Dominique Thread!

[Fowlisfair]

Greetings,
I am a fairly experienced fowl breeder looking for a new breed to which I can devote myself. I am looking for a dual purpose breed of historical significance, naturally this puts the American Dominique high on my list. However, the Dominique's small frame concerns me as a point of production. How much meat is on a standard bred Dominique carcass? I am looking for a breed that can forage well, brood and raise chickens moderately well, and still present well on the dinner table.
Further, I am searching for a breed in need of dedicated breeders to improve its quality. I am more interested in helping a strain that is less likely to succeed in the show room than taking on a breed that is regularly on champion row. How do you think the Dominique fares in this regard? Is it uncommon for Dominiques to place at the poultry shows?
Regards,
Dick Boechman

 

[Alaskan]

Greetings,
I am a fairly experienced fowl breeder looking for a new breed to which I can devote myself. I am looking for a dual purpose breed of historical significance, naturally this puts the American Dominique high on my list. However, the Dominique's small frame concerns me as a point of production. How much meat is on a standard bred Dominique carcass? I am looking for a breed that can forage well, brood and raise chickens moderately well, and still present well on the dinner table.
Further, I am searching for a breed in need of dedicated breeders to improve its quality. I am more interested in helping a strain that is less likely to succeed in the show room than taking on a breed that is regularly on champion row. How do you think the Dominique fares in this regard? Is it uncommon for Dominiques to place at the poultry shows?
Regards,
Dick Boechman

It has been eons since I have been to a proper poultry show, so about that.

As to your other points, I think the .Dominique fits perfectly.

They are supposed to be lighter framed than the Barred Rock, and lean more towards eggs than meat, this is so that they have a better feed to egg conversion rate. However, the cocks are a very nice size, much larger than the hens with a nice broad chest and back. In short, the extra cockerels are excellent eating with a good sized carcass.

It is close to impossible to (or at least terribly difficult) to get truly excellent examples of the breed. Most of the Dominiques that I see are NOT close enough to what they should be.

The comb and wattles tend to be too big, the color tends to lean toward true black and true white instead of off white and off black, etc. Etc. Etc.

Of course, no other breed can top the Dominique if you are looking for both historical and American.

In short, I think that you are perfectly describing the Dominique.

 

[Mavabird]

The darker plumage and pink comb say girl (still has shading down the front shanks too).  Boys would have wider silver bars while the girls have wider dark bar feathering.

I agree, it looks like a girl

Thank you! I wish I had more Dominiques, if they're all as sweet as this one.

 

[centrarchid]

Greetings,
I am a fairly experienced fowl breeder looking for a new breed to which I can devote myself. I am looking for a dual purpose breed of historical significance, naturally this puts the American Dominique high on my list. However, the Dominique's small frame concerns me as a point of production. How much meat is on a standard bred Dominique carcass? I am looking for a breed that can forage well, brood and raise chickens moderately well, and still present well on the dinner table.
Further, I am searching for a breed in need of dedicated breeders to improve its quality. I am more interested in helping a strain that is less likely to succeed in the show room than taking on a breed that is regularly on champion row. How do you think the Dominique fares in this regard? Is it uncommon for Dominiques to place at the poultry shows?
Regards,
Dick Boechman

I am into American Dominiques in much the same way you indicate. Frame varies considerably. The larger frame birds currently the rage may not be representative of what American Dominiques of old had. Also the larger frame, regardless of breed, requires more feed to make. If the growth is very rapid then you need not only more feed, you also need higher quality feed. I select for growth performance where nutrition does not come in dense feed requiring little effort to acquire and process. As soon as you do that the free-range reputation is worthless. More but no time.

 

[Fowlisfair]

More but no time.

I look forward to it!

 

[centrarchid]

Dominiques can show well. They can also do poorly. Showing not a top concern for me although with most breeders I know show is the most consideration. Look into strains not of hatchery origin. A fellow in North Carolina has or had a production strain that does not show well but likely represents an important line within the breed. Line did not tolerate my situation well but well suited for where they are kept.

 

[Sylvester017]

Thank you! I wish I had more Dominiques, if they're all as sweet as this one.

We have become so enamoured with our current flock and think they are all too sweet - DH can't even think of eating any one of them. The Doms are really particularly absolutely wonderful birds! After having to re-home some other nasty dual purpose breeds we were surprised at the friendly outgoing curious unafraid personality of our little Dom chick. A show breeder was telling us that the same personality continues into their adulthood but we lost our little girl before POL and were devastated not to see her grow up. We are zoned for only 5 hens and no roos so we think our 5th and final gentle addition next year will be a Dom again. Doms are certainly more personable than the aloof Leghorns or Marans we had to re-home -- they were nice laying hens and took treats from us but they were rather aggressive toward gentle flockmates and more standoffish toward humans where the Dom is much more sociable and less combative.

Probably everyone has a favourite breed or two but the best all-round heritage and self-sustaining barnyard backyard breed has got to be the Dom - there are some dual purpose breeds that are more prolific, dress out way larger, lay XL to Jumbo double yolkers but the Dom fits every parameter where other breeds might fall short - the Doms are not prolific yet are decent layers - a result of being able to brood their own young which can cut a bit into their egg numbers, nice dedicated mothers, active foragers making other breeds look lazy thus resulting in a good feed-to-egg ratio, definitely less aggressive and non-combative toward flockmates, much more friendly outgoing and unafraid with no effort needed to socialize with humans, they don't wander far from home like many landrace breeds seem to do, and I understand the cockerels dress out decently though we don't eat our birds so I'll take the experts' word for it! Before the fast food industry breeds took over it is easy to see why the Dom was a popular self-sustaining breed for so many centuries - beauty, brains, personality, friendliness, and utility!!! It only takes owning a Dom for a little while to understand what all the hype is about the resurgence of this breed and why owners love them so much.

 

[centrarchid]

When is comes to the assertion that American Dominiques are good foragers. I do not see it. This especially true of young birds. For comparison I have American Games and what I call fourth generation Missouri Dominiques (~3/4 American Dominique x ~1/4 American Game). The American Games will forage well away from feeders even when kept full at all times. Distance for the games can exceed 200 yards. The American Dominiques have a hard time getting more than 50 yards from feeders even when provided a limited ration. If for some reason I fail to fill feeders, then the games still go to roost with full crops and they also markedly expand how far they range. The American Dominiques will go to roost with an empty crop for a couple of days before starting to expand foraging range. I played with this quite a bit but came to conclusion the American Dominiques have a love affair with the feeders. The result is the American Games can still grow well while American Dominiques slow in growth, at least at first. This breaks down with mixed flocks as the American Dominiques will follow the games out. The Missouri Dominiques are intermediate. There are holes in what I assert.


Foraging well away from feeding stations and roost is not always good, especially if you cannot fly well or you go across property boundaries.

 

[Faraday40]

"I played with this quite a bit but came to conclusion the American Dominiques have a love affair with the feeders."

I enjoyed your wording. This perfectly describes my Orpingtons. They are allowed the freedom to roam our yard but after a few hours, they're back inside the run.

How well can the Dominiques be trained. When I need to put them away early, I simply call the flock with a treat bucket in hand. I tell them to go to the coop & toss a handful of scratch inside. Never takes more than 1-2 min to get everyone locked up for the night.

 

[C Bar C Ranch]

When is comes to the assertion that American Dominiques are good foragers. I do not see it. This especially true of young birds. For comparison I have American Games and what I call fourth generation Missouri Dominiques (~3/4 American Dominique x ~1/4 American Game). The American Games will forage well away from feeders even when kept full at all times. Distance for the games can exceed 200 yards. The American Dominiques have a hard time getting more than 50 yards from feeders even when provided a limited ration. If for some reason I fail to fill feeders, then the games still go to roost with full crops and they also markedly expand how far they range. The American Dominiques will go to roost with an empty crop for a couple of days before starting to expand foraging range. I played with this quite a bit but came to conclusion the American Dominiques have a love affair with the feeders. The result is the American Games can still grow well while American Dominiques slow in growth, at least at first. This breaks down with mixed flocks as the American Dominiques will follow the games out. The Missouri Dominiques are intermediate. There are holes in what I assert.


Foraging well away from feeding stations and roost is not always good, especially if you cannot fly well or you go across property boundaries.

I think you have made some interesting observations. How well do you think the Dominique's habit of foraging close to the feed hopper would translate to a chicken tractor grow out method as used by pastured poultry producers? This is a method I have employed in the past with larger breeds. I noticed a decrease in hopper feed consumption even in CornishX birds. Do you think the Dominique would utilize even more forage in such a situation? I realize it is largely conjecture; however, your experience with the Dominique puts you in a greater position to hypothesize than mine. Perhaps more frequent moves in a tractor would stimulate greater forage consumption?