Dominique Thread!

[centrarchid]

Slow growth? I mean they're only 1 month and 3 weeks old, what makes you think that? These guys are all either full or half brothers and sisters and I've seen their parents (I got them from a breeder). Do you notice any physical deformities or anything that is obviously wrong with them? Your response is a little vague and/or obscure to me.

You are saying I am thinking about something I am not. Read most post more thoroughly.

Answer vague because they are too young to assess on many criteria of importance to me, especially when all I have is images. Health issues or something otherwise not dominique are all that I can judge by when they are young.

 

[Alaskan]

As to your stock.... They are quite young.... And it looks like maybe a bunch of males?


I do like the color contrast that they have... (Not all Doms have the males nice and light, and the girls nice and dark).

And it looks like they truly are Doms!

But yep, I am with Centrarchid about the young stock..... It is horrid difficult to wait, and with my first set I kept looking at them very closely.. But all the old time breeders were correct, their bodies can change a GREAT amount as they grow.

Some things you can cull for... Maturing too slowly, bad growth rate... ... But other than that we have to wait.

I am not as patient as Centrarchid, I start culling at about 4 months.

 

[blueclip]

Yeah I have 3 cockerels and 6 pullets, one of the pullets looks like it might be a bantam (the breeder I got them from has both LF and bantam doms). The cockerel that's in the center facing the cam in every pic appears to be the alpha male, I'm going to keep him and get rid of the other two. I just hope he's nice to me when he grows up!

 

[N2nicole]

I think puddles is trying to keep my RIR away from a hole where she wants to lay her egg!

 

[Alaskan]

Yeah I have 3 cockerels and 6 pullets, one of the pullets looks like it might be a bantam (the breeder I got them from has both LF and bantam doms). The cockerel that's in the center facing the cam in every pic appears to be the alpha male, I'm going to keep him and get rid of the other two. I just hope he's nice to me when he grows up!

If you can, wait until they are as old as possible before deciding which rooster to keep.

 

[blueclip]

How long can you keep roosters before they start fighting and hurting eachother?

 

[Alaskan]

Depends on if they are by themselves (males only) or if they are with females.

If you can keep the males together with zero females... Then you can keep them as long as you want.

If you have to keep the males with the females then it all depends.

Sometimes even when kept with females, they will just scuffle a bit, maybe a tiny bit of blood on the comb, but all ignorable and no big deal... Even with fully mature roosters...

Other times the males, if kept with females, will try to beat the tar out of each other, and you need to step in and remove them.


You will be more likely to keep males together with females, if you have lots of girls....

I think, the last time I had a big bunch of young maturing roosters (so, super hormonal teenagers) penned up with the girls... It wasn't until about 6 months that I HAD to thin the herd.

 

[Alaskan]

It is just that the longer you can wait before you cull, and pick the rooster that you keep, the much better chance you have of picking the best rooster.

I am right now raising up a bunch of nee stock....

I did my first cull at hatch, everything that I didn't like at hatch got sold...

At four months I got rid of all the males that I knew were clearly super impressively bad

And I am now keeping the last bunch to grow out for as long as possible... February would be best, but depending on my winter I might have to do the last cull sooner. (if it is a super harsh winter, I then have to consolidate all of the birds)

The girls I don't have to do a final cull until I want to hatch.

 

[Sylvester017]

Here is a full body picture. He is darker than the other so I don't think I am going to keep it for breeding. As for the large comb/waddles, we don't get too cold during the winter here in Northern VA but I had a couple of RIR rooster loose part of their comb to frostbite, I had to trim the black parts.

Da*#ed frostbite! Now that I see this full roo pic his comb is really thicker than it should be and it might be because he's hobbled but he doesn't have the U-Shape back stance that seems to be the ideal for a roo.

I tried to get side body pictures but they don't cooperate. I had to use a cord to keep them from runnig away. They are still young, they all hatched late April of this year.

There's a little bit of something with each roo that is nice but then something else is not ideal. I like the U-Shape back on the 1st and looks like the 2nd roo has a U-Shape, the 3rd doesn't have the U-Shape stance and sparse tail feathers, the 4th I commented above, the 5th I don't care for the back/tail/comb/wattles. I don't envy you having to make decisions. GL!

Thank you all for the input. First time with Doms, just trying to learn more about this breed.

Keep looking at the idea Dom photo... It helps alot to have the ideal stuck in your brain.

That is so true and great to research pictures to get a good idea of how a Dom should look - that's how I discovered the U-Shape stance/body type was ideal which I happen to like how it looks and which must drive breeders nuts trying to achieve!

I don't have any Dominiques yet, but they are the first chicken breed I plan to get and hope to get some soon!!!

I think you will really love them - they are one of my favorites! Good all-round bird as a pet, utility, flockbird - not a very heavy bird like other dual purpose which is what I like about their size. And it took us a while to find a brown egg breed that wasn't a big heavy combative bird yet had a friendly curious outgoing temperament from the time they are day-olds all the way to adulthood.

 

[blueclip]

Did I mention that my flock are all brothers and sisters, hatched together and are obviously living together? Would the roosters get along because they're brothers and grew up together even if tney're with their sisters?