Dominique Thread!

[Sylvester017]

OMG! What happened to your Silkie?! Our 6-yr-old Black Silkie was our most favorite personality so of course she was the one fated to have ovarian cancer -- how is DD taking it?

 

[Faraday40]

Both kids and I are taking it hard. Gilfie was always in DD's arms throughout the summer. She really only slept inside the coop. Once school started up, the poor silkie missed her human companionship & began following me & gently pecking at my ankle to be picked up. I complained about how needy Gilfie was but her intense desire to cuddled above all things was so endearing. I never wanted a silkie & call them "useless chickens" but after allowing DD to have one, I can see why people love them so much.

When I first discovered the body, I shouted for the kids to stay back. Right away DD asked, "Gilfie?" When I confirmed, she screamed at the top of her lungs. Both kids were wailing. DS also loved Gilfie because she was small and easy for him to carry. He wrote a special love note for Gilfie that we buried with her. We are all still in shock.

DD was elected president of the 4H club. Fri night was her 1st official meeting as the new president - which started about 3 hours after discovering the body. At first she did not want to go, but then she realized letting the group down would not be responsible. I was proud that she managed to pull herself together and keep busy.

The little hawk is still terrorizing the chickens. (They have been locked up & not permitted to free range.) The hawk is now also terrorizing the quail. I keep shooing it away because it is standing right outside their cage. Poor quail are too afraid to get food/water and all crammed inside their little huddle houses.

 

[Leahs Mom]

Sigh.
I seriously recommend bird bangers. I think the noise would scare that little hawk after using them a few times that he'd quit hanging around.

 

[Sylvester017]

Both kids and I are taking it hard. Gilfie was always in DD's arms throughout the summer. She really only slept inside the coop. Once school started up, the poor silkie missed her human companionship & began following me & gently pecking at my ankle to be picked up. I complained about how needy Gilfie was but her intense desire to cuddled above all things was so endearing. I never wanted a silkie & call them "useless chickens" but after allowing DD to have one, I can see why people love them so much.

When I first discovered the body, I shouted for the kids to stay back. Right away DD asked, "Gilfie?" When I confirmed, she screamed at the top of her lungs. Both kids were wailing. DS also loved Gilfie because she was small and easy for him to carry. He wrote a special love note for Gilfie that we buried with her. We are all still in shock.

DD was elected president of the 4H club. Fri night was her 1st official meeting as the new president - which started about 3 hours after discovering the body. At first she did not want to go, but then she realized letting the group down would not be responsible. I was proud that she managed to pull herself together and keep busy.

The little hawk is still terrorizing the chickens. (They have been locked up & not permitted to free range.) The hawk is now also terrorizing the quail. I keep shooing it away because it is standing right outside their cage. Poor quail are too afraid to get food/water and all crammed inside their little huddle houses.

The cursed chicken hawks (Cooper's Hawk in my SoCalif neighborhood) have no fear of anything. I was feeding my little band of 5 chickens peacefully at the back door when a Cooper's landed on the fence 10 feet away and scattered my scared birds in all directions. I wanted to fence my girls away from the back door (messy poops everywhere) but DH and I tolerate the mess as long as it keeps the chickens feeling safe hiding behind the generator or the coop/pen near our back door. I was so mad I grabbed the nearest object (a large Dixie plate) and hurled it like a Frisbee at the Cooper's who flew off but he/she obviously has been returning since we find our girls hiding a lot these past few weeks. A lot of dog houses, patio furniture, compost bins, trash bins, lean-to's, benches, potted plants, bushes, anything will help save a chicken's life from a soaring hawk. We have a lot of items closely spaced around the yard to help a chicken have a short sprint to hide from a soaring predator. The hawks will watch hiding chickens but won't engage in ground battles--hawks prefer to swoop on running chickens in an open area so we try to eliminate large open spaces by adding lawn furniture, pop-up canopies, plants, etc. My entire back yard has been engineered to accommodate chickens rather than people. It's a bit extreme but I've seen people build wire tunnels around their yards so chickens don't have wide open spaces to be attacked from predators.

Congratulations to your DD for her courage. Your DS sounds like a real sweetie w/ a love for animals too. I never had much thought about England's royal family until I found out that Prince Charles had a personal project to save chicken breeds from extinction -- changed my whole opinion of him at that point. I mean, think about it, with all the political duties they have but one individual royal cares enough about saving chickens?

I know how devastating it is to lose any beloved animal. We have lost so many over the years and some remembered pets still make me cry. Even my vet couldn't stand to put down our Silkie w/ cancer but it had to be done -- she was so sweet and spunky to the end in spite of the pain she must've been going through!

Sigh.
I seriously recommend bird bangers. I think the noise would scare that little hawk after using them a few times that he'd quit hanging around.

Hawks are tenacious and keep returning regardless of methods used to ward them off. Once they know a noise doesn't mean anything, they'll return. Humans, scarecrows, spinners, dogs, are hindrances but don't deter hawks -- they're too stealthy and quick before you can stop them. Food (chickens) is a great motivation for predators to keep returning. The only deterrent to work at keeping Cooper's Hawks away has been our neighborhood murder (murder means "flock" for crows) and while the Crows are in the neighborhood they will ward off the Cooper's. The only problem is that murders move about and don't stay in one area all the time. We have a murder that frequents our neighborhood but they only stay around for a couple/three days and move on and it might be a month before they cruise through again.

 

[Faraday40]

We have 2 roosters, a ton of hiding places, & the flock does not go out into the open without my escort. This is no ordinary hawk. Gilfie was killed UNDER the pine tree. There's a small slide, tree stump, dog house, lawn chair & some misc rock piles under it. Although there is about a 4' clearance, all the items make it not likely for a hawk (like a red tail) to swoop under it. However a small hungry hawk is built for maneuvering in tight places. It had no problem killing a defenseless silkie in a 10" gap under a pine tree, between the log & the fence. It probably jumped straight down from a limb above. Even my roosters cannot fit into that space!

This tenacious little hawk is constantly walking on the ground circling the coop/run and the quail cages. For the past 2 days every time I see it close up, it's been on the ground investigating or sitting on the roof of the low run looking in on the chickens. It really only flies up to a tree when I'm out there. The kids fire a toy cap gun but that only scares the dog - not the hawk. It's too cold for a hose, but I might be pulling out a super soaker. Perhaps if I get it wet, it will catch pneumonia.

We had a murder of crows pass through about 2 weeks ago. It was the 1st time I saw them here in years.

 

[duluthralphie]

This was a good thread......time to move on now...


There are so many social threads to talk about that stuff about ..or a Silkie thread...or a predator thread....this use to be a Dominique thread...

 

[Sylvester017]

@Faraday40 What kind of hawks do you get in Illinois? Ours are Cooper's Hawk commonly referred to as "chicken hawks" and they are troublesome, worrisome, but we never lost a chicken to one of them so far in 61/2 yrs. I always suspected the chicken fortress hiding places we set up kept the aerial predators from engaging the hens on the ground. We've seen the hawks prefer to catch the Mourning Doves flying in mid-air. Our girls must be learning from generation to new generation how to hide because I have no other explanation why we never lost even a Silkie to a Cooper's. Today I came home to find the Silkie and 3 Dominiques snoozing in the kennel cage under the coop and the Breda hen next to them but on the outside of the kennel cage next to the garage wall. All nice hiding places that would be way too difficult and troublesome for a hawk to maneuver -- I guess hawks prefer easier prey than my 5 girls. I just wish those hawks instead would get rid of those pesky House Sparrows that have chased off most of my other beautiful birds like the cute finches and phoebes. Sparrows are mean nasty little critters and they aren't even indigenous to our area but got brought into our country as released cage birds. The arboretum a couple cities away had a small group of parrots escape and now we have hundreds of wild parrot flocks flying around and screeching every day. At least the hummingbirds haven't been chased away yet.

 

[Faraday40]

@Sylvester017 Coopers, Sharp shinned, & Red tails are the 3 most common here. The smaller two are more bold & dangerous because of it.



@duluthralphie Yes, this is a Dom thread, but I met some fun people via this thread that I do not see in my local or social threads. My apologies if you feel I took over the thread. My intent was to share what happened. All chicken owners must deal with predators and have experienced loss, so it's common ground no matter the breed..

I do not breed nor show Doms, but I love to see all the pics and read about SQ birds as well as the individual antics of particular birds. If anyone has good pics or stories, please post. There's no need for a good thread to go dormant.

 

[duluthralphie]

With the new conversations (PMs) you can make a thread with your friends and keep the Dom thread a Dom thread. It makes it hard for someone looking for DOM info to come here and find 10 pages of uninteresting boring social things that only interest 2-3 people that have taken over a thread.... Further if people want predator information there are threads on that.

I re-read the OP's intent on this thread it was purely for DOMs. Had they said DOMs and social or something like that, I would not complain. There are a few threads that are or were strictly about the breed and showing of them. I try to be social, however, this thread is my go to for my DOMs that I show and to see what others do with them and how they look.

I am sorry if I come off as a kvetch. I am just becoming annoyed to see a DOM post on my active threads and find it is something that I care nada about and is not even close to DOM related.

Thanks

 

[Sylvester017]

Some of the Dom chicks are showing some significant wattle growth at 4 months-one-week old -- they may look alike from a distance but up close there are very noticeable differences to me -- since Dana has always been the smallest, slowest to develop, and the only day-old chick to have pasty butt for a couple days, I suspect she was a later hatch than the two larger Dom chicks -- these girls were the Doms I ordered through my local feed store who gets most of his orders from Privett Hatchery (NM).

This is our stately regal Cuckoo Breda about 1-1/2 yrs old and other than her heavily feathered feet, her cuckoo pattern blends in nicely with the Dom girls. She has no comb but facial skin where a comb would normally be -- she also has a triangle crest -- very docile unusual breed and wish I had more of them. She will probably always stand taller than the Doms. Langshans also display this same regal stance.

This is "Opal" the largest of the Dom chicks and a close-up of the blue baby eyes that have finally turned the standard reddish-bay color.

This is "Jewlz" the 2nd largest Dom and her wattles are growing in. Her rose comb has a leader spike at the end but most of her rose comb is smooth with no ridges. I like to have ridges on Dom combs but I have to say I love the personality of this girl best for her tolerance of petting and handling. Nice reddish-bay eyes too.

Another pic of Jewlz' smooth comb with the leader at the back.

This is "Dana" who is the smallest of the 3 Doms and has more silver in her feathering than the other 2 chicks. Look at the dark shading still showing down the front of the legs.

This is another shot of Dana who has the nice rose comb ridges and leader and shorter tail. She is a very sweet girl and her wattles are still not as grown in as the 2 larger Doms. She's the prettiest of the 3 Doms IMO.

The picture blurred because these chicks never stay still but I believe this is Dana in the middle. She also has the more promising U-back of the 3. (Tails are being blown about in the wind.)

Smooth rose comb on Jewlz -- Jewlz and Opal have very long tails -- sometimes a hint of the U-back will show in a stance but these girls are too active to get a good U-shot.

Jewlz' smooth rose comb -- there are some slight ridges but not as beautiful as Dana or Opal's combs

This is blurred but Dana was coming up under my chair under my leg to get a treat.

Jewlz -- on my knee and a most lovable girl -- stayed to get hugs and petting and sat on my knee for a while before leaving.

I only wanted two Dom chicks to replace two juvenile Breda that died this past year but I ordered 3 Dom chicks in case of mortality. All 3 Dom chicks survived but I can handle the extra Dom because we lost a Silkie suddenly too -- so it all worked out as far as numbers. So glad I got these Dom girls. Like the Breda they won't be the most prolific layers or large egg size like Leghorns but these personalities are so-o-o-o much better -- and they've learned to be hawk-savvy learning from the two older hens in the flock. Doms seem to be naturally people-friendly but we babied these girls indoors for several weeks and they are very socialized. Our friends always ask to feed them treats because these girls are so pesky-friendly. These girls will sit on any available spot on a human's body -- head, shoulders, lap, shoes, arms, and don't bend over or all 3 will jump on your back!