Dominique Thread!

[Jungleexplorer]

[COLOR=0000CD]I guess anything can show up in Doms -- even a straight comb occasionally which is how the BRs branched off last century.[/COLOR]

My line of doms are a heritage line that is pre BR creatio. I never get anything but rose combs. What you see in my pictures is what all my combs look like.

 

[Greywolf1962]

Well, after 3+ months of looking I found some one close that has some Doms. Now if only I can talk him out of a few...

 

[Lucky KY Chicks]

I am looking for a breeder to buy chicks from. I value foraging skills, ability to brood chicks, survival skills in free range environment and similarity to SOP. I can work on SOP myself so it is less important but I don't want to buy barred rocks. I have had Dominiques for over a year and I'm in love with them. I'm having trouble finding exactly what I'm looking for though. I have bought 4 different local lines and have only been somewhat satisfied with one so far and one line is only 3 weeks old so we will see how they mature. Is there anyone who is culling and breeding Dominiques for these traits willing to sell some chicks?

 

[Bigwig]

Hows much do they lay per week?

 

[centrarchid]

Hows much do they lay per week?

Pullets can produce almost every day for the first few months but that drops down to about 5 egg per bird per week. Second year birds give me about 5 eggs per week. Four year old hens are doing good to give me an egg every other day.

 

[THeelChickinKY]

@Bigwig
Our Dominique hens are just over one year old and they lay roughly 5 eggs per week. They did really well over winter, too; when some others stopped all together, their laying slowed down but didn't stop.

 

[EastNashChick]

Im

...

@Bigwig
Our Dominique hens are just over one year old and they lay roughly 5 eggs per week. They did really well over winter, too; when some others stopped all together, their laying slowed down but didn't stop.[/quote


I'm in Nashville and looking for Dom chicks as well, but frequently travel through Paducah. Are you located near there?

 

[Sylvester017]

I am looking for a breeder to buy chicks from. I value foraging skills, ability to brood chicks, survival skills in free range environment and similarity to SOP. I can work on SOP myself so it is less important but I don't want to buy barred rocks. I have had Dominiques for over a year and I'm in love with them. I'm having trouble finding exactly what I'm looking for though. I have bought 4 different local lines and have only been somewhat satisfied with one so far and one line is only 3 weeks old so we will see how they mature. Is there anyone who is culling and breeding Dominiques for these traits willing to sell some chicks?

Go through the past posts on this Dom thread and read other posts. There are some serious breeders as well as casual Dom owners on here and you may like the way some are dedicated to improving or at least keeping the integrity of the Dom breed. Cackle Hatchery is having Mark Fields help them improve their bantam and LF Doms so you could order a City/Town special from Cackle of just 3 pullets and/or add a couple cockerels to see if you like how they're improving their Dom line. Mark is the one you will find on dominiquechicken.com with a nice history of the American Dominique. Mark has had a passion for Doms for decades. Show qualty people have Doms but it's like pulling teeth to get them to part w/birds and most won't ship their stock. They prefer you pick up the birds preferably at a meeting/show. I'd rather not deal w/show breeders since I don't feel they concentrate enough on the other qualities of Doms like production and/or brooding. I'm not knocking what/how they're breeding as I'm all for preserving this fantastic breed but there are a lot of people on this thread that are doing wonders with their Doms too and you might want to PM a person with a post you liked reading.

 

[Lucky KY Chicks]

Go through the past posts on this Dom thread and read other posts.  There are some serious breeders as well as casual Dom owners on here and you may like the way some are dedicated to improving or at least keeping the integrity of the Dom breed.  Cackle Hatchery is having Mark Fields help them improve their bantam and LF Doms so you could order a City/Town special from Cackle of just 3 pullets and/or add a couple cockerels to see if you like how they're improving their Dom line.  Mark is the one you will find on dominiquechicken.com with a nice history of the American Dominique.  Mark has had a passion for Doms for decades.  Show qualty people have Doms but it's like pulling teeth to get them to part w/birds and most won't ship their stock.  They prefer you pick up the birds preferably at a meeting/show.  I'd rather not deal w/show breeders since I don't feel they concentrate enough on the other qualities of Doms like production and/or brooding.  I'm not knocking what/how they're breeding as I'm all for preserving this fantastic breed but there are a lot of people on this thread that are doing wonders with their Doms too and you might want to PM a person with a post you liked reading.

Thanks @Sylvester017, I have done this a few times with out success. That's why I'm hoping the people who are willing to sell will comment. I bought a few from Cackle last summer. They seemed ok but none lived to adulthood. I know they are kept in an environment focused on egg production and kept in breeding pens. These circumstances limit foraging ability and mothering ability and therefore these traits could be bred out. I'm looking for someone with an active free range, self sustaining flock or similar.

 

[Sylvester017]

Thanks @Sylvester017 , I have done this a few times with out success. That's why I'm hoping the people who are willing to sell will comment. I bought a few from Cackle last summer. They seemed ok but none lived to adulthood. I know they are kept in an environment focused on egg production and kept in breeding pens. These circumstances limit foraging ability and mothering ability and therefore these traits could be bred out. I'm looking for someone with an active free range, self sustaining flock or similar.

Contact the Dominique Club of America officers. I believe one of them is in TN or KY nearby you hopefully. The officers are show breeders and most won't ship but if you could pick up stock nearby that would be an option. Email them and see if they can refer you to members that might be local to you. Be focused in contacting the officers as not all will return emails.