Dominique Thread!

[buffalogal]

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Thanks. A while back, I posted a picture of a pullet #37; this is her son. The elegant type comes from a cock I got from Fred Farthing. Wonderful improvement on the top line, size, and the combs are very neat and tidy. I think they mesh rather well.

 

[Delight in Dominiques]

Congratulations buffalogal on your win, much deserved.


Everyone, I thought this would make for some good reading on the history of the American Dominique. Let me know what you think of the Reverend's ideas towards the making of the Dominique. John


The Plymouth Rock standard and breed book; a complete description of all varieties ... with the text in full from the latest (1915) rev. ed. of the American standard of perfection ... also, with treatises on breeding ... etc. (American Poultry Association and Arthur Carlton Smith)


The Rev. D. D. Bishop, whose work is heretofore several times referred to, and is very thoughtful throughout, presents a theory of origin that is not merely possible, but quite probable. On pages 5 and 6 we find related a seemingly natural method of origin, the truth of which is not at all unlikely, hence we reprint: "That the bird known by the name of Plymouth Rock should have made its appearance about that time, 1866 to 1870, was inevitable. "The conditions were favorable. It was at the time of reaction from the furore for simply big birds, when farmer folk were discussing among themselves the failure of the mammoth Asiatics to fill the bill for both eggs and marketing. They consumed both too much time and feed in their growth. They failed as foragers for want of activity. They were the reverse of precocious in their development. The old-fashioned dunghill was too small. There was equal dissatisfaction with both. "The first result was the throwing of whatever Asiatic came to hand—Shanghaes, Brahmas, Cochins—what not — at random into the barnyard flocks, to mix indiscriminately with a lot of birds that had suffered that kind cf breeding, if that could be called breeding, for a generation or more. "The next step in the process was that the more thoughtful or fanciful began to pick out the colors that suited their individual notions. Various farmers had local reputations for the excellence of their white hens, or red hens, or whatever color they might have chosen. "Perhaps the most widely diffused of what might have been called a native stock was even then known as 'old-fashioned,' 'hawk-colored' fowls. Their dispersion over a wide extent of country was brought about by two causes. First, their markings were much more distinct and uniform than any of the mixed colors, so that by original vital strength the color was carried wherever a drop of the blood found its way. Secondly, they proved to be hardy, matured rapidly and so came quickly to usefulness as broilers, egg producers or for marketing purposes. They were not so much exposed to the ravages of hawks, and farmers thought much of that. The hawk could not see them so plainly, and the mother hen was almost as sharp of eye as her enemy in the air. "Another point should not be overlooked, namely, the facility which was manifested by this stock to assimilate the dash of Asiatic blood so as to make it a genuine infusion. In other words, the cross by Asiatics made 'a hit' upon the said old-fashioned, hawk-colored birds, so that they reproduced themselves, throwing comparatively few reverts, and furnishing at once the basis upon which to build a breed." That the natural course of events following the general disappointment in the large Asiatic fowl was to throw them into the scrap heap in the nature of the mongrel farm yard flock cannot be questioned. There could be no other place found for them unless it be the butcher's cart and all Asiatics would be no more likely to be thus condemned than all mongrels. Many mongrels survived, so did many Asiatics. It must be remembered that this was a time when fowls were expected to shift for themselves and pick up a living. It was before the days of henhouses and discussions as to glass fronts, open sheds and southern exposures. A clump of trees, a cluster of bushes, or some nook among a group of farm buildings was all the shelter furnished. Under such conditions the ancestors of Plymouth Rocks learned to thrive. It was a game in which the survival of the fittest played the all-important part and won. These conditions lasting for generation after generation, together with the infusions of foreign blood that have been from time to time introduced, account for the hardy character of this fowl. Through some process hawk-colored fowls came into existence. How, no one can definitely say, but it is more probable that this was a process of reincarnation rather than one of mixing two-color types of plumage, creating a third and entirely different color type. This line of reasoning fits in well with the theory of a foundation of Scotch-Grey blood which, as one author, Mr. F. L. Sewell, puts it, "The Scotch-Grey fowls of North Britain can perhaps throw some light on the origin of the American Dominique. If this very old race of 'Cuckoo-colored' chickens are not the ancestors of our early Dominiques, we must confess that we have as yet failed to discover them. They are the nearest to the type of our old Dominique of any European race of fowl." Such, then, is the parentage of the two component races that were successfully amalgamated to create a third race, which proved to be epoch-making, for by its creation poultry culture ceased to be the one-feature possibility that it had always been and became at once a full and well-rounded enterprise with commercial and economic possibilities. In other words, the poultry-men had found their Rosetta stone, the poultry business its Fountain of Eternal Youth

 

[buffalogal]

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This makes more sense to me than claiming they're out of game stock from the Dominican Republic.

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I wonder what the Revrend would think about that "full and well-rounded enterprise with commercial and economic possibilities" if he could see todays' broiler houses and egg factories?

 

[centrarchid]

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This makes more sense to me than claiming they're out of game stock from the Dominican Republic.

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I wonder what the Revrend would think about that "full and well-rounded enterprise with commercial and economic possibilities" if he could see todays' broiler houses and egg factories?

I suspect the American dominque even during its initial development involved multiple ancestral lines. The barring could have some from many including Scotts greys. Simularity of type can come from convergence where breeders are selected owing to consistent demand by market for carcass with a particular look and size.

It would be very nice to have in hand some Scotts greys to see how they compare. Pictures are not good enough. Digging into Scotts greys a year or so ago suggest the existing "Scotts greys" have changed a lot since the time of the American dominiques developement and some of those differences may be due to introductions of genes from non-Scotts greys.

 

[FarmerJohn3285]

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Where did you get your birds from? Very nice looking!!

 

[FarmerJohn3285]

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[extraordinaryfowl]

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https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/uploads/72823_19.jpg
Photo

2011 T.Perg

That is a nice bird, as others said great color!

 

[LibertyRoo]

I have an 8 month old American Dominique that I'm willing to part with. If anyone is in the south Florida area or willing to make the trip he's yours.
He was born in April of this year.

305-431-6889,
Tico

 

[ChobeeChickenMommy]

Hi all! I was wondering if anyone would happen to have any hatching eggs available or available after the 1st of the year?? I had 18 shipped to me with only 6 that hatched but one didn't make it. So I only have 5 chickies & 2 of them are cockerels. They hatched out on December 1st... Also if anyone in South Florida is looking I am wanting to sell our 2 new cockerels... Thanks!

 

[WallTenters]

It would be very unadvisable to ship eggs this time of year, fertility would not be as good and with the weather conditions there is a good chance it would hurt your hatching rates even more. I would wait until spring if you can.