Dominique Thread!

[gallito1982]

Theyre 4 weeks old and im thinking that one is a ROO, what do you think? ROO and pullet? Or both pullets?
A view of the suspect ROO! Noticed the combo

Another view of the combo

One more close up

Front/chest view

Side view

This is the one that im 95% sure is a pullet
Notice the smaller combo

 

[centrarchid]

I think both are pullets. Comb is not reliable at that age. The dark grey and light grey bars on the wings are roughly equal in size. A cockerel will have the lighter bars being noticeably larger than the darker bars giving an overall lighter appearance from a distance. The bars, both light and dark, look a little lighter than equivalent bars on the female.

 

[centrarchid]

Tonight I will be making my final selections for Dominiques to be taken to my first legal "chicken show". We used to call another type of event a show as well. I have been working four years for this day and still have not gotten where I want to be. I keep missing the molt, especially with hens that are all buttless and my cocks are have feathers I do not want damaged because they are still in blood. Two American Dominique cocks that are a product of 3 generations of my breeding starting mostly from Voter Strain birds have been chosen because they are in the best feather; type and condition are not even being considered in current math but when in feather type was pretty good. Molt really impacts type on these guys. The other two will be a cockerel and a pullet that are about 18 weeks old. They should be disqualified based on being two small from age alone but they should also be disqualified based on type and possibly based on barring. The latter birds are my Missouri Dominiques that will be entered as American Dominiques. These two birds are between 50 and 75% American Dominique (combination of Cackle Hatchery and Voter strains) with the balance coming from my American Game strain. Bringing the automatic DQ's serves to purposes; to show me how judges pickup and demark obvious flaws, and to support the interest in American Dominiques by having more contestants that stimulate conversation. If I do it right, they may make my cocks look better in the judges eye because they see such bad next to them. Sometimes it is easy to look good when those right next to you look bad. Will also be fun to show Fred Farthing what I unlearned so he can rip me a new one. He should find my smoky barring problem on the Missouri Dominiques interesting.


Process was initially intimidating getting ready for show, especially with respect to the uncertainty pertaining to health inspection which commences two hours before last of birds can be brought in. Cost is pretty low at $3.50 / bird. Biggest concern I have currently is getting birds from pens in pasture into show pens without damaging feathers

 

[Alaskan]

Please post pictures, I would love to be able to see the differences between the ones you chose.

 

[genesis1verse1]

Tonight I will be making my final selections for Dominiques to be taken to my first legal "chicken show". We used to call another type of event a show as well. I have been working four years for this day and still have not gotten where I want to be. I keep missing the molt, especially with hens that are all buttless and my cocks are have feathers I do not want damaged because they are still in blood. Two American Dominique cocks that are a product of 3 generations of my breeding starting mostly from Voter Strain birds have been chosen because they are in the best feather; type and condition are not even being considered in current math but when in feather type was pretty good. Molt really impacts type on these guys. The other two will be a cockerel and a pullet that are about 18 weeks old. They should be disqualified based on being two small from age alone but they should also be disqualified based on type and possibly based on barring. The latter birds are my Missouri Dominiques that will be entered as American Dominiques. These two birds are between 50 and 75% American Dominique (combination of Cackle Hatchery and Voter strains) with the balance coming from my American Game strain. Bringing the automatic DQ's serves to purposes; to show me how judges pickup and demark obvious flaws, and to support the interest in American Dominiques by having more contestants that stimulate conversation. If I do it right, they may make my cocks look better in the judges eye because they see such bad next to them. Sometimes it is easy to look good when those right next to you look bad. Will also be fun to show Fred Farthing what I unlearned so he can rip me a new one. He should find my smoky barring problem on the Missouri Dominiques interesting.


Process was initially intimidating getting ready for show, especially with respect to the uncertainty pertaining to health inspection which commences two hours before last of birds can be brought in. Cost is pretty low at $3.50 / bird. Biggest concern I have currently is getting birds from pens in pasture into show pens without damaging feathers

I am curious, centrachid, why are your birds only 50-75% American Dominique? I ordered mine from Cackle Hatchery, are they not full blood? I don't know anything about the Voter strains you are referring to. Good luck with your show.

 

[3riverschick]

I am curious, centrachid, why are your birds only 50-75% American Dominique? I ordered mine from Cackle Hatchery, are they not full blood? I don't know anything about the Voter strains you are referring to. Good luck with your show. Hi,

The breeder is counting the Dominique strains as pure.
The 2 Dominique strains were crossed with American Game
strain. That's where the foreign blood comes from. Maybe
worth investigating the Voter strain?
Best,
Karen

 

[centrarchid]

I am curious, centrachid, why are your birds only 50-75% American Dominique? I ordered mine from Cackle Hatchery, are they not full blood? I don't know anything about the Voter strains you are referring to. Good luck with your show.

Two types of Dominique. First is the pure American Dominique (primary subject of this whole thread) which, in respect to birds indicated in my previous post, is based almost entirely on a strain that was developed by some folks with the last name of Voter. Several other pure strains are out there in the world and likely represent the bulk of what we collectively call American Dominique's. In my opinion the Cackle Strain, or at least the ones I got from them a few years back where good proper American Dominique, just a tiny bit small maybe but good nonetheless. The confusing part of my statement is the 50 to 75% American Dominique birds that are not American Dominique, rather they represent a crossed strain in development where a given individual can have anywhere from 50 to 75% of its genes from a combination of Cackle Hatchery (of my original birds) and Voter Strain mixed in with the balance being game chicken in what I am calling Missouri Dominique.

I will try to post pictures this evening to clarify. You will see the difference. I am quite surprised, pleasantly, that someone read into details enough to catch what I was trying to convey.

 

[centrarchid]

The breeder is counting the Dominique strains as pure.
The 2 Dominique strains were crossed with American Game
strain. That's where the foreign blood comes from. Maybe
worth investigating the Voter strain?
Best,
Karen

The Voter strain is alleged to have had game introduced to it many decades ago, well before I got involved. Other American Dominique strains may or may not also have been so infused which may be reason for part of the differences between strains. If you go back to the time of the foundation of the original American Dominiques, you would be able to see signs of non-American Dominique in a much more variable population as it was developed from a range of dung hill fowl where most had the barring but where not consistent with many other attributes. That would have been a very interesting time for us indeed since we are now accustomed to a much more consistent critter owing to the relatively consistent selection guided by the standard of perfection (SOP) and the results of inbreeding causing drift.

 

[diriel]

Watching this thread with great interest. Hope your show goes well Centrachid.

 

[centrarchid]

Watching this thread with great interest. Hope your show goes well Centrachid.

I will get spanked to be sure!