Dominique Thread!

[DonkeyJac]

Welcome! My Doms are sweet girls, and so much fun to watch. They are just now starting to lay at 9 & 10 months.

 

[ThatFarmerChick]

Welcome! My Doms are sweet girls, and so much fun to watch. They are just now starting to lay at 9 & 10 months.

Aww. Those first eggs are so exciting. We are starting a new flock after moving. My new pair will be here soon. I cannot wait!. I will take on as many pullets of this breed as I can. I am closer to my family now and all of them love these sweet guys.

 

[lazy gardener]

I love this breed! New to this thread. Hello everyone.

 

[DonkeyJac]

I also have Aussies...wonderfully sweet girls, and egg machines.

 

[Sylvester017]

I love this breed! New to this thread. Hello everyone.

Hello right back!

I know why I adore Doms but I like to hear why others like the breed too. What is it that you love about Doms?

 

[ThatFarmerChick]

Hello right back! 

I know why I adore Doms but I like to hear why others like the breed too.  What is it that you love about Doms?

Not only are they adorably cute and friendly, they forage very well and save me money

 

[Sylvester017]

Hello right back!

I know why I adore Doms but I like to hear why others like the breed too. What is it that you love about Doms?

Quote:
When I first looked into heritage breeds - you know - the RIR, BR, NHR, Orps, Lorps, Legs, etc - it was hard to find a breed history that wasn't infused with Malay or game bird to make the breeds larger or lay better which meant breeding out the broodiness in the hens to massively increase production. Because the Doms raise their own young their egg production average is 4 eggs/week compared to production breeds at 5 to 6 eggs/week and that's ok with me. A 5-lb Dom shouldn't exhaust herself being so prolific like the heavier production breeds.

The Dom was the only American heritage breed that was kept as original as possible to the Colonial birds - diligent foragers, human friendly, able to brood their own young, predator-savvy, lighterweight and easy on the feed-to-egg ratio. Dom feathers are some of the softest I've ever touched! The breed is not a particularly heavy dual purpose but the roos are weighty enough to make a meal if that is how you use them. But for all these qualities the most amazing to us was the personality of the bird.

As chicks Doms are incredibly outgoing, unafraid, curious, and will bond with their human instantly. Other chick breeds will either cower in the brooder or get bored with you if you have no treats and will run off -- but the Dom chick will stay around to examine your fingers, your hair, your eyeglasses, and then perch in the palm of your hand or on your shoulder to take a snooze. As one BYCer said: the Dom chick in a brooder will be the friendly active one curiously watching you as you're watching it!! The dam*edest thing we ever experienced in a chick breed! The breeder told us that this personality continues all the way into their adulthood.

How can you not adore sweetness personified in a Dom! I'm also rather fond of rosecomb and peacomb breeds too!

 

[THeelChickinKY]

I have to second that about Dom chicks bonding to their owners as chicks, and I want to add how much we adore our trio of Dom roosters. They cuddled with us every night on the couch during their broody weeks and as grown roosters, all three have remained gentle with us. One insists on being held, flying into our arms when we walK outside. One ran across the yard to chase off a cockerel (who was a few weeks overdue for the soup pot) who was about to fly at my 3 year old son. The third is a sweetheart who loves to stand at your side and get pets. And they are such good leaders for the flock, working together to take care of the girls. I can't imagine we'll ever not have Dom roosters - can't sing their praises enough!

 

[centrarchid]

Doms have changed considerably since their recognition as a breed. They very likely had significant contribution of game bird in the beginning and that infusion would have been a promoter of broodiness. Much of the infusions to the breed probably have not been documented and based on what appears to be the pattern of change to a heftier / rounder bird relative to the original, subsequent additions are likely to have been some sort of Asian breed. Simple selection could have caused a lot of what we now consider typical Dom but probably not all.

 

[Sylvester017]

Doms have changed considerably since their recognition as a breed. They very likely had significant contribution of game bird in the beginning and that infusion would have been a promoter of broodiness. Much of the infusions to the breed probably have not been documented and based on what appears to be the pattern of change to a heftier / rounder bird relative to the original, subsequent additions are likely to have been some sort of Asian breed. Simple selection could have caused a lot of what we now consider typical Dom but probably not all.

I'm sure all heritage breeds were extracted from original landrace chickens so anything is possible in a breed's history which explains the straight combs and rose combs originallly found in Doms. Even today a breeder will be surprised by an unexpected straight comb in a Dom chick. I believe somewhere at the turn of last century there was a dispute between Dom breeders as to whether it should have straight combs or rose combs and the straight comb group approached APA to standardize their group with straight combs which became the Barred Rocks and that left the remaining Dom group to APA register their Doms as a separate breed with rose combs. However in research I was learning that the BRs were infused with Malay, Game and other birds to increase their dual purpose function which made them a bigger non-brooding bird than the Doms. To this day the Doms remain on the lighter-weight side with a more consistent temperament than the BRs. I've had both and prefer the consistent temperament and self-sufficient Doms over the bigger and less feed-efficient BRs. There's nothing wrong with dual purpose if that is your goal for utility purposes but we keep our hens as pets and for a few eggs and don't mind when nature takes its course to let the hens go broody to get a rest from laying eggs. Silly maybe but it suits us and we continue keeping breeds that will not go extinct because man has bred out their ability to raise their own young. There is a breed to meet every fancy and that is what is so unique about breeding chickens.