Dominique Thread!

[sewandgrow]

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I bought Silkies as broody hens & they are great at it. I do most of my own incubation now with my new big incubator but was tired of less than satisfactory hatches with my old method and bought the silkies as a back up. They love to set eggs.....LOL

 

[BarredBuff]

I have eight buff chicks right now hatched off of heritage type lines hopefully they will do the job!

 

[sewandgrow]

I tried shipped Dominique eggs. I was hoping my new Brinsea would make the difference in a successful hatch but alas only 3 out of a dozen hatched. On my Marans they can take extra days to hatch so I will hold them an extra day or two but I don't know if that works the same with this breed. This was my first time hatching Dominiques. I do well with my own eggs but these poor guys were a flop. How disappointing. I was hoping for a nice hatch of beautiful birds that lay all winter long like my Delawares do.
Karen

 

[Gallusfarm]

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So sorry to hear about the bad luck, Karen. At least you have 3 little ones.

 

[tgrlily]

Sorry if this has been posted before......

How long before you can reliably tell if your Dominique chicks are pullets or cockerels. They're from a strain which is hard to sex.

 

[Gallusfarm]

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Usually for that type it's at least three weeks. Combs will be turning pink in the males and you'll really start to see that the females are darker overall. The legs in these throw me off, because they all look the same - good news for you, because later the girls should have a nice clean leg.

Would love to see pics.

 

[sewandgrow]

Quote:
Usually for that type it's at least three weeks. Combs will be turning pink in the males and you'll really start to see that the females are darker overall. The legs in these throw me off, because they all look the same - good news for you, because later the girls should have a nice clean leg.

Would love to see pics.

I was going to ask abouting sexing myself. Since they are a barred breed I was wondering if you could color sex them at time of hatch like the Cuckoo Marans. Out of those 3 I hatched one is noticeably lighter in color than the other 2. He is much more gray. I wondered if that meant it is a cockerel???????????????
I think I will temporarily band them & watch as they grow.

 

[centrarchid]

Quote:
Usually for that type it's at least three weeks. Combs will be turning pink in the males and you'll really start to see that the females are darker overall. The legs in these throw me off, because they all look the same - good news for you, because later the girls should have a nice clean leg.

Would love to see pics.

I was going to ask abouting sexing myself. Since they are a barred breed I was wondering if you could color sex them at time of hatch like the Cuckoo Marans. Out of those 3 I hatched one is noticeably lighter in color than the other 2. He is much more gray. I wondered if that meant it is a cockerel???????????????
I think I will temporarily band them & watch as they grow.

Some dominique strains can be color sexed pretty accurately, some strains will be more of a challenge. Look at gray and dark gray bands on primary wing feathers. Light gray stretches on males will be longer than dark stretches. On females, light and dark stretches will be roughly equal.

 

[centrarchid]

The image below shows present and soon to be no longer configuration for confining my American Dominique broodstock. System as shown suitable only with dog(s). Once tax return comes in a more permanent structure on concrete with vertical supports of treated 4 x 4's and cattle pannels will be constructed to house brood birds. Existing pens plus another dozen will hold backup brood stock and show birds. Pens are moved about every few days to ensure access to fresh grass. Pens side by side enabling easy tie-down for wind and makes it more difficult if not impossble for Mr. Fox to worry birds into corner.

Existing pens may look flimsy but my brother has some that are more than 20 years old.

 

[sewandgrow]

I put an ad up on the auction to try to trade some hatching eggs.