comb gene. People do their best to eliminate all single combs from their
Dominique line have lower ferility rates than those who allow it to continue. Weird.

 

[Pozees]

I have had a few chicks from Murdoch's and they are definitely not the highest quality, but do vary from year to year and with the breed. The BO was the best. I only have two left of the Murdoch's chicks and have decided to upgrade the flock with better quality birds, (now that I know more), and try to get a good all-round backyard bird that can deal with life up here in the clouds or above the clouds, depending on the day!

I would love to order from the Sandhill Preservation Center but have not done so yet, partially because I don't need 25 birds at one time, hint, hint.

How far are you from Pueblo? I just looked at their website, and see they have rose combed Dorkings, too, cool! I may be able to combine an order with you if we can work out the logistics.

 

[megshenhut]

If one of my girls (probably the Cochin if anyone) goes broody, I'd like to be on the list to buy some hatching eggs in the spring. I have gone back and forth on getting an incubator, but am leaning heavily toward natural hatching. The more I read from you and others about Dominiques, the more I think I would really like to have some to add to my flock.

I'm also thinking about ordering some chicks from Duane Urch in the spring, because he has some rose comb leghorns, which I would like very much to raise. I love the whites but am pretty certain the color is a death sentence here (of all the pigeons that have hung around our barn, the whites are always the first killed by birds of prey - makes me wish they were all white so the population would disappear, but that's another topic LOL). If anything I would look for a white roo for breeding purposes if I needed one, but for now would stay with browns, blacks, and reds. Reds I will have to look around for, and I might try some from McMurray if I don't find anything else I can afford, but Duane has browns and blacks and I'm told his chicks are pretty good quality. His price list says chicks are $7 each with a minimum order of 25, which is a lot compared to hatcheries, but probably not a lot compared to good show quality chicks, so I figure somewhere in the middle with at least a chance of getting decent starter stock. Anyway, if anyone wants to combine orders let me know. I have his price list if you want it. Also if anyone has ordered from him before and has experience to share, I'd appreciate it.

I promise I have no intention of using Dominiques to create cuckoo leghorns!

If you do order from Duane Urch I an definitely interested in going in on an order. I can't do 25 chicks this spring by myself. I already have lots of birds. From what I heard he sells out early so the order needs to go in sometime in January probably.