Dominique Thread!

[Sylvester017]

These Dominique girls have completely won me over. I am so glad to have these sweet retirees join my flock.

Java rushing over to join me for my morning coffee - as usual.

I do have tea out there as well and I hope I haven't given the impression that she drinks the coffee too...she did, just the once. She just likes to watch me drink mine and chat to me while I do.

Are they typically a chattier breed?

Many chicken breeds like to murmur or coo and the loud ones just plain squawk! But the Dominique is a human-friendly social creature we found that likes to talk and follow you around like a little pest

. A very good pet and good at egg-laying with the added benefit of being a breed that will raise its own young. Busy foragers, stays somewhat close to the barnyard, and as a lighterweight breed is a little easier on the feed bill. These are charming girls. They seem to crave human interaction. The only other breed I found to compare with the curious outgoing human-friendly personality of the Doms are the Breda - another lighterweight family-friendly chatty breed. I would love to mingle the two breeds in a flock just to see what a chatty bunch I can get -

. They are chatty social breeds but not embarrasingly loud for instance like Ameraucanas, EEs, or Leghorns. I love your Java stories!

 

[islandgirl82]

Quote:
Thank you for responding. The SLWs I've had were/are also chatty but not loud. My EEs are the same way. I never even knew what the eggs song was until I had sex links. The rest of the flock leaves all the hollering to them I guess. Java might be one of the new girls here but she doesn't act that way. Both the Doms that are new here are very friendly - Java a little more people oriented than Gracie. She's developing quite a bond with my Golden Spangled Hamburg too. They never seem to be too far from each other and they can't get close enough to me when they join me in the mornings or when I'm working in the gardens.

 

[EastNashChick]

Beetlejuice and Loretta and the rest of their flock of Ameraucanas and a Jubilee Orpington. I'd love to have a Dom rooster someday, because they are such exceptional girls in behavior, (they do have pretty u-shaped backs which you can't tell from the photos and Loretta has a nice comb with leader) but we can never find any Doms around Nashville anymore. (Beetlejuice was a shipped egg in a dozen and 1 of 3 that hatched.) Our last Dom roo was terribly aggressive. We had to cook him. I'm trying to talk my husband into a 2nd chance on a Dom roo, but they aren't near Nashville anyway!

 

[Sylvester017]

Thank you for responding. The SLWs I've had were/are also chatty but not loud. My EEs are the same way. I never even knew what the eggs song was until I had sex links. The rest of the flock leaves all the hollering to them I guess. Java might be one of the new girls here but she doesn't act that way. Both the Doms that are new here are very friendly - Java a little more people oriented than Gracie. She's developing quite a bond with my Golden Spangled Hamburg too. They never seem to be too far from each other and they can't get close enough to me when they join me in the mornings or when I'm working in the gardens.

You lucked out having quiet birds. My friend and I were embarrassed at how loud our Ameraucana and EEs were! Currently my little Silkies are the noisy ones to announce whenever someone lays an egg but it doesn't last long. Our Ameraucana was just obnoxiously LOUD for so long that the neighbor had to look over the fence to see what was up with her!

Beetlejuice and Loretta and the rest of their flock of Ameraucanas and a Jubilee Orpington. I'd love to have a Dom rooster someday, because they are such exceptional girls in behavior, (they do have pretty u-shaped backs which you can't tell from the photos and Loretta has a nice comb with leader) but we can never find any Doms around Nashville anymore. (Beetlejuice was a shipped egg in a dozen and 1 of 3 that hatched.) Our last Dom roo was terribly aggressive. We had to cook him. I'm trying to talk my husband into a 2nd chance on a Dom roo, but they aren't near Nashville anyway!

Look on the Dominique Club website and contact this Eastern Regional person to see if they can refer you to a local breeder. I didn't have much luck in the past contacting Club members but maybe you will have better luck as I haven't tried to contact anyone recently -- or contact Fred Farthing listed in Central region in the club - he was very nice to talk with when I contacted him a few years ago:

http://www.dominiqueclub.org/?page_id=14

Eastern- Julie Gupton (NC) 919-853-3542 [email protected]
North & South Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, Virginia

GL in finding a good Dom roo - maybe get a couple roos and choose the nicest one to keep as not every individual always turns out perfect.

 

[gbartha]

Some of those eggs could be from Barred Rocks...but there is no way to know, unless the owner of the birds can tell you which eggs were laid by which hens.

Other popular light brown egg layers are Orpingtons, Australorps, and Wyandottes. Wyandottes are a very popular backyard breed and have rose combs, so could be the mothers of the rose comb chicks.

What you have are 6 very sweet backyard chicks of mixed parentage. It will be fun to watch them grow and see what color eggs they produce.

Do realize that since they are mixes it is more difficult to color sex them. Pure Dominiques and pure Barred Rocks are easy to determine sex once they feather in since light =male and dark =female.

In your case, since they are all mixes, the color sexing might work for some, but not for others. Also, because they are mixes I would not be as confidant in sexing them by how fast their combs turn red and their wattles grow, as that is highly variable between breeds.

Looking at the eggs, I would guess you are looking at eggs from hens from at least 3 different breeds, but maybe 6 different breeds.

My white rose comb Leghorn females will develop large bright red combs by 10 weeks, by dark brown rose comb Leghorn females do not develop any red in their comb until right before they lay.

Different breeds (or in my example above, the different varieties within a breed) can have vastly different maturation speeds.

In your case, I would wait for saddle feathers (or other clear male feathers), or an egg, or crowing, before determining sex.

Alaskan just wanted to let you know that you were right! The chickens that he has include: Australorp, Orpington, Rhode Island Red, Leghorn, Ameraucana, Wyandottes, Marans. So they must be a wyandotte mix. Thanks again.

 

[pipAchick]

Ok ? IF I post some ideas on PURE dominique egg shipping COULD this thread give me a yeah/neigh? Trying to get brave.

 

[pipAchick]

I can't explain how much the cardboard drink trays drive me bonkers at drive thru I imagine each truck load is a huge old nice tree

so past three months been thinking is a way to reuse them for a LIVING purpose.
If one where to smash packing peanuts around each egg OR soft packing foam then gently place egg in a drink tray cup,duct tape another drink tray cup on top (down side I know is this is 4eggs per two cup holders BUT if they are getting thrown out WHY not?) then pack three in a larger box secured what are the scales Fiona tip too on good VS bad? (I love experiments that help people so just give me ideas to work with). Weight should still be fairly that off an egg carton. HOPE is eggs would be more secure.
Any thoughts?

 

[Sylvester017]

Ok ? IF I post some ideas on PURE dominique egg shipping COULD this thread give me a yeah/neigh? Trying to get brave.

I can't explain how much the cardboard drink trays drive me bonkers at drive thru I imagine each truck load is a huge old nice tree

so past three months been thinking is a way to reuse them for a LIVING purpose.
If one where to smash packing peanuts around each egg OR soft packing foam then gently place egg in a drink tray cup,duct tape another drink tray cup on top (down side I know is this is 4eggs per two cup holders BUT if they are getting thrown out WHY not?) then pack three in a larger box secured what are the scales Fiona tip too on good VS bad? (I love experiments that help people so just give me ideas to work with). Weight should still be fairly that off an egg carton. HOPE is eggs would be more secure.
Any thoughts?

If you go on youtube.com and search packing or shipping eggs there are several posted videos of how different people mail their shipped eggs. Many have their own ideas of what works best.

 

[Alaskan]

Ok ? IF I post some ideas on PURE dominique egg shipping COULD this thread give me a yeah/neigh? Trying to get brave.

Not sure what you are asking. You want to order eggs to be shipped to you?

I would suggest asking on the facebook Dominique page. There is also a Dominique Club Breeder webpage, if you pay ten bucks you get access to the list of Dom breeders with adresses and contact info.

Realize though, that this is the end of the breeding season. I have already broken up my breeding pens I think over a month back. So, maybe no eggs until next year, maybe a few people still have eggs to sell. Not sure.

However, now to a month or two from now is a great time to pick up extra half grown Doms from breeders as they pick the ones to keep for next year, and get rid of all the rest. These would be much more expensive than eggs, but it is pretty nice to be able to know just how many females and males you will have, and not have the risk that none of the eggs hatch.


As to how to ship, this thread is excellent. I tried to post to the page that would maybe be best to start reading from.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/738943/the-great-egg-shipping-experiment/2400

 

[pipAchick]

Not sure what you are asking. You want to order eggs to be shipped to you?

I would suggest asking on the facebook Dominique page. There is also a Dominique Club Breeder webpage, if you pay ten bucks you get access to the list of Dom breeders with adresses and contact info.

Realize though, that this is the end of the breeding season. I have already broken up my breeding pens I think over a month back. So, maybe no eggs until next year, maybe a few people still have eggs to sell. Not sure.

However, now to a month or two from now is a great time to pick up extra half grown Doms from breeders as they pick the ones to keep for next year, and get rid of all the rest. These would be much more expensive than eggs, but it is pretty nice to be able to know just how many females and males you will have, and not have the risk that none of the eggs hatch.


As to how to ship, this thread is excellent. I tried to post to the page that would maybe be best to start reading from.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/738943/the-great-egg-shipping-experiment/2400

Thanks I'm def gonna look into it. Happy to learn when nice people share.