Dominique Thread!

[EastNashChick]

How does this breed do in the summer? It is about 110° in the summer where I'm from

We are at about 60-80% humidity here in the summer which can be a 110 heat index here. They seem fine, we just have lots of sates for them and sand for dust baths

 

[Faraday40]

Can't answer about the heat, but I'm impressed with how well they do in the cold. My Dom has no problem walking in a little snow (while the rest of the flock hides inside the covered run to avoid a small dusting of the evil white stuff.) We had a few nights of -10 to -20'F this year and she had no frostbite. I'm pretty impressed with my pullet. Although the eggs are not the biggest, she's my most frequent layer.

 

[centrarchid]

How does this breed do in the summer? It is about 110° in the summer where I'm from

They will go out of lay once temperatures get into the high 90's. Make so lots of shade with a gentle breeze during heat of day. I would want them on contact with ground that can be wetted in morning so they can can lay and stand on it. Also expect feeding during middle of the day to stop and water intake to increase greatly. Some breeds are not well suited for some environments and the high heat setting is not ideal for American Dominiques. I would look into something like Turkens or more gracile Fayemas.

 

[Sylvester017]

How does this breed do in the summer? It is about 110° in the summer where I'm from

Some people say the comb size determines whether a breed can withstand either cold or hot temps. However, one Texas BYCer said he got temps up to 110o to 112o and found that comb size on his chickens didn't matter so much as how heavy his chickens were. He said his smaller lighterweight breeds did fine but was losing some of his larger heavier breeds because of the heat. Since Doms are a light to medium weight breed they should do fine as long as they have plenty of cool clean water (I use Brite Tap nipple valve waterers to keep the water clean and add ice cubes) and I leave a water mister on all day under a popup canopy so my chickens can choose how cool they want to be. I have one hen that will sit under the water mister all day during our humid summers while our little Silkies will be toodling around foraging. I don't keep any breed over 5-lbs because of our brutal SoCal humid summers. Of all the breeds we've had our little 2-lb Silkies do best in heatwaves as long as there's plenty of cool water and cool produce like watermelon or cantaloupe available in the shade.

I have 3 of these red Brite Tap nipple valve waterers around the yard. In summer we'll toss ice cubes into the insulated water jug.



There are two nipple valves on each Brite Tap. The Brite Taps screw into the spigot of 2-gallon Rubbermaid jugs.



Here's one of our hens using a Brite Tap waterer. I can go 2 weeks or more in cool weather before having to clean out the jug. Sure makes chicken chores easier when I don't have to change open dirty water bowls 2 to 3x every day! The Brite Tap is recommended for small flocks of about a dozen. I have only 4 hens but still space 3 Brite Taps around the yard. It was a costly investment for me but I love the portability of being able to place these jugs wherever I want and easy to carry them to a cleaning station.

 

[CuteChickens]

I live in Arizona. So its pretty hot here thanks. I have seen those jugs around. And I heard to get misters too. Now I heard this breed is pretty friendly. Is that true?

 

[Sylvester017]

I live in Arizona. So its pretty hot here thanks. I have seen those jugs around. And I heard to get misters too. Now I heard this breed is pretty friendly. Is that true?

The Brite Tap isn't cheap but regarding time and convenience and cleanliness of it's upkeep it's been worth it after the 4 years I struggled with dirty open water bowls and the wild bird and chicken poops to clean out the bowls 2 and 3x daily! Being able to put ice inside the insulated Brite Tap jugs keeps the water cool not for hours but for DAYS! The misters are really a necessity for us in humid SoCal. We got an Orbit Mistand a few years ago and then an Arctic Cool stand last year. We bought several packages of mister nozzles for when the hard water minerals clog up the nozzles. We tried cleaning the nozzles with CLR and it was a joke. Much easier to just replace the nozzle with a new one.

As for Dom's friendliness - they are a dream as a chick. Friendly, outgoing, curious, unafraid, almost pesty. One breeder I talked to on the American Dominique website a few years ago said the adults are just as friendly. Unfortunately my Dom pullet never lived to POL so I can't vouch for the adult but we adored her as a chick/juvenile. Where other chick breeds might cower in the corner of a brooder a Dom chick will come running up to you to see what you're up to. Other breeds might come running up to you also but soon get bored and run off. But our Dom chick stayed to explore our hair, eyeglasses, clothing, and then settle into our hand for a nap or go to sleep on our warm computer keyboard. She found my hair net on the table and took her first "dust bath" in that hair net. Chicks are so funny. We were sad to have lost her to a very sudden seizure just out of the blue. She was not sick but apparently something was physically wrong - chicks are delicate and if they get to 4 or 5 months old should be reliably hardy as adults.

Another breed I equate with the friendly outgoing curious unafraid nature of a Dom is the Breda breed of chicken. The only difference between the two is that Bredas are not broody and one lays brown eggs and one lays white. Otherwise they are both good active foragers making other breeds look "lazy", they are both lighterweight birds and thus easier on the feed bill, they don't wander very far from the barnyard, they love to talk with their humans, they don't mind being petted or held (my Leghorn was friendly but human touch was not her thing), they are trusting and unafraid, and the list goes on. Except that a difference between Doms/Bredas would be appearance, of course, and the Breda is not considered a broody hen.

I love a lot of different breeds and Dom is at the top 5 of my list -- and over BRs any day of the week. I've also had the heavier BRs but prefer the lighterweight Doms. Everyone has favourites and Doms happen to be one of mine as both pet and utility and is usually a good flockmate not as prone to bullying as our larger BRs were. JMHO

 

[CuteChickens]

Tha

The Brite Tap isn't cheap but regarding time and convenience and cleanliness of it's upkeep it's been worth it after the 4 years I struggled with dirty open water bowls and the wild bird and chicken poops to clean out the bowls 2 and 3x daily!  Being able to put ice inside the insulated Brite Tap jugs keeps the water cool not for hours but for DAYS!  The misters are really a necessity for us in humid SoCal.  We got an Orbit Mistand a few years ago and then an Arctic Cool stand last year.  We bought several packages of mister nozzles for when the hard water minerals clog up the nozzles.  We tried cleaning the nozzles with CLR and it was a joke.  Much easier to just replace the nozzle with a new one.

As for Dom's friendliness - they are a dream as a chick.  Friendly, outgoing, curious, unafraid, almost pesty.  One breeder I talked to on the American Dominique website a few years ago said the adults are just as friendly.  Unfortunately my Dom pullet never lived to POL so I can't vouch for the adult but we adored her as a chick/juvenile.  Where other chick breeds might cower in the corner of a brooder a Dom chick will come running up to you to see what you're up to.  Other breeds might come running up to you also but soon get bored and run off.  But our Dom chick stayed to explore our hair, eyeglasses, clothing, and then settle into our hand for a nap or go to sleep on our warm computer keyboard.  She found my hair net on the table and took her first "dust bath" in that hair net.  Chicks are so funny.  We were sad to have lost her to a very sudden seizure just out of the blue.  She was not sick but apparently something was physically wrong - chicks are delicate and if they get to 4 or 5 months old should be reliably hardy as adults.

Another breed I equate with the friendly outgoing curious unafraid nature of a Dom is the Breda breed of chicken.  The only difference between the two is that Bredas are not broody and one lays brown eggs and one lays white.  Otherwise they are both good active foragers making other breeds look "lazy", they are both lighterweight birds and thus easier on the feed bill, they don't wander very far from the barnyard, they love to talk with their humans, they don't mind being petted or held (my Leghorn was friendly but human touch was not her thing), they are trusting and unafraid, and the list goes on.  Except that a difference between Doms/Bredas would be appearance, of course, and the Breda is not considered a broody hen.

I love a lot of different breeds and Dom is at the top 5 of my list -- and over BRs any day of the week.  I've also had the heavier BRs but prefer the lighterweight Doms.  Everyone has favourites and Doms happen to be one of mine as both pet and utility and is usually a good flockmate not as prone to bullying as our larger BRs were.  JMHO

thanks for all the info, ill look into

 

[Faraday40]

I live in Arizona. So its pretty hot here thanks. I have seen those jugs around. And I heard to get misters too. Now I heard this breed is pretty friendly. Is that true?

As with everything, each bird will have indiv personalities. Mine is always the 1st to run up to greet me & follows me around the yard. We have several orpingtons, so perhaps part of it is because the jolly, 7-9lb orps just can't move as fast. LOL She will jump up into our laps if invited & seems to enjoy people interactions. She's far from skittish but can run from danger if needed. She gets along well within my flock. (mid of pecking order.) I have not seen her bully other hens nor get beat up.

 

[CuteChickens]

I think I'm going to go head and purchase one this fall

...

As with everything, each bird will have indiv personalities.  Mine is always the 1st to run up to greet me & follows me around the yard.  We have several orpingtons, so perhaps part of it is because the jolly, 7-9lb orps just can't move as fast. LOL  She will jump up into our laps if invited & seems to enjoy people interactions.  She's far from skittish but can run from danger if needed.  She gets along well within my flock. (mid of pecking order.)  I have not seen her bully other hens nor get beat up.
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[hellbender]

A hopeful inquiry...I'm wondering if anyone has/knows of any well bred Dominique pullets within reasonable driving distance to the central highlands of West Virginia?????????


Thanks for any information

RON