Dominique Thread!

[BearSpringsFarm]

Yes there is a red Dominique. I read about it on BYC a few months back, one guy who specializes in red Doms, down south I think. Very nice looking birds, but I think I prefer the standard coloration better. Doms are at the top of my list of must have birds. I special ordered 3 day old pullets this spring, only to be given 3 cockrels. Very disappointed. But, I'll not give up hope. There's always next year. I'll probably try shipped eggs. I figure that if a hatchery can be 100% wrong providing auto-sexing pullets, my chances have to be better with SR eggs! Perhaps I'll get lucky and find a pullet in Maine later this summer after all of my roos go to freezer camp.

I prefer the standard color too - but was suprised that these chicks were reddish - I will keep them though as they are only for my personal laying flock and I think they are unique - both look like pullets to me. I don't see how they got it wrong! The chicks with darker leg shanks throughout and a single white spot on top of its head is a pullet. The other are roo's. http://www.dominiquechicken.com/Sexing_Dominique_chicks.html here's a good link.

 

[buffalogal]

. One of my Dominique hens has this coloration around her comb and a couple of the roosters have a couple of reddish brown tail feathers - can anyone explain? Will try to get pics.

I'm sending you a PM, but for the record, they aren't red Dominiques.

 

[centrarchid]

In my Missouri Dominiques, which are a composite of American Dominique, American Game, and California Grey, males with the big beefy rose combs are heterozygous for single comb. Red color in females is typical of F2 or greater generations after initial introduction of something else. I notice a single comb rooster in flock that otherwise looks same.

 

[BearSpringsFarm]

So basically there are no 'true' Red Dominiques as in - it is not a breed of it's own but rather a cross. My adult birds came from an auction where I took the guys word that they were purebred - I bought them as 8 week old chicks and the reddish brown spots hadn't shown up yet. This was the first time I had hatched any of their eggs.

 

[BearSpringsFarm]

In my Missouri Dominiques, which are a composite of American Dominique, American Game, and California Grey, males with the big beefy rose combs are heterozygous for single comb. Red color in females is typical of F2 or greater generations after initial introduction of something else. I notice a single comb rooster in flock that otherwise looks same.

Both the combs look the same - it just kindof looks single combed in the pic with both standing together (the single pics are of the same two birds) - both of my roos have the same comb, wattle, earlobe configuration as well as yellow beaks and legs. I'm afraid I don't quite understand the genetics and what is dominant and recessive traits of the birds - from what I am understanding - my birds may have been mixed before I got them and the dominique traits are mostly dominant?

 

[centrarchid]

I would not say their is no red dominiques, rather no breed is recognized as such. All breeds are derived from crosses and it takes time to breed for a consistent performance or appearance. Even pure American Dominiques are mixtures, some strains involve Plymouth Barred Rock and one has American Game, and both have had periods of good performance at least in the poultry shows although the mixed history is ignored since they meet criteria as judges see them.

I am not against Red Dominiques and see such as possible means to enhance quality of American Dominques. It is likely a good part of the recognized breeds out there started as something like the "red Dominique" and as the strain becomes more popular it can be recognized.

 

[BearSpringsFarm]

WOW - okay (this shows how "newbie" I really am) NOW your really confusing me - LOL - I thought the barred rocks came from dominique ancestors? Sorry to seemingly ask such silly questions - but - I am very interested in the genetics of these birds (and would like to understand it - somewhat). Everything that I thought I knew has just been turned upside down - I do know one thing though - as a child on my grandpas farm - he had "dominikers" as he called them. I always thought they were the prettiest of his chickens and that they had an elegance to them that the others didn't carry. Therefore as an adult (with a small farm) I wanted some Dominiques of my own. I THOUGHT I had found some - but now I am not sure as someone made the statement that their combs were really BIG for Dominiques - I looked up some pics of breed standards and found that they do have smaller combs than mine - however I have found others (not up to standards) that look like mine. I really don't care about "standards" as I just have a backyard flock for my own families purposes - but I would like to know if I have "true" dominiques. Like I said, I got them at an auction and the guy said they were purebred - but on the other hand - most of the people around here don't seem to know what a dominique looks like - most of what they sell as "dominiques" are actually single combed barred rocks. I joke with my husband that in this part of the country - if it's black and white - it's a "dominiker". LOL - I have even seen some people try to sell Brahmas as "dominikers". I guess the question is - Do "non-standard" Dominiques have larger combs and reddish-brown flecks? or Do I have a cross breed and need to order some "true" Dominiques from a hatchery? I love my birds and will keep them either way - I don't mind "non-standard" but I would like to have true dominiques if that makes sense.

 

[buffalogal]

Dominiques were one of the breeds used in the creation of Barred Rocks, though both breeds were admitted to the APA at the same time.
The Dominique was considered a "common" breed, while the BPR was new and "improved". People liked the bigger Barred Rocks and the popularity of the Dominiques declined so much that they were in danger of being lost forever. That set off a frenzy among people to acquire something "rare", and there were plenty of less than honest (or knowledgeable) people who crossed some lines of Dominiques with Barred Rock trying to boost their numbers. While it produced alot of barred chickens with MOL some version of a rose comb that they could sell off as a "dominicker" all it really did was ruin the breed type; the birds were too heavy, the wrong shape, and overall coarse birds that fit neither standard. (BUT, they still lay well, and probably taste just fine)

It's not just that the combs are BIG, as centrarchid points out, it's that judging from the size and shape they are typical of what you get when someone has crossed a single comb bird with a rose comb bird. I do know that auctions are considered great places to unload cull birds, including mixed breeds. Personally, if the goal is to raise purebred poultry, I would be suspicious of any 'purebred' chicks of any breed that were being sold at any auction. Your best bet is always to contact the breed club and ask for help locating a breeder in your area.

 

[centrarchid]

BearSpringsFarm,

American Dominiques yes are ancestral to Barred Plymouth Rock and likely others, but in at least one current strain of American Dominique some Barred Plymouth Rock was bred back in I am guessing to enhance barring and increase size. I did not mean to be confusing. Such efforts to bring in knew blood is not all that rare, especially if a line is suffering from inbreeding depression or breeder sees method to speed desired change by adding new alleles before selecting.

 

[BearSpringsFarm]

BearSpringsFarm,

American Dominiques yes are ancestral to Barred Plymouth Rock and likely others, but in at least one current strain of American Dominique some Barred Plymouth Rock was bred back in I am guessing to enhance barring and increase size. I did not mean to be confusing. Such efforts to bring in knew blood is not all that rare, especially if a line is suffering from inbreeding depression or breeder sees method to speed desired change by adding new alleles before selecting.

Would this affect the way the comb looks?