Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[RebeccaBoyd]

Isn't there some old time saying that if "March came in like a lion, it went out like a lamb"? If so I'm set. Torrential rain last night, and I'm flooded in my holler. I spent the whole night checking the water levels, if they broke the creek bank was going to have to move the horses. Thankfully it only got right to the edge. I'm lucky though and counting my blessings. A LOT of Eastern KY, is flooded, roads destroyed and mudslides everywhere.

 

[Ribh]

Barred Rock vs Dominique

I have started my research and have come across the following comparison.

	Barred Rock	Dominique
Comb	Barred Rocks possess a single comb.	Dominiques possess a rose comb.
Color	Barred Rocks exhibit sharply contrasting parallel black and white bars. The Barred Rock roosters are slightly lighter in color than the hens, as the males carry two chromosomes for the barring and the females have only one.	Dominique barring is not as sharp as that of a Barred Rock. The bars are somewhat staggered and not parallel like that of the Barred Rock. A male is much lighter in color than the female.
Plumage	The width of the dark and light bars is almost same. They are placed in parallel rows. Both males and females have straight uniform bars. According to the breed standards of the Barred Rock, acceptable plumage variations are white, blue Colombian, silver penciled and black.	A slight ‘v’ pattern is seen in the barring of the feathers. Staggered barring in their plumage results in what is described as ‘mottled appearance.’ The light bars are silvery white, while the dark bars are not black, but dove gray. Moreover, the light bars on a Dominique male are twice as wide as that of a female. So, a male is much lighter in color than the female. The Dominique does not have any other acceptable variations in plumage.
Tail	The tail is quite short.	The tail is long and flowing. The tail of the cock is carried at 45 degrees from the horizontal.
Weight	The Barred Plymouth Rock is heavier than the Dominique. The standard weights are: cock – 7.5-9.5 lb (3.4-4.3 kg), hen – 6.6-7.5 lb (3-3.4 kg), cockerel – 8 lb (3.6 kg), and pullet – 5-6 lb (2.3-2.7 kg).	The standard weights are: Cock: 7 lb (3.17 kg), Hen: 5 lb (2.27 kg), Cockerel: 6 lb (2.72 kg), Pullet: 4 lb (1.81 kg)
Appearance	It has a relatively deeper body and lower tail carriage.	They carry their heads high up on well-arched necks. The males have an almost “u” shaped back outline. The females have sloping back outlines- sloping from head to tail. The carriage of the Dominique is more upright than that of the Barred Rock.
Egg Production	The Barred Rock produces more eggs (about 4 per week) than the Dominique. The light brown eggs are larger than the eggs laid by Dominiques.	The Dominique has a medium production rate (about 3 per week). The eggs are light brown. They may be large or medium-sized.
Meat	Barred Rocks are heavier than the Dominiques, they may have a few ounces more meat than the Dominiques.	The Dominique is also a good producer of meat and eggs.

Unsurprisingly, they share a heritage.

The Dominique is America’s oldest chicken breed. The Barred Rock (a type of Plymouth Rock) was developed from the Dominiques.

The Dominique is the oldest American dual-purpose breed. Reliable data of its origin is not available. The Dominique chicken was very common in American farmyards during the 1820s and 1830s.

The Barred Rock is the barred variety of the popular Plymouth Rock which was developed in the early 1800s by crossing single-combed Dominiques and Black Javas. Barred Rocks were likely developed using crosses of Dominiques, Black Javas, Cochins, and perhaps Malays and Dorkings. The Barred Rock has been around a long time as well becoming an official breed in the United States in 1865. For reference sake, that is the year the American Civil War ended.

I find this very interesting. Dominiques appear to be very feisty chickens. While they have a reputation for having a calm personality, supposedly, there have been incidences where Dominiques have killed small cats, minks, and snakes.

Dominques were nearly extinct. By 1970 there were only 4 known flocks still in existence. Since then they have recovered somewhat but are still on the "watch" list.

I think @rjohns39 has some of these.

 

[RebeccaBoyd]

We all know how I feel about Drumstick, he's my baby and is gorgeous. But I think it is time to take a look and appreciate his and Holly's son Bumblebee. He's just coming up on 7 months old the middle of this month and he's turning into a looker. If he keeps it up, he may outshine his father. We've had some moments though where his hormonal pea brain has gotten him in trouble but he's never attacked. Just bit 2 times which prompted immediate picking up and packing around the yard like a baby. Unlike his father, he does not enjoy cuddling as much so he's learned his lesson there. Chest massages are desired, holding, not so much. Was out giving treats earlier and had the camera with me so snapped a few photos.

And because he's my favorite, Daddy Drumstick.

 

[RoyalChick]

We all know how I feel about Drumstick, he's my baby and is gorgeous. But I think it is time to take a look and appreciate his and Holly's son Bumblebee. He's just coming up on 7 months old the middle of this month and he's turning into a looker. If he keeps it up, he may outshine his father. We've had some moments though where his hormonal pea brain has gotten him in trouble but he's never attacked. Just bit 2 times which prompted immediate picking up and packing around the yard like a baby. Unlike his father, he does not enjoy cuddling as much so he's learned his lesson there. Chest massages are desired, holding, not so much. Was out giving treats earlier and had the camera with me so snapped a few photos.
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And because he's my favorite, Daddy Drumstick.
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Mighty fine looking chaps you have there!

 

[featherhead007]

I served bacon and eggs, toast and honey,to the big chickens this morning. (But don’t tell the littles, they can’t have treats like that quite yet)

 

[Ribh]

Very true, but don’t forget about Rocks-Anne!

And Bridge, Soda & Hepzibah. I will let you of Patricia as she's mutant.

 

[Shadrach]

Exactly! And potentially detrimental when breeds turn out susceptible to sickness or early death.

Is there a breed with official characteristics "healthy and long-lived"?

Yup. Fayoumies.
There lots of breeds that are fundamentally healthy, just not from the breeders in the USA and Australia.

 

[ChicoryBlue]

I love your roost wrap. Very clever!

Yes - me too.

It's that rubber grippy under-rug stuff, held on with electrical tape which better than duct tape because it is kind of stretchy and doesn't have threads in it. Poop comes off the gripper stuff pretty easily too, and holds up against pecking for a long time. When they would launch themselves up to a perch it really helped them "stick the landing", not to mention maneuvering around on it.
That perch moved right to the 1/4" front edge of the bicycle box/fir strip within a few weeks, because when they got bolder they dared hop off of it and would teeter on the narrow edge in order to hang out closer. I had wrapped all the fir stripping with box tape to avoid any splinters and it was really slippery for chick feet.

In case you're wondering, the get-up in the back is a vertical waterer set through an under-the-desk wire shelf hung from above. Hanging it and the chick feeder was good because the heights were easily adjustable as they grew.

 

[BY Bob]

Isn't there some old time saying that if "March came in like a lion, it went out like a lamb"? If so I'm set. Torrential rain last night, and I'm flooded in my holler. I spent the whole night checking the water levels, if they broke the creek bank was going to have to move the horses. Thankfully it only got right to the edge. I'm lucky though and counting my blessings. A LOT of Eastern KY, is flooded, roads destroyed and mudslides everywhere.

That is the saying. It rained here all day yesterday and high winds today. I think we are in the same boat. Maybe that's not the best turn of phrase.

 

[BY Bob]

I think @rjohns39 has some of these.

He has Barred Hollands. Different chicken