Dominique Thread!

good to know, thanks everyone for your responses. I love the Breed, they are the sweetest I've owned yet and I've had 7 different types here. Would like to raise some more, I kept one roostrer and one pullet from the bunch I ordered from Cackle Hatchery. Been very p[leased with their temperment all along and so have been the people who've bought some from me.
 
My youngest are laying very small eggs. I have one hen that's 4 years old and hers are large. I think they are darker in color too but that might be my imagination!
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I'd like to share some photos. All comments are welcomed and appreciated.

This photo is the 4 year old hen on the right... she's just finishing her molt. On the left is a young pullet of hers.

This is a young cock from this year's hatch... under 6 months... I'd have to dig a calendar out to be more precise.
 
This is why it's hard to find a vet that you can really trust with your poultry. Someone was telling me today their vet told them to completely depopulate their flock because they had coccidiosis (a VERY treatable issue)
 
This is why it's hard to find a vet that you can really trust with your poultry. Someone was telling me today their vet told them to completely depopulate their flock because they had coccidiosis (a VERY treatable issue)

So true. And even avian specialists tend to know more about parrots and other pet birds than they know about chickens (I have a pet parrot, I've had her for 17 years so I've been through a few avian vets in that time). My neighbor is a vet (small animals, mostly dogs and cats) and is the first to admit that she doesn't know a lot about birds. My grandfather was a farm vet, he treated mostly cattle and horses. He always considered poultry expendable on the farm and not worthy of veterinary treatment because they were so easily replaced. So yeah, it's sometimes an uphill battle! It behooves us to learn as much as possible about the anatomy and health of our own birds, because sometimes we are on our own. I found a great website the other day, let me find it again ...
http://partnersah.vet.cornell.edu/avian-atlas/
Also, the Journal of Avian Pathology is an amazing resource, if you can wade through the technical language.
 
With dominiques if you are breeding them to be dominiques, get numbers up so some losses can be tolerated. When a bird is then noted to be in poor health, cull it. Over long-term this will keep line strong or even improve with respect to whatever health issues challenge your flock on consistent basis.
 
My Dom rooster hates my wife. He will fly up at her head. He will jump up and kick at her back. I am the one who took care of them from the time they were chicks but now my wife has been taking care of them. For the most part he doesnt bother me at all. Some times I can even pick him up and he will not fight me. Is there anything she can do to turn his behavior around. On the plus side he is protective of the hens. He escorts them around, finds food for them and takes them to it. Greeting every creature who comes near to see if they are safe. She yells at him when he does this I think that just makes it worse in my opinion.
 
My Dom rooster hates my wife. He will fly up at her head. He will jump up and kick at her back. I am the one who took care of them from the time they were chicks but now my wife has been taking care of them. For the most part he doesnt bother me at all. Some times I can even pick him up and he will not fight me. Is there anything she can do to turn his behavior around. On the plus side he is protective of the hens. He escorts them around, finds food for them and takes them to it. Greeting every creature who comes near to see if they are safe. She yells at him when he does this I think that just makes it worse in my opinion.


She needs to be a bigger rooster than him, basically. Do a search on this forum for 'aggressive rooster' and you will find many threads with many tactics. With my own roosters, I just make sure that they always know who is boss. That doesn't mean I ever treat them badly. But neither do I coddle them or ever treat them like pets. If one tries to jump or flap at me, I'll pick him up and pin his legs with my hand and walk around with him tucked under my arm so he can't flap at all, until I can't stand to hold him any longer. I don't give treats to the roosters, because a dominant male would never let a subordinate male have his snacks. If they do the little wing-down dance at me, I walk at them like I'm charging them or wave my hand or foot out at them, and they are forced to run away as the loser. And in the end, if a rooster is simply too aggressive to get the point, he goes to freezer camp!
 

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