Dominique Thread!

nekker57 · Jul 29, 2018

centrarchid said:
Looks like descendants of some of my flock are going to the Indiana 4H State Fair. Somebody is carrying the ball forward.

My Dad loved Doms and I now have time to tend to a small flock and wanting to carry on with Doms

centrarchid · Jul 29, 2018

Keep a flock large enough for two or more roosters and breed your own to preserve genetic variation of the breed.

nekker57 · Jul 29, 2018

I plan on expanding my flock to 20 pullets and keep them separated into groups of 10 and have a rooster for each flock

Chickassan · Jul 30, 2018

Dutch is growing like a weed and already sassy.

Leahs Mom · Jul 30, 2018

I still haven't gotten photos of the 6 Dom chicks as we were out of town for about a week. But I do have a question for those of you that have had cockerels.

I have one "for sure from hatch" cockerel (and possibly another). The "For Sure" boy's behavior has been concerning me since he was about 2-3 weeks old. He started biting (me) and occasionally exhibiting the kind of behavior an adult roo would that is aggressive toward people. He didn't do it every time I was out there but enough to get my attention as I've not seen that kind of behavior that young.

Now, at 7 weeks, it is very obvious that he is continuing that behavior more extremely.

I will not put up with that from any roo/cockerel. There are enough good tempered roos in the world... But here are my questions:

- Do you find that your Dom roos/cockerels are people aggressive in general?
- Have you seen this kind of behavior so young in your cockerels? - Should I assume that this is not going to change?

He's too young to process, but when he gets larger, he's obviously going to be a force to contend with and I'm not interested in contending.

I've only had one good roo in my chicken experience, but even having had others, never seen anything like this so young.

Sylvester017 · Jul 30, 2018

Leahs Mom said:
I still haven't gotten photos of the 6 Dom chicks as we were out of town for about a week. But I do have a question for those of you that have had cockerels.

I have one "for sure from hatch" cockerel (and possibly another). The "For Sure" boy's behavior has been concerning me since he was about 2-3 weeks old. He started biting (me) and occasionally exhibiting the kind of behavior an adult roo would that is aggressive toward people. He didn't do it every time I was out there but enough to get my attention as I've not seen that kind of behavior that young.

Now, at 7 weeks, it is very obvious that he is continuing that behavior more extremely.

I will not put up with that from any roo/cockerel. There are enough good tempered roos in the world... But here are my questions:

- Do you find that your Dom roos/cockerels are people aggressive in general?
- Have you seen this kind of behavior so young in your cockerels? - Should I assume that this is not going to change?

He's too young to process, but when he gets larger, he's obviously going to be a force to contend with and I'm not interested in contending.

I've only had one good roo in my chicken experience, but even having had others, never seen anything like this so young.

Chickens, like people, are all different. You possibly have a roo that is mentally unbalanced? Doms are great in general but roos have one job to do in a flock and that is to ward off predators to the death, and mate his favorite concubines. If you haven't socialized your roo with humans he could see humans as a threat. If you socialized your aggressive cockerel and he's still exhibiting nasty behavior it sounds to me he's going to be stew meat in winter!

Sylvester017 · Jul 30, 2018

Chickassan said:
Dutch is growing like a weed and already sassy.View attachment 1487235

Sassy! That's good terminology to describe Dom pullets! Driven is another good description. They are such outgoing friendly pesty girls!

Alaskan · Jul 30, 2018

Leahs Mom said:
- Do you find that your Dom roos/cockerels are people aggressive in general?
- Have you seen this kind of behavior so young in your cockerels? - Should I assume that this is not going to change?

I have in general found my Dominique roosters to be well behaved.

However, I have found rooster personality to be HIGHLY genetic. Nasty people aggressive roosters sire nasty people aggressive roosters.

I breed most of my own chickens, and I am extremely prejudiced against people aggressive roosters. As a result... most of what I breed... results in roosters with zero people aggression.

Even back when I was starting out... and all of my Dominique cockerels were from a hatchery, I think over half were OK with humans. :confused:

The worst trouble I have had with human aggression has been with the bantam breeds... specifically d'anvers and d'uccle. It was VERY difficult to find a single decently behaved rooster in either breed... I finally gave up on them.

Alaskan · Jul 30, 2018

Oh...

And NO it will not change... don't stand for it, eat him.

And no, I have never had a Dominique rooster become aggressive that young, but those bantam breeds I mentioned have definitely shown aggression that young.

Leahs Mom · Aug 1, 2018

Here are some photos of the 7 week old doms. I didn't get them all, and the photos are from a poor camera.

This first little one (double purple band) is much smaller than the others and was from hatch. He/she grows slowly. I've wondered if the breeder had any bantams and this one got in by mistake but haven't checked with her. For a long time I suspected it was a boy due to it's very outgoing behavior. It always runs right over and wants to be with me.

Double purple band...