Dominique Thread!

[Sylvester017]

My #1 rooster started crowing at about 3 months, give or take. I had noticed that the "hen" Dominique looked every bit as large, with huge feet the same size as his. I worried that she was the same size, and had a much larger comb than the other hens, but those 2 are the only dominiques i have, so no frame of reference. They behave basically the same as before, not the most friendly of all my chicks, but certainly no shrinking violets. The first rooster started crowing over a month ago, so I assumed that #2 was a hen. He showed no signs of aggression toward the hens, as #1 has, so I had no reason to believe he was a rooster.(They were sold to me as pullets, and all the others seem to be so).

Dom chicks are sexable at day-old. See http://www.dominiquechicken.com/Sexing_Dominique_chicks.html to view the sexing of male and female Dom chicks. Someone didn't want their cockerels amd sold them off as pullets to you. Any Dom breeder would know the difference between male/female chicks. I'm not a breeder and can tell the difference in the feed store if a Dom is a pullet or not.

 

[lazy gardener]

JUST on more of the many reasons why Doms are so wonderful!

 

[VegaJones]

Anyone have any hatching eggs or chicks for sale im in fl

 

[lazy gardener]

Hi Dom lovers! Here's the ? of the day: I have 10 female chicks that are 13 weeks old. The BSL (EE x PBR), and the RCBL are sprouting little red wattles and combs. The (hatchery) Doms and the SLW are lagging behind, with the Doms not showing any color or growth at all. At what age have you all noticed that your female chicks start with comb and wattle growth? And at what age do your Doms start laying. Of course, I realize that a lot depends on advent of sexual maturity in relation to maximum day length and nutrition, but looking for some general info here. Also, if you have some info to share, can you tell us if your Doms are hatchery vs. breeder stock? Thank you in advance.

 

[Sylvester017]

Hi Dom lovers! Here's the ? of the day: I have 10 female chicks that are 13 weeks old. The BSL (EE x PBR), and the RCBL are sprouting little red wattles and combs. The (hatchery) Doms and the SLW are lagging behind, with the Doms not showing any color or growth at all. At what age have you all noticed that your female chicks start with comb and wattle growth? And at what age do your Doms start laying. Of course, I realize that a lot depends on advent of sexual maturity in relation to maximum day length and nutrition, but looking for some general info here. Also, if you have some info to share, can you tell us if your Doms are hatchery vs. breeder stock? Thank you in advance.

We only had our Dom chick from day 8 to day 21 before she suffered a sudden seizure and died in our hands. She was a feed store chick that came from Privett Hatchery in NM. Like you we also wondered at her slower growth - but then Doms are smaller birds than BRs or RIRs or SLW so we didn't question it too much. Of course we lost her too early to tell much but she had sprouted her juvie wing feathers and was getting a little button of tail feathers where pictures of larger fowl seemed to have a lot less down and more juvie feathering. She was constantly itching from all the new feather growth. She'd fall asleep and 2 seconds later would wake up to scratch an itch. Then she'd fall asleep again just to scratch yet another itch. If we had 2 Dom chicks we would've named them "Itchy" and "Scratchy" LOL

 

[Alaskan]

Anyone have any hatching eggs or chicks for sale im in fl

There is a Dominique club website. You have to pay the membership fee (only ten bucks) and then you can see the breeder list. There is also a Dominique Facebook group.

I would try one or both or those.

Hi Dom lovers!  Here's the ? of the day:  I have 10 female chicks that are 13 weeks old.  The BSL (EE x PBR), and the RCBL are sprouting little red wattles and combs.  The (hatchery) Doms and the SLW are lagging behind, with the Doms not showing any color or growth at all.  At what age have you all noticed that your female chicks start with comb and wattle growth?  And at what age do your Doms start laying.  Of course, I realize that a lot depends on advent of sexual maturity in relation to maximum day length and nutrition, but looking for some general info here.  Also, if you have some info to share, can you tell us if your Doms are hatchery vs. breeder stock?  Thank you in advance.

I have Dominiques for the first time this year. I got one bunch from Cackle (all the dom breeders said that Cackle had the best stock available, for a hatchery) and I got a few from a breeder, "windy ridge".

I have found that the doms are growing MUCH faster, and are MUCH bigger than the other breeds.. The similar age EE is maybe growing at the same speed, but the rose comb dark brown leghorn, rose comb white leghorn, hamburgs, are all smaller. Of course, all of those breeds end up smaller than a Dom.

Some of my male doms did color up pretty early, but with very close to no wattle growth. My girls have no color and have no wattle growth at all.

My leghorns, even though they are rose comb, have more wattle and comb growth than the Dominiques.

My chicks were all hatched about May 2nd.... So no laying yet.

 

[lazy gardener]

Thanks Alaskan. From your description, Cackle has superior stock in Doms, but MMc may have better RCBL. I'm looking forward to seeing how these girls perform. None of them are terribly friendly, in fact, i'd call the Doms, RCBL, and the SLW flighty birds, with the RCBL being the worst. BUT, flighty, may mean that at the end of the day, they'll still be around to give me eggs, while the more sedate birds, may end up being lunch for a local predator. I love the looks of all of these birds, and the home bred BSL's (while initially reminding me of the monkeys on the Wizard of Oz) are now coming into their own with their initially dull black mousy looking feathers developing that nice green/purple beetle sheen. Down the road, I'm hoping to get some nice Dom stock, but by the time I'm again ready to add to my flock, I may be so pleased with my own crosses that it will be a moot point. Please keep me posted about how your Hamburgs do. Those were an other bird on my close watch list for my flock plans. What color Hamburgs did you get? Did you get sexed chicks this year, or SR? I believe there is a Hamburg with coloring that would do well in a SL or an auto-sexing breeding program.

 

[Alaskan]

All of my leghorns I got from a breeder.

My Hamburgs I got from Cackle, and Cackle only offers them, golden pencilled, as straight run, so that is what I got.

So, I got the doms, sexed, and the hamburgs SR from Cackle.

My leghorns are growing fast, but they are very "leghorn", so thin. My doms have such leg bones on them, lots more frame. The breeder doms are a but more streamlined, which is better. I think that some, but not all, of the Cackle doms will be too meaty and too fluffy to be a good dom type.

Fascinating to watch them all grow.

 

[tgooberbutt]

Hi Dom lovers! Here's the ? of the day: I have 10 female chicks that are 13 weeks old. The BSL (EE x PBR), and the RCBL are sprouting little red wattles and combs. The (hatchery) Doms and the SLW are lagging behind, with the Doms not showing any color or growth at all. At what age have you all noticed that your female chicks start with comb and wattle growth? And at what age do your Doms start laying. Of course, I realize that a lot depends on advent of sexual maturity in relation to maximum day length and nutrition, but looking for some general info here. Also, if you have some info to share, can you tell us if your Doms are hatchery vs. breeder stock? Thank you in advance.

Two Doms - They are both from Meyer Hatchery's April 15th hatch. They all free range and have free access to an organic feed, watermelon rinds, and either cracked 9-grain, oats or cooked rice..

- June 15th

- May 21st

- May 21st, the Americana was from the same hatch date and hatchery....The Americanas seem to be growing much faster and bigger...

 

[buffalogal]

We only had our Dom chick from day 8 to day 21 before she suffered a sudden seizure and died in our hands. She was a feed store chick that came from Privett Hatchery in NM. Like you we also wondered at her slower growth - but then Doms are smaller birds than BRs or RIRs or SLW so we didn't question it too much. Of course we lost her too early to tell much but she had sprouted her juvie wing feathers and was getting a little button of tail feathers where pictures of larger fowl seemed to have a lot less down and more juvie feathering. She was constantly itching from all the new feather growth. She'd fall asleep and 2 seconds later would wake up to scratch an itch. Then she'd fall asleep again just to scratch yet another itch. If we had 2 Dom chicks we would've named them "Itchy" and "Scratchy" LOL

Chicks die of all kinds of things, but from your description, my guess would be that it had mites. Even baby chicks can carry mites, which are notoriously hard to see, and a severe infestation will not only cause the restlessness and lack of sleep, but can make a chick unthrifty so it doesn't grow and feather out like it should. If there are too many, it can kill them.