Day Old Dominique Chicks from Private Breeder

Feb 19, 2021
51
202
111
Hey everyone! I made a post about this a few months back but didn't get much interest. I am ordering 25 day old, straight run Dominique chicks from a private breeder sometime this summer/fall (the timing is a little hazy because the breeder is running a very small, family operation) and was hoping someone might be interested in the extras. I would like to keep about 10 pullets and 1-2 cockerels, so the others, likely a majority cockerels, would need new homes. I am paying $5 a chick so thought $3 a chick might be a fair price, but feel free to reach out with other offers.

About Dominiques: they are a heritage breed, the oldest in America, known as exceptional foragers (perhaps the best) and very good dual purpose birds. They lay 3-5 light brown eggs a week, typically small-medium in size, although the breeder I'm ordering from makes sure to breed for a good size egg. They are very tolerant of both heat and cold, go broody occasionally to often, and make very good mothers. Together with the Black Java, Dominiques are a parent breed for the better known Barred Plymouth Rocks, sharing their black and white coloring.

I plan to start a dual-purpose, self-sustaining flock with these birds that will eventually provide all my family's (chicken) meat and eggs while also finding a majority of their feed through foraging. Overall, I think this is an exceptional choice for a hardy, intelligent, and economical homestead breed, and one that many old-timers can vouch for - you may have heard your parents or grandparents affectionately refer to any black-and-white barred chicken as a "Dominicker", as they held a beloved place in American farmyards for hundreds of years.
 
What area are you in?
Oh my gosh, I can't believe I forgot to put that in the post! I'm in central Maryland, about 15 minutes east of Mt. Airy. Anyone would be welcome to pick them up, and we could do drop off as well within a reasonable distance.
 
It happens!

There's bound to be some BYC members up there, I'm just not sure who 🤔

Have you tried Craigslist in your area or a flyer at your local feed stores?
 
I haven't tried either of those, but they're great ideas, thanks! I did make posts on two FaceBook groups, on the Dominique specific group (that post has been pending for 2 months :() and on the Maryland poultry swap group, which got no offers. I should probably try again when I actually have the chicks; I've noticed that the posts with the most activity all contain pictures of the adorable chicks they're trying to get rid of!

Anyway, I'm just hopeful I'll find anybody who's interested in male chicks. I know every chicken forum is saturated with people trying to get rid of roosters and male chicks they can't keep, so it'll be a challenge. I would actually love to keep them and raise them up as meat chickens myself, but I'm not sure I have the space. Thanks again!
 
Yes, there are a lot of cockerel and rooster ads out there right now!

I hear you on space. I know it's heading into fall so a chicken tractor might be more challenging, but I got a 10x12' pen off Amazon and set it up for the extra boys and I move it around the yard. If you did want to try to keep some for meat that's an option to make space for them. I didn't want to invest much in my setup, so the only thing I bought was the run, everything else I used I had around the place to make their roost and shade / rain shelter on part of the sides. It doesn't look like a show piece but it's keeping the boys save, mostly dry and they get fresh grass every other day.
 
That's a great idea, I'll do some more poking around to see if it might work for me. Thanks so much for the suggestion! And if you can think of any BYC members in my area, please do let them know I'll have some good heritage cockerels I'll need to get off my hands ;)
 
I love Dominiques and would take them if I could but I live in New Hampshire so I can’t 😭
They are so cute!
IMG_0882.jpeg

This is Scooby!
 

New posts New threads Active threads

Back
Top Bottom