Dominique Thread!

[Faraday40]

I only wanted 3-4 Dominique's......
Now I have 11!!! This chicken math thing is harder to figure out than college calculus!
My 2 months olds are having a blast looking for worms in the garden I am working on. My mut dog loves eating bugs and the Doms taught her how to dig for worms! Now she has been running around in the mud digging randomly trying to find worms! She is very protective of the chicks. Hopefully they will be friends for life!

That's so funny!!!

We have 2 mutts. At first our dogs weren't sure how to react to baby chicks, but we taught them to leave chickens alone. Eventually, we could allow the dogs & chickens to share the yard. They do not interact much, but the dogs are a great hawk deterrents. The coop must be closed (except for the small hen door) to prevent our dogs from stealing eggs. For me the gross part is how much our dogs like to eat chicken poop.

I would much prefer they eat bugs.

 

[JacobandMeagan]

Haha yes my mut loves to eat chicken poop! She cannot get to the egg boxes and we have not had any issues yet. I have a black lab that is older, calm and mature. He will walk around the yard sniffing and marking his territory all while ignoring the chickens. He is a great protector against hawk, fox, skunk and other dogs. He knows the chickens are mine and not his so he does not mess with them. But I have no doubt that he (and his urine along my fence line) is the reason I have not had many predator problems. I've had 1 hawk attack and It happened while he was inside and I was gone He was barking his head off when my wife got home. It's all about training. Dogs can be chickens worst nightmare or their protectors and friends.

 

[CuteChickens]

I'm glad here we don't have hawks and fox problems.

 

[EastNashChick]

My Dom babies. Hatched 1/18/16. Last 5 photos look male

Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!

 

[hellbender]

Hellbender, I'll be most interested in your thoughts and experiences. I had a few of these and found them to be a superior meat chicken to the large breeds that take so long to fill in. Why I haven't gotten them again is a mystery to me. Oh, yeah. A lot of it is those stinkin' med sized eggs

I'll certainly keep you in the loop. This will be the last of 4 breeds I plan to use in my capon project. My kids are using three of the same breeds but have decided to use Buckeyes where I'm going to use Doms.

EDIT: Gootziecat... If you can wait 'til next fall, I'd be happy to give you a trio or quad. We really don't live that far apart. We could meet part way or you could come to visit and see my shanties. I'd even fix you a capon for lunch and even send one or two back home with you...on the hoof or dressed.

At least think about it...I'm serious. Ah...egg size means little to me...they only need to be large enough to carry a chick comfortably. If egg size mattered, I'd just raise White Leghorns and/or ISA Browns.

RON

 

[MeeMa Brown]

Sorry so late to reply. My compines come to lap for mealworm treats but since i don't have long daily pet time with them they don't seek me.

 

[blueclip]

Update on Koko (my now 7 month old rooster):

Is no longer food aggressive! In fact, he patiently waits for his turn as he lets the hens eat first. This guy has done a complete 180, I'm so glad you guys were right about him just going through a hormonal phase. He's very tolerant and patient now, definitely acting more like a mature cock.

 

[Faraday40]

Update on Koko (my now 7 month old rooster):

Is no longer food aggressive! In fact, he patiently waits for his turn as he lets the hens eat first. This guy has done a complete 180, I'm so glad you guys were right about him just going through a hormonal phase. He's very tolerant and patient now, definitely acting more like a mature cock.

So glad to hear.
A lot depends on the roo as well.

I have 2 orp roos. One is a perfect gentleman with the hens while the other still chases them to mate. The chasing boy is starting to lure the hens toward him by offering the girls treats. He used to just eat the treats, so perhaps he's maturing. They are brothers, so one is just slow to hang of courting the females.

 

[blueclip]

Can someone put up pics of what a good or "perfect" comb looks like on a both a male and female dom? I'd like to use it as a comparison for my flock, thanks!

 

[Alaskan]

I actually think the comb on the girl is too large.