Dominique Thread!

[Sylvester017]

Faraday40 - don't know about the typing or Amazon orders , but the nice warm keyboard is a great baby-sitter when there's no chicken momma for them to hide under. Our weather was so humid/hot (100 degrees) I never had to use a heat lamp over the kiddie pool brooder - the littlest chick got pasty butt after a couple days from overheating -- she was ok after a couple days. Funny little gals!

 

[Sylvester017]

Just love posting some cuteness overload:

Itty-bitty Dom chicks brought home Aug 4:

They are half down/half feathers with dark still going down their front legs/toes and still have the tight white dot on top of their heads. Today they're running/flying around, growing in barred feathers, and taking dust-baths in an enlarged grit dish to accommodate their growing size -- they couldn't all fit in the first tiny square dish so had to find a bigger one below!

 

[Chickassan]

Hey question for the Dominique owners, im asking this here because the more I read about these birds my issue may very well be breed specific.I got a Dom pullet a few weeks back and I'm having a heck of a time integrating her. I'm not having the usual issues of the flock picking on her, she's chasing the rest of the flock. She also chases rabbits, squirrels, birds. She's very human freindly no issues there. I want very badly to have her roost with the others but as soon as she goes in they come out. They can't possibly see her as a threat, she's tiny. The only chicken that isn't terrified is a cockrel with a one track mind. Any suggestions on how to handle this girl? As of now she's sleeping in a carrier in the coop so she's safe at night but I don't like having to jail her.She's a sweet girl I've just never had to experience such a personality so any suggestions from experienced owners would be more than welcome.

 

[Leahs Mom]

I'll be interested in hearing responses too from the experienced.

 

[Alaskan]

I have never tried to integrate a single bird...and I have never had one act like that.

sorry...no help here

 

[Chickassan]

I've got other pullets around her age not Doms but faverolles so she could have had a non aggressive bunch to buddy up with. I've integrated a single bird in the past and it was terribly hard so I was expecting the same, but it isn't going that way. She sneaks into the flock now and then but as soon as they notice they're out of there. I'm baffled like I said she's tiny and she runs my delaware the meanest hen I've got

 

[Sylvester017]

@Chickassan I love your Dom hen - such a pretty sweetie! I currently have 3 Dom pullets a little over 4 weeks old. Dom chicks are one of the most outgoing, unafraid, active, curious chick breeds. Some chick breeds cower in a corner in a brooder but the Dom chicks will follow your hand/fingers around to check out what feed you'll drop for them. As adults Dom hens are generally calm and so far, two of my juvenile Dom chicks are calm and easily handled in the "judge's hold." But my 3rd girl has been skittish from the first day we brought the chicks home. I've had to work with her longer in holding her, picking her up, keeping her from jumping out of her skin. She's so skittish she scares the other two chicks with her shrieks. She's not mean, just hyper, so it's taking time on my part to pacify her. She may never be as calm or gentle-natured as the other two Dom girls, but I'm hoping all the extra handling will help.

We once had a single Silkie juvenile that we handled indoors for 3 months before she was old enough to integrate w/ the outdoor hens and Silkies can be quite skittish -- but she was so accustomed to wearing diapers, having her tush shampoo'd and blow-dried, that she got very accustomed to handling. She was a spunky personality and sweet as pie with humans but she bossed the other older outdoor Silkie once we integrated her. Personalities are different on a per-chicken-basis. After she started laying her first egg she calmed down a bit but was still forever our spunkiest littlest hen. In the past if we had a single lone pullet to integrate we let it see the other backyard hens through a rabbit fence so they would all get accustomed to seeing each other for a few days and took her back inside the house at night. Then after a few days, if it looked like neither side was afraid of each other any more, we put the new pullet in the coop at night after dark to wake up with the old girls the next morning. There would be a bit of pecking orders established but never anything injurious. I believe in gradual integration when there's a single new pullet so all the birds get used to seeing each other and knowing that they all belong in the yard when they see us feeding each side of the fence.

P.S. I don't care much for pushy heritage layers like Delawares so it tickled me to hear that a slim-bodied little Dominique hen just wants to make "friends" the rambunctious outgoing unafraid way that your Dom has. I've had a few pullets before POL that were very active in chasing wild birds, stray cats, or other established chickens in playful juvenile fashion. Adult hens will naturally scatter away from active juveniles. This is why I have chosen to raise 3 Dom chicks together so they have each other to pester rather than playfully chasing my old gentle 6 yr-old Silkie or docile 1-yr-old Breda hen. I knew Dom chicks/juveniles were full of personality so I chose to have more than one to integrate into my backyard flock. My Doms will more than likely calm down once they get past POL (point of lay). Talkative, social, almost clingy-type of breed that I really love. Let us know how your girl ends up -- maybe separate her from the flock with a rabbit fence so they can all get accustomed to each other before turning her loose "cold turkey" into the main flock?

 

[Chickassan]

Well thank you so much @Sylvester017 .My flock is a mixed bag so lots of different personalities looks like I've just got one more. I did give her a pen to herself for a few days and it was weird lol! She flogged the cockrel and the delaware through the pen they did instigate it and I was pleased she didn't back down. Normally she wouldn't be loose yet but it's a huge relief I don't have to worry about her. She keeps the squirrels out of the feed so she's already earning her keep. Hopefully she'll make friends soon, the faverolles are starting to not be quite so wary.Just the most delightfully weird chicken

 

[Faraday40]

Well thank you so much @Sylvester017 .My flock is a mixed bag so lots of different personalities looks like I've just got one more. I did give her a pen to herself for a few days and it was weird lol! She flogged the cockrel and the delaware through the pen they did instigate it and I was pleased she didn't back down. Normally she wouldn't be loose yet but it's a huge relief I don't have to worry about her. She keeps the squirrels out of the feed so she's already earning her keep. Hopefully she'll make friends soon, the faverolles are starting to not be quite so wary.Just the most delightfully weird chicken

"Just the most delightfully weird chicken"

Yep. I have one of those. My EE Tyrion patrols the yard & chases squirrels. She's also a busy-body & always checking out who's laying or lingering in the nest boxes. She steals sandwiches & cookies from the hands of children & is fearless. (Not in a mean way, just very curious about new things. Very un-chicken-like.) If anyone is walking through the yard with food in their hands, it MUST be a treat for her. We actually thought the EE was a little roo until the day she laid a blue egg. She even helped the roo chase away a hawk once. She's 5 & slowing down - but only a little.

 

[Sylvester017]

Well thank you so much @Sylvester017 .My flock is a mixed bag so lots of different personalities looks like I've just got one more.....Just the most delightfully weird chicken

"Just the most delightfully weird chicken"

Yep. I have one of those. My EE Tyrion patrols the yard & chases squirrels. She's also a busy-body & always checking out who's laying or lingering in the nest boxes. She steals sandwiches & cookies from the hands of children & is fearless. (Not in a mean way, just very curious about new things. Very un-chicken-like.) If anyone is walking through the yard with food in their hands, it MUST be a treat for her. We actually thought the EE was a little roo until the day she laid a blue egg. She even helped the roo chase away a hawk once. She's 5 & slowing down - but only a little.

Haha! I had the same thought for "Just the most delightfully weird chicken." Besides the sweet outgoing friendly Dominique, I also was thinking about the Ameraucana and Easter Eggers as "most delightfully weird chickens." Once you've had some of these breeds you know exactly what the other owners are talking about!