Well, we've been cleaning their toes off and figured out is was basically like having a cast of poop on their toes. It was dried hard as a rock. We had to soak their feet in water and keep rubbing until they came off.And, almost all of them had clumps of almost like hard clay on the ends of their toes. Has anyone ever seen this before?
We got six Dominiques today from a local breeder. We were told they were about 4 weeks old before we left. But, when we got there, we were told they were 2 - 3 weeks old. Can anyone tell me about how old they look? I wouldn't say any more then 2 weeks and one of them looks more like 1 week. Once we got food and water in front of them and they finally figured out what it was, they ate and drank like they were starved.
It looks like you have one whose wings are well feathered, 4 that are starting to feather and one that is still just downy. I'd say you have one at 1.5 - 2 weeks, four at about a week and one that is only a few days. I make this judgement according to how my Andalusians feather out. I may be WAY off base as I don't know how the Dominique feathers out.
And, almost all of them had clumps of almost like hard clay on the ends of their toes. Has anyone ever seen this before?
Yep, they were living in filthy conditions. That is what causes this. You can soak and rub... takes a long time, or you can try using a pair of pliers and very slowly and gently squeezing the clumps from side to side, not top to bottom, until they crumble. Then just pick the rest of it off.
Sorry about the condition of their feet, glad you got them fixed up. These appear about 2 weeks old. I agree with you on genders. Something to note is that the little female in the bottom picture appears to have a single comb.This is the oldest looking Dominique chick beside one of our 4 week old BCM chicks.
After doing some research about sexing Dom's and finding out about the coloring on their heads, we think we have 3 pullets and 3 roos.
In this pic, we think the two with heads pointing down are roos and the other one, pointing up, is a pullet.
In this picture, we think the single one at the bottom and the one on the left at the top are both pullets. The one at the top on the right is a roo.
Can anyone verify our guesses?
50%? I'd wonder if they aren't barred rock (or possibly marans, depending on the color of their legs) crosses. Remember, the rose comb is dominant, so the odds are good that if you breed a Dominique rooster to just about anything, you'll end up with a barred rose comb bird. There's more to the breed than color and comb shape. On the bright side, if they do have some Dominique in them, they should be hardy, productive and great foragers.
50%? I'd wonder if they aren't barred rock (or possibly marans, depending on the color of their legs) crosses. Remember, the rose comb is dominant, so the odds are good that if you breed a Dominique rooster to just about anything, you'll end up with a barred rose comb bird. There's more to the breed than color and comb shape. On the bright side, if they do have some Dominique in them, they should be hardy, productive and great foragers.
