Dominique Thread!

[vpatt]

I have five Doms. Two hens were laying when I got them and I don't know their ages. They did not lay every day but often until the days were shorter. (Just got them this past September). One is a rooster ...he is not a year old...he is very sweet and is beginning to care for his ladies or maybe I should say learning. One hen went broody and is raising two chicks...they are 1 week old today and she is taking good care of them. The other hen has begun laying again about four eggs a week. A pullet has just started laying a month ago maybe and she lays about six eggs a week. The other pullet has not begun to lay yet. They free range well and are not timid, but they are not lap birds. They seem to be wary and watchful of predators. The hen with the chicks did not like me messing with herbut allowed me to. And sometimes I have to help one of the chicks in at bedtime and the mama lets me do that without getting upset with me.

 

[EastNashChick]

If you join the Dominique Club of America online they'll release their breeders list to you.

I'm sure there are probably breeders near you in SC wherever you are located and you can get quality purebreds.

South carolina

 

[lazy gardener]

I've not had PBR, but have heard the occasional report that a PBR hen is aggressive to flock mates. I love my Doms. Not a mean bone in their body! I think you might find that the PBR lay a larger egg. But, the Doms excel with their rose comb, and their wonderful personalities. How many birds are you planning to get? You could try several birds of each breed that interests you. You just might find that you fall in love with a bird that was not even on your radar screen. But, IMO, you'd be hard pressed to find a bird as nice as a Dom! One bird that surprised me is a Pioneer meat bird that I held back from freezer camp last summer. She's a wonderful flock addition!

 

[Jungleexplorer]

I have a question. Is it good or bad as far as SOP goes for a hen to be light in color? In my birds, you can easily tell the pullets from the cockerels because the pullets are a lot darker then the cockerels. Even as a adults the hens are darker then the roosters. Last year though I produced a pullet that was so light, I put her in the cockerels pen. It was until they were about 5 months old and the cockerels started to develop that I realized she was a hen. Never had a pullet this light in color before and I am just wondering if it is a good or bad thing.

 

[Alaskan]

I would vote 'bad' since it messes up the ease of sexing, which is supposed to be a benefit of the breed.

 

[Delight in Dominiques]

There is no fine definition of color for the Dominique, only that color stops short of positive black and white. That being said the Dominique can vary in shades of grey that the breeder prefers,and still be within the SOP description. Distinct contrast of color is preferred and working with the lighter colored birds will create a challenge in the breeding pens if single mating for both sexes.

 

[Jungleexplorer]

There is no fine definition of color for the Dominique, only that color stops short of positive black and white. That being said the Dominique can vary in shades of grey that the breeder prefers,and still be within the SOP description. Distinct contrast of color is preferred and working with the lighter colored birds will create a challenge in the breeding pens if single mating for both sexes.

I only ask because when I got my original breeding stock from Mr. Sam Brush, I remember him saying that he was sorry that they hen he was giving me was so dark and not lighter in color. Since then I wondered if lighter hens were desirable.

 

[Sylvester017]

Help please I am new to chickens and have been researching I am in love with what I have found about the dominque. Dual purpose, decent layers, good mothers, friendly and easy to handle, good free ranging. However looking for them in my area keep hearing not friendly or easy to handle get barred rocks instead. As I am new I am looking for a nice friendly backyard flock for eggs, meat and maybe some nice babies to watch grow up with there mamas. Am I looking at the right breed. I really don't want to order from murray McMurray. Would like better quality any advice would be great.

The guy from the dominiquechicken.com website is now helping Cackle Hatchery in breeding the Doms so you might try some stock from Cackle - you can order as few as 3 pullets from their City/Town Special Order. That's what I will do when I am ready for Doms. My feed store orders from Privett Hatchery and I got a Dom from there which was a nice chick but mysteriously suffered a sudden seizure before a month old so I can't truly recommend Privett except that the chick had a nice outgoing temperament. I'll go with Cackle next time.

Barred Rocks have a Dom history but the BRs have Malay and Game bird crossed in their history to increase their carcass for dual purpose. I prefer the Dom because they have not been tampered with other breeds, are lighterweight, good foragers and easy on the feed bill, brood their own young, and have a usually consistent friendly temperament. BRs which I have had before are not reliable about their temperament and can be anywhere from mellow to aggressive and none of ours ever went broody. We recommended Doms and Buckeyes to a Colorado couple who wanted hardy free-range chickens for their climate and we were happy to get feedback that they loved them.

 

[Jungleexplorer]

Help please I am new to chickens and have been researching I am in love with what I have found about the dominque. Dual purpose, decent layers, good mothers, friendly and easy to handle, good free ranging. However looking for them in my area keep hearing not friendly or easy to handle get barred rocks instead. As I am new I am looking for a nice friendly backyard flock for eggs, meat and maybe some nice babies to watch grow up with there mamas. Am I looking at the right breed. I really don't want to order from murray McMurray. Would like better quality any advice would be great.

I think that it is hard to tell with any breed about friendliness. It really has more to do with how you raise them. The friendlies bird I have out of all the hundreds of chickens I have had over the past five years is a pure bred American Game hen. Of course I hand fed her from a chick. I have some of the purest Dominiques, from Sam Brush' own line, and are the flightiest birds I have out of all my breeds. Mine are also not the best layers and mine have not been very good mothers either. I live in Central Texas and all of my doms have experienced frostbite on there combs in the winter if temps go below 20 degrees F. I believe Barred Rocks are more cold hardy. But mine is a heritage show bird line, so that might account for this.

So far, out of all the breeds I have owned, the best all around breed I have raised for, eggs, friendliness, and hardiness has been the Black French Copper Maran. As for as mothering goes, my American Games have been the best by far, but it is really an individual bird thing. Some hens are just good mothers an others are not, and this goes for all breeds. If you want birds that are genetically bred to be friendly, go with the Cubalaya. They are good layers, great free rangers, go broody often and pretty to look at. They have been bred specifically to be friendly towards humans and this trait is natural them without any training. But this breed is rare and good birds are hard, if not impossible to come by. Do not order Cubalayas from any hatchery though. They all have the same genetic line of birds and they will die within 2 years, if not sooner.

I think the Dominique is a good all around bird, but you must research the line your are getting. True Dominiques are rare. Most doms are reverse bred BRs. Do your research and get a good line that has the traits you want and you will be happy.

 

[Sylvester017]

I have a question. Is it good or bad as far as SOP goes for a hen to be light in color? In my birds, you can easily tell the pullets from the cockerels because the pullets are a lot darker then the cockerels. Even as a adults the hens are darker then the roosters. Last year though I produced a pullet that was so light, I put her in the cockerels pen. It was until they were about 5 months old and the cockerels started to develop that I realized she was a hen. Never had a pullet this light in color before and I am just wondering if it is a good or bad thing.

I'm going out on a limb here but from all the research and contacts I've done about chickens or breeding, anomalies will occur in any breeding program. There will be 4-toed Silkies or featherless-legged Faverolles, or color sports, etc etc etc. Sounds like that's what occurred with your girl. It's like with breeders of blue feathering that find some of their blues coming out darker than others in the flock and then deciding to choose which color traits they like best to continue breeding.

I think that it is hard to tell with any breed about friendliness. It really has more to do with how you raise them. The friendlies bird I have out of all the hundreds of chickens I have had over the past five years is a pure bred American Game hen. Of course I hand fed her from a chick. I have some of the purest Dominiques, from Sam Brush' own line, and are the flightiest birds I have out of all my breeds. Mine are also not the best layers and mine have not been very good mothers either. I live in Central Texas and all of my doms have experienced frostbite on there combs in the winter if temps go below 20 degrees F. I believe Barred Rocks are more cold hardy. But mine is a heritage show bird line, so that might account for this.

So far, out of all the breeds I have owned, the best all around breed I have raised for, eggs, friendliness, and hardiness has been the Black French Copper Maran. As for as mothering goes, my American Games have been the best by far, but it is really an individual bird thing. Some hens are just good mothers an others are not, and this goes for all breeds. If you want birds that are genetically bred to be friendly, go with the Cubalaya. They are good layers, great free rangers, go broody often and pretty to look at. They have been bred specifically to be friendly towards humans and this trait is natural them without any training. But this breed is rare and good birds are hard, if not impossible to come by. Do not order Cubalayas from any hatchery though. They all have the same genetic line of birds and they will die within 2 years, if not sooner.

I think the Dominique is a good all around bird, but you must research the line your are getting. True Dominiques are rare. Most doms are reverse bred BRs. Do your research and get a good line that has the traits you want and you will be happy.

You definitely are right about it being a gamble about what traits will come out in any breed you acquire. Handling a chick from hatch is not a guarantee the bird will be friendly at maturity. A Leghorn is a Leghorn is a Leghorn and no matter how outgoing or socialized they do not prefer human touch and independently decide when and how they come up to you. We have 2 Silkies and one likes to be held/petted while the other is friendly but not so willing to be handled. We had a Dom chick that couldn't wait to hop into our hands while the Leghorn chicks ignored us if we had no treats to offer.

We had one excellent laying Leghorn that was calm and gentle for 3 years before going bonkers while another poor laying Leghorn went aggressive at only 1 y/o. You just never know why one chicken in a breed can be so different from it's hatchmates. This kind of disparity must drive breeders out of their mind while perfecting their projects. Our Marans was in the flock for a few weeks before we had to rehome her because of vicious bullying toward flockmates -- she was hand-tamed from hatch and calm around humans but nasty to her flockmates. I researched every breed before adding to my flock and sometimes I've been overjoyed with the bird and other times sadly disappointed by another bird. Still I research for generally accepted characteristics of a breed and then hope for the best in the individual bird. Socializing a chick helps but some breed traits remain regardless of handling.

I keep seeing recommendations to look into strains or lines of breeds before purchasing and am no longer convinced this is completely accurate. My friend and I had different lines and varieties of Marans and found them unpleasant in our mixed flocks, yet we compared notes and found we agreed that the Ameraucanas and EEs in our flocks were the most accepting and nurturing. The Orps were bossy while the OEs were docile. These are generalities but certain characteristics seem to dominate in each breed of chicken whether hatchery or privately raised. After owning certain breeds for a while owners develop their own preferences for what they like or need from their flock. JMHO and from personal experience.