Dominique Thread!

[Sylvester017]

There are indeed white Dominiques, I have some myself. (No, they are not for sale) In fact, the very first Dominique chick I ever hatched was white, which was pretty surprising to me at the time. There are records of white Dominiques popping up all the way back to the 20's. They are not a recognized color, and as such are considered culls or novelties, depending on how serious you are about your chickeneering.

Read more about them here: http://www.dominiquechicken.com/White_Dominiques.html

However, a breeder I know of whose line carries recessive white was incredibly generous sharing hatching eggs with several flocks across the country. While I doubt he would have deliberately used a bird carrying white in his breeding pens, (He raises them to butcher or culls them as baby chicks), still I suspect that within a few years, we will see them popping up here and there. Have patience.

From researching I believe the White Dom is what they call a "sport" hatched from Dom parents - the way Exchequer Leghorns were a "sport" of White Leghorns which were first documented in a Scottish flock.

 

[Sylvester017]

Our APA Blue Wheaten Ameraucana (my avatar) sleeping in my lap while the little 2-week-old Dom pullet explores. The Amer was so mellow and accepting of the little chick while our Silkies wanted no part of the new baby. Just shows how accepting Amers (and even EEs) are of orphaned chicks or injured birds where other breeds are not so willing (per OurFlyBabies.com).

We got this little Dom from the feed store's last hatchery order last year in September at about 8 days old - we wanted 2 Dom pullets to keep each other company but she was the only Dom chick left in a pen with a Silkie and a RIR chick. She bonded immediately to us humans on the ride home from the feed storel For several days we and the Amer enjoyed bonding with her. She always had to be on the table sitting on the warm laptop keyboard or our arm to sit on. Unfortunately at day 19 we lost her to a sudden violent seizure right in my DH's hands. We figured it was a stroke since just a few minutes before she seized she was pecking a bit at her raised right foot.

I hate raising chicks because it seems your favourite is always the one you lose. Our Amer lost her pullet sister two months earlier so we were devastated at two lost pets. However we enjoyed the Dom so much we will get another in future. This little Dom was the most personable outgoing unafraid curious talkative little chick we ever had. Most chicks will run up to see if you have treats, get bored, and run off again - but this Dom chick stayed around to hop onto us and explored our eyeglasses, hair, clothes, and then settled on our arm or in our hand to go to sleep. In speaking with Dom breeders they said this outgoing and talkative chick grows up to be just as personable as an adult. We never got to see our chick grow up but we definitely will have another again.

 

[centrarchid]

The ones I've had are always sparkling silver white. No bars, no specks, no spots, and no yellowing in the sunlight either.

This is from 1999:  http://eieio.org/dom99.jpg

And to show off the non yellowing, this was this past winter: http://eieio.org/snacks.jpg

Take a picture of wingbow area from multiple angles and look closely at retrices. If bird carries barring gene then a very faint barring will be noted.

 

[buffalogal]

Jim, they're recessive white. They produce no pigment, faint or otherwise. Based on the very few times I have bred any of them, they will not throw a white chick when bred to a normal colored bird unless it is a very closely related. (sibling or dam or sire) I have a friend who has a white cock that is more distantly related, and we want to try test mating them to see what we get. Any predictions?

I'll be at a show tomorrow, but will get some pictures for you on Sunday.

 

[centrarchid]

Jim, they're recessive white. They produce no pigment, faint or otherwise. Based on the very few times I have bred any of them, they will not throw a white chick when bred to a normal colored bird unless it is a very closely related. (sibling or dam or sire) I have a friend who has a white cock that is more distantly related, and we want to try test mating them to see what we get. Any predictions?  

 
I'll be at a show tomorrow, but will get some pictures for you on Sunday.

If yours based on same genetic mechanism mine were, then barring is there but glasses and good lighting needed to see. Barring manifested as silverfish white over whiter white which makes me think the barring gene does not act on pigment directly but rather some other process during feather formation. I am prone to look very closely for details. I used my "white" bird to ID carriers so they could be culled which meant white bird spent lots of time in breeding pens. When "white" bred to non-white heterozygotes you got about 50% of chicks hatch white. All products of those test matings end up being culled, even when non-white..

 

[gootziecat]

For those of you that don't check the Exhibition, SOP thread, here is an illustration of the Dominiques taken from a 1905 SOP. Quite a change.

 

[centrarchid]

Pattern of that time period approximates Barred Plymouth Rock. I strive for earlier appearance.

 

[buffalogal]

For those of you that don't check the Exhibition, SOP thread, here is an illustration of the Dominiques taken from a 1905 SOP. Quite a change.

This particular version is not now, and never was a correct Dominique despite it's appearance in the SoP. Dominique breeders had no input on the description, or illustration (which is clearly NOT cuckoo) and the weights were ridiculously oversize. The real breeders worked hard to get this corrected in the 1915 standard. You can read that history here: http://www.dominiquechicken.com/The_Dominique_Standard.html

 

[buffalogal]

Quote: Sorry it's taken me three days to reply, I needed a bright, sunny day without some other pressing appointment to have time to catch and handle birds. I used to work as a negative and print retoucher back in day before photoshop, so I'm pretty detail oriented myself. Apparently, my Dominiques are not working on the same genetic mechanism as yours, because there really is no barring, faint or otherwise. Also, no spicks, specks, or partially marked feathers. We are talking about a bright, solid, silver white. (Not silverfish; I'm guessing that was autocorrect?) As I mentioned earlier, unless they are bred directly to a parent or full sibling, they do not throw white when bred to a normal cuckoo bird, and even then it's more like one chick out of 30, certainly no where near 50% or even 25%.

 

[centrarchid]

Sorry it's taken me three days to reply, I needed a bright, sunny day without some other pressing appointment to have time to catch and handle birds. I used to work as a negative and print retoucher back in day before photoshop, so I'm pretty detail oriented myself.  Apparently, my Dominiques are not working on the same genetic mechanism as yours, because there really is no barring, faint or otherwise. Also, no spicks, specks, or partially marked feathers. We are talking about a bright, solid, silver white. (Not silverfish; I'm guessing that was autocorrect?) As I mentioned earlier, unless they are bred directly to a parent or full sibling, they do not throw white when bred to a normal cuckoo bird, and even then it's more like one chick out of 30, certainly no where near 50% or even 25%.

Pictures.

Your very low occurrence, you using breeding flocks rather than pairwise matings?