Dominique Thread!

[WallTenters]

We have seen a bird or two that looks more like the BPR barring, but nothing that screams rock. Just some of them seem to be much closer bars than others - those birds we don't keep for breeding and if the sire or dam throw several chicks like that we cull them.

However, as far as body type, I'd say our most "rock looking" bird actually came from some show lines in Washington that Rhonda aquired when the lady that owned them went through a divorce. One rooster could pass for a rock if his coloring was better and comb was a single comb - he is a gravy bowl if I ever saw one.

For single combs, it seems like so many people get caught up in the comb on the Dominique. Originally the breed called for breeding FOR a single comb. So having a bird that has single combed offspring when crossed with a SC bird just says they only carry one rose comb gene - breed carefully, but don't throw out a good hen or cock because he has one single comb gene in there. Much better to have a beautiful dominique body, plumage, head and heart and a single comb than a muff tailed barred rock with a rose comb, right?

 

[Chris09]

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Also keep in mind that they were bred from gamefowl and when it was bred for single comb it was still a game type fowl.

Chris

 

[centrarchid]

Single-comb allele, despite being recessive is easy to remove by selection. When single combs are popping up in one of my lines, the frequency suggest that most or all of that line are heterozygous for the trait. Having such a high rate of rose-combed birds throwing half of their offspring with single combs when mated to single comb birds is evidence that the rose-combed birds are F1 hybrids between rose-combed and single combed parents.

 

[chickened]

Would this be true of Wyandottes?
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[centrarchid]

Quote:
I know nothing of that situation and my observations have no bearing on it.


"Dominique" line in question is from commercial hatchery that has birds with sex-linked slow feathering gene plus larger and relatively darker eggs. Some also have the tighter and more regular barring that creates ringed effect. All that makes me think barred plymouth rock is in that line and in fairly large amounts. My concern strong enough to cause that line to be largely removed from my dominique breeding program.

I can see use of barred rock in hatchery line to ease sex determination of hatchlings (feather sexing). It might also improve hatchability of eggs. A couple of my pure dominique lines have consistently low hatch rate of first generation offspring even when crossed with another line. Do not know if it is egg, sperm or both quality. I would like to see original literature that says rose-comb allele is linked to poor male fertility. It may or may not be problem operating in some dominique lines

 

[chickened]

I have been getting straight combs in some new blood in my BLRW and was trying to determine if what you posted as a possibility of in Dominiques would be possible in BLRW. I do not get half but maybe 20% straight comb. I thought someone bred to RIR's which some do to enhance the red coloring. That was all.
Quote:
I know nothing of that situation and my observations have no bearing on it.


"Dominique" line in question is from commercial hatchery that has birds with sex-linked slow feathering gene plus larger and relatively darker eggs. Some also have the tighter and more regular barring that creates ringed effect. All that makes me think barred plymouth rock is in that line and in fairly large amounts. My concern strong enough to cause that line to be largely removed from my dominique breeding program.

I can see use of barred rock in hatchery line to ease sex determination of hatchlings (feather sexing). It might also improve hatchability of eggs. A couple of my pure dominique lines have consistently low hatch rate of first generation offspring even when crossed with another line. Do not know if it is egg, sperm or both quality. I would like to see original literature that says rose-comb allele is linked to poor male fertility. It may or may not be problem operating in some dominique lines

 

[Chris09]

Quote:
I know nothing of that situation and my observations have no bearing on it.


"Dominique" line in question is from commercial hatchery that has birds with sex-linked slow feathering gene plus larger and relatively darker eggs. Some also have the tighter and more regular barring that creates ringed effect. All that makes me think barred plymouth rock is in that line and in fairly large amounts. My concern strong enough to cause that line to be largely removed from my dominique breeding program.

I can see use of barred rock in hatchery line to ease sex determination of hatchlings (feather sexing). It might also improve hatchability of eggs. A couple of my pure dominique lines have consistently low hatch rate of first generation offspring even when crossed with another line. Do not know if it is egg, sperm or both quality. I would like to see original literature that says rose-comb allele is linked to poor male fertility. It may or may not be problem operating in some dominique lines


Who ever bred your BLRW took the easy way out by breeding Single Comb R.I. Reds into them.
They should have used a Rose Comb R.I. Red then you wouldn't have the Single Combs popping up.

Chris

 

[chickened]

I was not sure if the single comb was as prevalent with a wyandotte because they have a different comb than a Dominique. I guess it probably doesn't matter.

 

[Chris09]

Quote:
I can give you some first hand experience with crossing Rose Comb to Single Comb.

I raise Single Comb and Rose Comb Reds and got started in them about 10 years ago, my first breeding of the Single Comb Reds was a Single Comb Rooster over 5 Rose Comb Hens out of this cross 75% + of the offspring hatched that year was Rose Comb. The RC F1 offspring out of that cross had very narrow comb and fare less points than the parent hens, I then crossed all of the RC F1 Hens with Great to Excellent body type back to there father and the results of this cross was that all BC1 offspring had Rose Combs. Now I have been line breeding this flock for 9 years breeding son to mother, father to daughter, aunt to nephew and uncle to niece and I cant say that I had a Single comb pop up.

You can look at it this way,
In the poultry would look how many breeds have Single Combs that were bred from either a Rose or Pea Comb breed you never see a Rose or Pea Comb pop up in single comb breeds.

If I would have a Single Comb pop up in my Dominique line I would first cull that bird no matter how good it is, then I would try to find out it happened so that it doesn't happen again.
By breeding that Single Comb bird back to a Rose Comb Dominique you will kill you comb type, you will start getting narrow Rose Combs, Hollow Centers, Less Points and a over all poor comb and this can set you back in your breeding program and I would bet in time if your not careful you could start to kill the body type also.

* RC = Rose Comb
F1 = First Generation
BC1 = Back Cross First Generation

Chris

 

[Symphony]

Hello!

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Dominique contest!