- Mar 10, 2010
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. I remember a couple of months ago on the Dominique Clubs website how two of our veteran breeders are working with a hatchery by introducing their own stock and will continue to be involved in selection and culling to improve stock for anyone interested in quality LF and Bantam Dominiques. The club has made progress by leaps and bounds over just the last couple of years in membership and breeder info. Regional coordinators along with elected members volunteer their own time to help anyone interested in working with the Dominique. A good breeder will not ship culls. It is websites like this that will give him a bad name real quick if the buyer is not satisfied with what comes out of the box. Dominique breeders are a great group of people who are working very hard to improve the breed for egg laying capabilities and longevity in the breed characteristics that it was so popular years ago. It is more than just for pretty, cause the judges look right past color.I don't know why Dom breeders hesitate to ship live birds. I received 4 rare birds (not Doms) in two separate shipments last year from an excellent breeder on the East Coast who was experienced at shipping and receiving live juvenile and adult bird orders - I paid extra because I was so appreciative. We both don't especially like chick shipments and not everyone can incubate eggs to get unwanted roos that are difficult to rehome - especially when there are city ordinances against roos and there are hen limits. I was perfectly willing to pay the shipping cost which was 3x more than the price of a juvenile but I got exactly identifiable sexed pullets - at 3 to 4 months old they are hardy enough to make the overnight USPS trip. I always got my live birds the very next day from the breeder. I also always order two birds at a time to keep each other company on the trip. I did lose a pullet less than a month after receiving it but as the buyer I assume that risk and can't blame the breeder - hatchery shipments have disclaimers after the first 24-48 hours not to be responsible for deaths that occur after that period. My breeder and I didn't have that disclaimer in writing but it was just understood.
Dom breeders won't do this - how they can promote Dom interest when they are so tight-fisted about releasing their juvenile stock via shipping is beyond me. I'm sure they have a lot of culls that still would make excellent backyard pets when people are willing to settle for pet quality - I'm sure after 3-4 months the breeder can tell which ones they'll keep and which can be shipped out as pets but they won't do it. The only really nice guy I spoke to on a Dom site is no longer a Dom breederwn . Hence I revert back to Cackle Hatchery or my local feed store and the picky Dom breeders can eat their birds.
Like I said there are probably a lot of nice Dom breeders out there but the policy stinks of the ones I had contact with. If they really want to promote interest they've got to bite the bullet and start shipping some live birds instead of culling those precious pet quality ones that don't quite make the show standards.