Dominique are barred chickens and barring is a sex linked gene. That means the males have two barred genes at that gene pair and the females only have one copy of that gene. That gives you two ways two help sex the chicks.
The barring causes a spot on the head at hatch. That's why you can use barred hens to make black sex links when bred to a non-barred rooster. But since both the boys and girl Dominique are barred it gets more complicated. The two barred genes the boys have make a larger spot that the girls have. It's not always easy to see and it certainly takes practice. It's more visible right at hatch than later. Several years back someone had a thread with photos explaining how to do that but I lost the link. It sounds like something either
@cmom or
@speckledhen would do. If I remember correctly that was with Barred Rocks, but the principle is the same with Dominique.
The other way is when they feather out. There is a difference in color between boys and girls. The two genes the boys have cause them to look lighter than the girls that only have one copy of that gene. Of course you have to wait until they feather out to see that difference.
Hopefully you know which you think are boys and which you think are girls. I'd be interesting to get feedback as to how well your feather sexing worked. The type of feather sexing I'm familiar with depends on the father having the recessive fast feathering gene and the mother having the dominant slow feathering gene. Both male and female Dominiques as a breed have the fast feathering gene, that's what makes their barred pattern scattered and random, called cuckoo, as opposed to the crisp clean barring you should get with a Barred Rock. Barred Rock as a breed have the slow feathering gene which allows the barring to come in crisp an clean.
In some ways that is a disappointing hatch but even hatches with my own eggs aren't always great. Each hatch is different. Considering they were shipped eggs it's not a horrible hatch. I've had worse with shipped eggs.
