Dominique Thread!

[ranchmomma2]

Anybody know of any breeders in or close to Idaho?
P.S. Thank you for all the Roo responses too, super helpful and encouraging to pursue this breed.

 

[Alaskan]

most of mine are from Cackle, not awesome, not terrible...

my current roo is from Cackle

 

[ranchmomma2]

Any experience with McMurray birds? Thanks yet again

 

[ThatFarmerChick]

Any experience with McMurray birds? Thanks yet again

My McMurray girl is still small. She will be 5 weeks tomorrow.

 

[Sylvester017]

Hi all. Looking to add some Doms to my homestead flock. Just wondering how Dom roos are? Are they gentle on their girls? I dont want any bald backs...Thanks for the info

We recommended to some internet friends that wanted hardy cold-weather breeds so we recommended Doms and/or Buckeyes. They got a quad of Doms (1 Dom roo & 3 pullets) and decided to add two Buckeye pullets and they loved them for their CO snow free-range.

 

[ThatFarmerChick]

Hi all. Looking to add some Doms to my homestead flock. Just wondering how Dom roos are? Are they gentle on their girls? I dont want any bald backs...Thanks for the info

You may want to invest in some chicken saddles/aprons. Sometimes a roo can just have a favorite that gets it more often than the others. Then there are some boys that need 5+ girls, so he isn't so harsh on the hens. It is just precautionary. Not all boys are bad with this, but every roo is different.

 

[kristen2678]

You may want to invest in some chicken saddles/aprons. Sometimes a roo can just have a favorite that gets it more often than the others. Then there are some boys that need 5+ girls, so he isn't so harsh on the hens. It is just precautionary. Not all boys are bad with this, but every roo is different.

Agreed. Any male I've ever had has caused bald backs. Bantams included. My Orpington/Marans rooster currently has 20 girls with him. Three are favorites and have aprons. Same was true when I had Doms.

 

[centrarchid]

It is not just about over-mating for the bald backs. Nutrition also. When laying hens in more complex social environment that is also more with respect to temperature then I suggest using a richer diet than provided by typical layer-formulations.


I can keep hens and roosters as pairs without bare backs and do so every year. Many are American Dominiques.

 

[Alaskan]

After having quite a few discussions with breeders.... I think the bad backs can have a number of causes:

Nutrition
Super rough rooster
Bad feather quality on hens

I have three roosters on 6 hens, in one pen, and the backs are perfect.... (That ratio is bad though, and the hens are missing some feathers where the rooster holds on with his beak)

I have one pair set up... Perfect back,

And I have one rooster with 6, that is a nice ratio, and his hens are perfect.

 

[centrarchid]

I just went through a incubator checking for duds. All exceptionally large eggs have failed to start development. About 2/3 of smaller eggs appear still viable at 15 days. Larger egg problem is from hen side while with smaller eggs I think has at least some rooster component. The really large eggs appear to all be coming from the four year old hen. She lays on average about every second day while the 3 year old and 5 year old and producing about 2 eggs every 3 days. No double yolks evident for the 4 year old hen. She is culling herself by failing to produce hatching eggs. If memory serves she has been producing larger eggs since a pullet with some hatch as a two year old. These guys needs to produce hatching eggs through advanced ages to meet qualifications for heritage breed.