Dominique Thread!

[centrarchid]

Why do you think Cackle hatchery ever had any Voter or Hyman stock?

First they did not develop their own American Dominique strain independently from other existing strains. Secondly they did not have to acquire from some other commercial hatchery stock which I take is implied by your question.


Positive information is by word of mouth from Fred Farthing and Mark Fields. Latter provided birds to former from which I sourced some of mine and as I understand it Mark provided birds he had to multiple parties including Cackle Hatchery in an effort to preserve lines in the hands of multiple parties. Last communication I had with Mark was at his home about 4 years ago. I think he may still be the most knowledgeable about those lines in the Midwest. He did not give me any leads into American Dominique's on the east or west coast.

 

[buffalogal]

First they did not develop their own American Dominique strain independently from other existing strains. Secondly they did not have to acquire from some other commercial hatchery stock which I take is implied by your question.


Positive information is by word of mouth from Fred Farthing and Mark Fields. Latter provided birds to former from which I sourced some of mine and as I understand it Mark provided birds he had to multiple parties including Cackle Hatchery in an effort to preserve lines in the hands of multiple parties. Last communication I had with Mark was at his home about 4 years ago. I think he may still be the most knowledgeable about those lines in the Midwest. He did not give me any leads into American Dominique's on the east or west coast.

Cackle had/still has Mark's bantams, not his large fowl. The nice folks at Cackle can not/will not say where they got their large fowl Dominiques from because they've had them so long, but in a recent post on facebook, Mark was very specific about the fact that Cackle hatchery (Smith hatchery) did not have birds from Voter, Brazelton, Stichler or Hyman. Cackle and McMurray (which were Halbach/Miller) had their own lines.

 

[buffalogal]

Centrarchid, (or anyone else interested in Dominiques) I don't know if you are aware of it, but the American Dominique Club has an active page over at facebook and there's an equally lively, more informal page called American Dominique Chickens that *everyone* is welcome to join.

So, y'all come.

 

[centrarchid]

Cackle had/still has Mark's bantams, not his large fowl. The nice folks at Cackle can not/will not say where they got their large fowl Dominiques from because they've had them so long, but in a recent post on facebook, Mark was very specific about the fact that Cackle hatchery (Smith hatchery) did not have birds from Voter, Brazelton, Stichler or Hyman. Cackle and McMurray (which were Halbach/Miller) had their own lines.

You are not clearing up issue any better than I did although you are likely correct about the bantam issue which I have not followed. If Mark did not supply birds to Cackle, then he cannot say where they are derived from unless he states what is acquired from himself. If Cackles birds have been around long enough, then they are likely worthy of a little investigation. From what I have seen they do not look or perform all that badly. I like them better than the limited number of Stichler strain which were way to heavy.

 

[mprivett]

Hey All,

My broody Dom hatched out her babies over the weekend and still hatching today. She has at least 8-10 chicks under her and several more eggs still. We had to move her out of her brooder box and onto the floor of the brooder coop with shavings (it's elevated) because one of the chicks had fallen and was stuck between the wall and the brooder box. I don't know how long it was there and I hope it survives. I was afraid the others would fall out and not be able to get back in and not get to the food/water. She was SO mad and pecked the heck out of my husband. A couple of the chicks under her had obviously just hatched and one was still partly in the egg. We were trying to push them back underneath her but it was hard with the pecking, and she eventually got them all back under. This leads me to my question: the chick that had fallen out was a yellow/light chick with a dark spot on the head--I don't know how this happened because I have ALL Dominiques in my flock unless it's a recessive gene? All the other chicks were correct Dom chick coloring (dark bodies, light spots on head). I can post some pics on here later if my broody will let me see any of her babies!

 

[DraigAthar]

So I go look at some dominiques a guy was selling on craigslist last night. $15 apiece for 1 year old laying hens (8). I thought, I'll go look anyway! Well we go out to the pen, and there is not a rose comb among them. I said as much, that they were all single comb. He said, and I quote, "Yeah those rose comb dominiques are the high dollar birds. If you order from any hatchery but Murray's you get the single comb dominiques."
It just so happened that mine came from Murray's, (a bit of info this gentleman was privvy to) and I wanted to know if anyone else's doms came from another hatchery with single combs. It seems that all I've read, a single comb Dom will pop up once in a while, but there shouldn't be 8 of them in one group should there?
Their legs were also white, with little or no shadowing on the front. Some were U shaped, but others not so much. I didn't take pictures, I just told him I would have to pass and went back home. What would those birds have been? They were laying a medium sized light brown egg.
ETA: Their barring wasn't crisp like a BR either.

I didn't see that anyone else had commented on the white legs part, and someone else asked as well. White/cream/pink-grey legs are a fault for Dominiques. Doms are meant to have yellow legs. Some black on the legs is acceptable (more on females than males). Red spots down the sides of the legs are also acceptable. But the main color should be yellow.

Also, I can't figure why rose comb Doms should be considered high dollar birds. If they were Doms from good stock, okay they should fetch more. But the rose comb itself is a dominant trait, it is not at all difficult to maintain it in your stock. If someone has an entire flock of 'straight comb Doms' they are far more likely to just be barred rocks, or at least part barred rocks. The barring gene itself is a dominant trait, so you can get barred birds from darn near any starting stock, as long as you cross in a barred bird to get you started. The lack of crispness to the barring is something I've seen on my own barnyard crosses. We raise Doms, but we have a few other chickens now and then, and we'll hatch eggs from anyone to go into our meat bird pens, so I'm familiar with Dom crosses. When I've had Dom X Orp, or Dom X White Rock, or Dom X Wyandotte, I'll see that blurry, incomplete barring, for instance. So yeah, that guy was probably just selling mutts.

 

[LilBeaverDoms]

That's what I figured and why I passed. I just really didn't see many Dom traits at all other than they were black and white and laid medium light brown eggs. So I am going to assume that other hatcheries are not sending out single comb doms. I just hate getting smoke blown up my feathers.

 

[DraigAthar]

I just hate getting smoke blown up my feathers.

LOL! And who can blame you for that?

 

[tgooberbutt]

Thank you for the explanation on the whitish legs. My dominique was actually one a mystery pack of 15 brown egg-laying birds that were sent from Meyer Hatchery. Everything else about the bird seems Dominique, but the legs are now (1.5 years in) a very faint yellow...closer to white than yellow. But still with nice barring and a rose comb. Mutt or not, she's still my favorite

I didn't see that anyone else had commented on the white legs part, and someone else asked as well. White/cream/pink-grey legs are a fault for Dominiques. Doms are meant to have yellow legs. Some black on the legs is acceptable (more on females than males). Red spots down the sides of the legs are also acceptable. But the main color should be yellow.

Also, I can't figure why rose comb Doms should be considered high dollar birds. If they were Doms from good stock, okay they should fetch more. But the rose comb itself is a dominant trait, it is not at all difficult to maintain it in your stock. If someone has an entire flock of 'straight comb Doms' they are far more likely to just be barred rocks, or at least part barred rocks. The barring gene itself is a dominant trait, so you can get barred birds from darn near any starting stock, as long as you cross in a barred bird to get you started. The lack of crispness to the barring is something I've seen on my own barnyard crosses. We raise Doms, but we have a few other chickens now and then, and we'll hatch eggs from anyone to go into our meat bird pens, so I'm familiar with Dom crosses. When I've had Dom X Orp, or Dom X White Rock, or Dom X Wyandotte, I'll see that blurry, incomplete barring, for instance. So yeah, that guy was probably just selling mutts.

 

[domfarm]

Disappointing hatch what went wrong? I am using a little giant incubator this time I added an egg turner and a computer fan. I started with 26 eggs 7 failed to do anything maybe they were not fertile. On the 21 st day i had 11 healthy chicks hatch with in about 12 hours. So far all are healthy and thriving. After several days i decided to open the others up. all 8 had fully formed dead chicks. What could have happened.