Dominique Thread!

[diriel]

centrarchid,

It is exactly your Old Time type of breed development that has me looking forward to one day owning some of your Dom's. I wish more breeders would take an approach similar to yours!

 

[Tnic]

My Dom gals are definitely displaying that inquisitive Dom personality. I have not put any time into socializing this batch of birds, but the Doms are under my feet the minute I step into the run. One of them runs up to me and squats the minute she sees me. They spend a lot of time checking out my clothing to see if there's anything edible. One of them jumps up on the perch at waist height and seems to beg for a facial and neck massage. She'll lean into me and close her eyes, especially when I scritch her neck.

If ours (when we get em) do that, my wife will be in heaven. She constantly wants me to show the vid (from one of the BYC gang) with the Buff Os running to "Henny Pennies, c'mere girls". "Zees I want! Zees I want!!!!"

 

[Sylvester017]

If ours (when we get em) do that, my wife will be in heaven. She constantly wants me to show the vid (from one of the BYC gang) with the Buff Os running to "Henny Pennies, c'mere girls". "Zees I want! Zees I want!!!!"

Orps can be sweet chickens as almost any chicken can become a pet. However, with Doms there is no effort whatsoever to socialize them as they are outgoing and unafraid from day-olds. They almost seem to crave human interaction to almost being pesty with their curiosity and vocalizations with their owners. They are a unique breed that can only be understood by owning them to know what we're saying about them. Their feathering also has an individual soft feeling to them quite unlike most other breeds' feathers.

 

[Tnic]

Really hoping to get started come Spring.

I hear Buckeyes are also pretty chummy and I want a flock of them too.

 

[TheNewMrsEvans]

Anybody know a breeder on the west coast who ships eggs or chicks? Want nice looking birds but production is important too! Gotta pay the feed bills

 

[Sylvester017]

Really hoping to get started come Spring.

I hear Buckeyes are also pretty chummy and I want a flock of them too.

We recommended Doms and/or Buckeyes to a Colorado family. They got a quad of Doms and added a couple Buckeye pullets. They loved both breeds and found them hardy for free ranging in their snowy weather. I never had Buckeyes so I was glad to get their feedback on how they worked out. I knew both breeds were mellow and personable but never expected the couple to get both breeds.

 

[The Yakima Kid]

Anybody know a breeder on the west coast who ships eggs or chicks? Want nice looking birds but production is important too! Gotta pay the feed bills

Good luck with that. I've been looking for a year; the best I can find is driving several hundred miles to another state.

 

[Sylvester017]

Anybody know a breeder on the west coast who ships eggs or chicks? Want nice looking birds but production is important too! Gotta pay the feed bills

A Dominique Club member (her name's Heaven I believe) lives on the West Coast (OR or WA?) but she raises show bantams, not LF. She attends the poultry shows in NoCal so you might arrange to meet her at a show and pick up eggs/birds from her or other Dom members who might be attending the show. Go on the Dominique Club website and check out the members list for someone. I was contacting just about everyone on the list last year and finally gave up - I wasn't interested in hatching eggs or chicks but juveniles - the breeders seemed reluctant to ship.

I finally went down to my feed store who orders his chicks from Privett Hatchery (NM) from May thru Sept and was satisfied with the quality of the stock. I didn't want to deal with day-old chicks but it was the easiest way to get Doms and since the females are identifiable at day old I was guaranteed a pullet. Our feed store regularly orders from Privett Hatchery. You might consider Privett to order your batch of Dom chicks. Most hatcheries require a minimum order of 15-25 so you might split an order with another person if you can't handle that many chickens or pre-arrange with a local feed store to sell your extras on consignment for you. Feed store chicks sell really fast - especially popular breeds like EEs, RIRs, BRs, Legs, Orps, 'Lorps, or rare breeds like Doms, Marans, etc.

Our feed store stopped ordering the Mareck's vaccinations for chicks because if there was a little scab or dry blood the other chicks would peck at the poor chick to death. Not only that but there are several strains of Mareck's disease and the one vaccination doesn't cover all the different strains - there's no guarantee the vaccination will prevent one of the forms of Mareck's.

Hope this helps you.

 

[The Yakima Kid]

Ouch. I drive past two feed stores to a third just so I can be sure of having chicks immunized for Marek's disease - although it may not protect against all strains, I've noticed that those who don't immunize lose a lot more chickens to it.

 

[The Yakima Kid]

A Dominique Club member (her name's Heaven I believe) lives on the West Coast (OR or WA?) but she raises show bantams, not LF. She attends the poultry shows in NoCal so you might arrange to meet her at a show and pick up eggs/birds from her or other Dom members who might be attending the show. Go on the Dominique Club website and check out the members list for someone. I was contacting just about everyone on the list last year and finally gave up - I wasn't interested in hatching eggs or chicks but juveniles - the breeders seemed reluctant to ship.

Yeah. There is also a woman who raises very good bantams here in California. I communicated with her, but my husband thinks large fowl make more economic sense - as if we are particularly sensible given the expensive powder-coated aviary in the backyard....