Dominiques

[Hilltop]

Is it normal to have strait combs pop up in hatchery chicks? This past spring I ordered 25 domiques from a hatchery and several of them are now sporting strait combs like Barred Rocks. The body shape and head look like domique and they all have a green hue to their legs, if not for the comb they would be identical. Unfortunatly I ordered these before I came across an add for Bob's Biddies. Do you think it would be worthwhile to keep these and cross back with better quality stock?

 

[danielle82]

when I first got into chickens my mom ordered some chicks from a hatchery and gave some to me. I had a dominique that did have a single comb in that batch.
If you are looking at breeding chickens to the breed standard, it is so so so much easier to start with good quality rather than spend years working poor quality into something good. That is only my opinion. There are many people out there who have spent years breeding true to standard and have eggs and chicks for sale, you can save yourself a lot of time by just grabbing some of those rather than trying "to work with what you have" . I have a pen of breeding stock, and I have a whole other coop for the eating eggs and for our "pets" that my kids I can get attached to. (My single comb dominique is in our "pet coop". Thats just me though