Dominique Thread!

[Faraday40]

Same here! I fixed the nesting boxes yesterday, just in case, and tucked some round white stones inside to give my gals a hint. Since we're in Texas, we still have quite a bit of daylight so I'm hoping for eggs before winter.

I keep golf balls in mine for the same purpose. Then of course I laugh when a hen goes broody & tries to incubate them.

 

[sedaeng]

17 doms all at 4 weeks old. I am counting down the days until our first egg Im hoping to catch the future hen in the act with cameras in the coop.

 

[lazy gardener]

I am done free ranging. I have done it for several years now but it is no longer working out. to many birds getting hit in the road and now something is taking several birds per day. So for now they are locked up. I suspect it is a coyote if it is I could take care of that but that will not help the car issue.
The birds are not just a hobby they are part of the farm income. the way I see it I have to choices one butcher them all and forget about chickens. Keeping them locked up 24*7 is not an option for me.
The only other option I see is to use electric poultry netting. Is anyone using that here and how has it worked? I am confident no predator is going around the poultry netting my charger runs 16,000 volts. but will I have a problem keeping the birds in? will the wings have to be clipped.

I use electronet. You will most likely need to clip their wings. My net has worked well up until this year. But, I have a lot of new pullets who insist on flying over the net every day... several times/day. I could clip their wings, and it might help, but we've recently had a lot of hawk predation. The babies squirt right through the electronet even when it's turned on. So, I'm working on building a 6' high run surrounding 3 sides of the coop, and it will have bird netting over the top, skirt around the bottom. The hawks have not been taking them inside the electronet. They wait till they fly out, and wander around the back side to a sheltered area to range... that's where they've been getting nailed.

 

[THeelChickinKY]

@domfarm
Get the electric fence! We had terrible predation last year and finally we gave in and bought an electric fence. We loved completely free ranging them but hit a really bad point with losses around Nov/Dec. We got the fence and it's been wonderful. Occasionally a bird will fly out, but it's not often and easily remedied. We don't clip their wings or anything. I think if their space is big enough you'll be fine. We love, love, live the fence. We hated giving up complete free ranging, but it's been worth it not having to come home to more missing pets, because that's what ours are for us.

 

[THeelChickinKY]

Lol, we love the fence, not live the fence!

 

[THeelChickinKY]

Oh, and the one we got is called Premier - works great, low profile, easy to move around as needed.

 

[centrarchid]

@domfarm, do not forget birds inside fence still vulnerable to raptors. This especially true with owls.

 

[mermaids]

I got my first dom eggs around 20-21 weeks.

 

[blueclip]

I looked at my doms this morning and noticed that they all appear to have something red where their beaks end and where their combs begin. Does anyone know what this is? It looks like dry blood and some have "more" of it than others. Thanks.

 

[GrammiChelle]

I'd like to introduce to you Hank Wllieggs, Sr. He was my Mystery Chick this June from Murray MacMurray Hatchery. So he's about 18 weeks old now, but this pic was taken a couple of weeks ago. I'm thrilled to have him. He's crowing already and it's the cutest little crow ever!!
I'm liking this breed a lot. This is my second year raising chickens and I'm thinking I'll be getting some more Dominiues in my next order for sure!! I started out loving the feather footed breeds, and absolutely love Langshans. But of the non-feather footed breeds, I'm thinking of sticking to Easter Eggers and Dominiques.
I can't wait to get some more Dominiques, and if anyone has any HATCHING EGGS of better than hatchery quality eggs they'd be willing to sell/ship, please let me know, as I'd love to hatch my own!
Thank you! And I hope you like Hank as much as I do. I can't wait to see him fully feathered as he shows signs of having beautiful saddle and hackle feathers.