INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

[Bawk]

 

Enjoyinging reading. We still are chicken-less. Changed mind on breeds and trying to decide--- have any of you had Dominiques? Trying to find about their temperament more. The thread doesn't say a lot but they are also hard to find. Then there are two checking on more to varying the flock... Trying to find if either are size of Domiques... One is Cream Brabanter but they seem too rare to find, the other is Cream Legbars.


Any feedback?


Ah decisions. We have kids visit and they enjoy collecting eggs, holding chickens and learning about them. We are hoping for a calm breed too. We sell their eggs to help pay for their food too.


In the past we had different types....( barred rocks, ameraucanas, white leghorns, buff orpingtons... Are some) we wanted to try something different, not sure if we can get them.

I raised up a set of dominiques from Meyer Hatchery.  They ended up being a bit smaller than the hatchery barred rocks but they took about a month to 6 weeks longer to get to the point of laying.  I sold most right as soon as they got to the point of laying so the largest egg I saw was a pullet egg and it was a small to medium egg.  I know a guy who just went on and on about how great the dominiques were so I tried some.  This guy had raised his in KY and said they were quite popular there.  The only thing I can think of is the quality I paid for.  I paid for hatchery stock and perhaps the guy that convinced me to try the dominiques had true bred to the standard / heritage dominiques.  I know there is a great difference from my heritage RIR and the hatchery RIR. 

If the same is true for the dominiques, then I recommend looking and thinking really hard about what one hopes to get from their chickens.  If it is a large number of eggs, hatchery birds are typically really good layers but their eggs might be a bit smaller or a shade difference in color when compared to the same from a heritage bird.  I have found heritage birds to be calmer in most cases. 


Children like color and naming birds.  Keeping this in mind, I would think children would like a varied flock more than a flock of 1 breed.   Eggs of varying colors is a big hit with children too.  Differences between the birds is special to children too, so a crested hen or a feathered footer might just make one child's day.  Then there are the chickens that just look so different from the average chicken that children must love or hate them at first glance.  Silkies and modern game chickens come to mind first.  Silkies come in a wide range of colors like orpingtons do, but silkies are much smaller and require much less food. 


See lots to think about when choosing a flock.  A list of priorities kind of helps but not always, sometimes it is easier to just go out there and get a great variety and see which ones become the favorites.

 

Many of you are great taking time to comment. I agree, Sally....good points...so we wanted to get at least two kinds. We were considering old heritage breeds which could die out for lack of interest too. Online has a lot about Dominiques but I do want to hear from others.

My husband's family had chickens... But our own first flock was white leghorn (too flighty), Ameraucanas ( one kid's mama called saying, "We can come over this week and can you dye some more eggs blue for us?" Heh heh.), and barred rocks. One barred rock was a character, very personable, she would peck feet to be picked up and "sing" happily when carried around. She pulled my dog's hair (long hair on his ears) she stole potholder off the table on the patio when we were eating outside...she would follow us around. The other 3 rocks were not very personable.

The next flock we had some of the old girls-- the Ameraucas still living and laying. We added Cochins, speckled Sussex, Polish, barred rock. Well the Sussex and Cochin were from a woman in KY. we noticed the other birds getting sick after the quarantine of one month. When one died, we called Purdue and it turns out they were carriers of MS and MG, said both can be passed on thru the egg to offspring. They said the government banned a medicine to get them well because they'd still be carriers. We have wild ducks in our yard/ pond and we were told it can spread if we kept them. It can spread to songbirds and waterfowl. After seeing what these went through, we did not want to risk any spread. It was hard decision. We were already using bleach spray on boots, hand sanitizer etc.with one hen dead and many more sick, we decided to give them up. Vet students studied disease with them. We were given things to sanitize the coop which was washed well, tilled into the dirt too. We were traumatized and turned off on chickens for a while. We waited past two frosts then husband again sanitized the coop really well.

The last flock we had was buff orpingtons. They were docile but not one personable bird in the whole bunch. They were from Mt Healthy, an NPIP certified hatchery...but just last month I was told though MS and MG can be passed to offspring, NPIP doesn't test for those two! Was shocked.

We have a more solid run which even birds can't get in. We want to every careful where our next flock comes from!

Anyway, the Buffs were tested again after we had them a year and were disease free.

Kids came over and wanted to hold the big rooster. One 6 year old said we had to name them all Sarafiona or they wouldn't give us any eggs. She was excited to find eggs and hold the rooster.

One friend came over who had grown up on a farm and she was delighted to hold one. She wanted to name one Cinderella. They did all look the same. When she visted later I'd do the same thing as I did with the kids when asked, "Which one is (my chicken's name)? I'd study them and pick one which had more feathers as our rooster was not a gentleman. So they go, "Yes, that's her!" haha Oh our rooster was King Midas so they wanted to know why he got that name and we told them the story of King Midas too.

The Buffs were docile but not personable. We didn't make enough selling their eggs to pay for their food, we get organic feed. We sold them before I had surgery last year; then we missed them! The chicken run looks so empty and visitors not going out to hold them and take pictures. Funny how people enjoy visiting the chickens!

Anyway, we might have considered Buffs again but we'd rather have more personable though docile chickens and better feed to egg conversion.

I like a varied flock but we wanted to get a rooster in case we decided to let some hatch, pick the rooster of the type we'd want more chickens of.

Reading about Dominiques what we liked is their egg laying doesn't just stop at 3 years. Welsummers we were considering do stop after 3 years and the Welsummers we found were larger breed. Domiques are little smaller. Online it said they lay a large egg. One site showed their egg laying steadily going down each year but not suddenly stopping. Our chickens tend to be more like pets, not good I suppose. We name them all, kids and adults come over and get attached too. IT would be nice if they lay for more years.

We liked idea of getting a different color of egg than the "main flock with rooster" too so if we did decide to have some hatch we could tell by the color which ones to let hatch. I hope this makes sense. I saw the cream brabanters and they make me laugh, I know people would enjoy them, especially the kids (if the brabanters aren't too flighty). But Brabanters are very hard to find. I'd be afraid to pick it for the main flock, I learned their egg laying isn't as good ( a woman sells hatching eggs for both of these breeds, she's in Nantahala, NC). They are the same size as Dominiques from what I can find out so I thought maybe good.. online many sites talk about how docile both are they are and productive though not like egg business productive; the woman in NC said the Domiques are better layers.

Then the Cream Legbars are docile and they are so pretty too, I loved them when I saw them but when I did a search on "aggressive rooster" on the site, wow... things like the rooster from "H***" and then one breeder in the CCL Club said roosters are very protective of their hens and would not be a good choice around children.

Now with the Brabanters and the CCL I don't think I'd want to try to hatch the eggs as they are still trying to get to the breed standard. I don't want to cull my birds if they are giving me an egg, I just want to enjoy them. I don't care if they aren't top notch fitting a breed standard. I want docile! Especially want a calm rooster.

The Buffs we had, the hatchery sent us two roosters by accident... ah when they were 6 months old, one rooster turned into a meanie! He wouldn't let me in the back yard when the chickens were free ranging in the evening! He'd chase me and threaten me. My husband would simply turn him upside down and the rooster would still be trying to get away if husband had me hold him upside down. Ah. Then the two roosters got in a HUGE fight. My husband managed to get the two bloody boys separated and one in the isolation hutch. We waited a couple of days to be sure the mean one was isolated then our Mennonite friend came got the meanie and took him to rooster heaven.

Docile is at the top of our list! haha.

Anyway, the kids liked the barred rocks too they called them the "stripped ones" and Dominiques are same pattern. If they eat less, it'll help our budget; we give ours scraps from our garden too.

I like the ones with the fancy hairdos but we we thought a reliable layer mixed with the pretty ones too.

I would rather get from breeders but never again from just anyone, learned a hard lesson. Those birds looked healthy, we followed the keep them isolated rule too. Ugh.

Also, breeders will sell just straight run is what I found so far. We want just one rooster but we don't want to cull if we can help it. I found one person with CCLs whom I could get hatching eggs. Brabanter eggs cost a fortune and sold to people who are trying to perfect the breed so I probably one get those unless from the woman in NC. Then there is CCL but I am not sure if they are much larger than the other two.... then Dominiques, I guess I should find the club and ask also. The BYC thread on Domiques is pretty silent.

Alright, that's my long story. I may research some more but if Domiques are calm and I can get some more for layers not breeding at all in future, then I would want to get one breed with crest if they will all get along okay.

I don't have incubator though to get eggs and I don't want too many roosters either. hah

Thanks for patience, I know it was a long post.

 

[ChicagoClucker]

Just wanted to share my new addition I picked up today from my local Ag School. They are rotating out some of the hens to make room for new ones. So, I figured I could add a white egg layer to my bunch. Meet Prim our little white leghorn, just under 2 yrs old.

 

[flyladyrocks]

Who says it's not good to treat your chickens like pets and namethem all? We sure do! In fact a couple even have nicknames. I confess, I have spoiled chickens. We are convinced 2 think they are dogs. They follow us into the house and love to jump in the car.
Just as FYI in case you didn't know, Mt. healthy had more than one salmonella outbreak last year.
Congrats. You have added yet another chicken to my "I Want" list. Cream Brabanters are such cool birds! I love birds with crests and to have one that is a goodlayer-ooooo- great combo! You may be able to let a breeder know what you mentioned: that you don't need to have the perfect breed standard and that you'd be willing to buy a breeding reject. Hmmm. I was going to say something else and I can't remember! Time to go to sleep.

Many of you are great taking time to comment. I agree, Sally....so we wanted to get at least two kinds. We were considering old heritage breeds which could die out for lack of interest too. Online has a lot about Dominiques but I do want to hear from others.

My husband's family had chickens... But our own first flock was white leghorn (too flighty), Ameraucanas ( one kid's mama called saying, "We can come over this week and can you die some more eggs blue for us?" Heh heh.), and barred rocks. One barred rock was a character, very personable, she would peck feet to be picked up and "sing" happily when carried around. She pulled my dog's hair (long hair on his ears) she stole potholder off the table on the patio when we were eating outside...she would follow us around. The other 3 rocks were not very personable.

The next flock we had some of the old girls-- the Ameraucas still living and laying. We added Cochins, speckled Sussex, Polish, barred rock. Well the Sussex and Cochin were from a woman in KY. we noticed the other birds getting sick after the quarantine of one month. When one died, we called Purdue and it turns out they were carriers of MS and MG, said both can be passed on thru the egg to offspring. They said the government banned a medicine to get them well because they'd still be carriers. We have wild ducks in our years/ pond and we were told it can spread if we kept them. It can spread to songbirds and waterfowl. After seeing what these went through, we did not want to risk any spread,. It was hard decision. We were already using bleach spray on boots, hand sanitizer etc.with one hen dead and many more sick, we decided to give them up. Vet students studied disease with them. We were given things to sanitize the coop which was washed well, tilled into the dirt too. We were traumatized and turned off on chickens for a while. We waited past two frosts then husband again sanitized the coop really well.

The last flock we had was buff orpingtons. They were docile but not one personable bird in the whole bunch. They were from Mt Healthy, an NPIP certified hatchery...but just last month I was told though MS and MG can be passed to offspring, NPIP doesn't test for those two! Was shocked.

We have a more solid run which even birds can't get in. We want to every careful where our flick comes from!

Anyway, the Buffs were tested again after we had them a year and were disease free.

Kids came over and wanted to hold the big rooster. One 6 year old said we had to name them all Sarafiona or they wouldn't give us any eggs. She was excited to find eggs and hold the rooster.

One friend came over who had grown up on a farm and she was delighted to hold one. She wanted to name one Cinderella. They did all look the same. When she visted later I'd do the same thing as I did with the kids when asked, "Which one is (my chicken's name)? I'd study them and pick one which had more feathers as our rooster was not a gentleman. So they go, "Yes, that's her!" haha Oh our rooster was King Midas so they wanted to know why he got that name and we told them the story of King Midas too.

The Buffs were docile but not personable. We didn't make enough selling their eggs to pay for their food, we get organic feed. We sold them before I had surgery last year; then we missed them! The chicken run looks so empty and visitors not going out to hold them and take pictures. Funny how people enjoy visiting the chickens!

Anyway, we might have considered Buffs again but we'd rather have more personable though docile chickens and better feed to egg conversion.

I like a varied flock but we wanted to get a rooster in case we decided to let some hatch, pick the rooster of the type we'd want more chickens of.

Reading about Dominiques what we liked is their egg laying doesn't just stop at 3 years. Welsummers we were considered do and the Welsummers we found were larger breed. Domiques are little smaller. Online it said they lay a large egg. One site showed their egg laying steadily going down each year but not suddenly stopping. Our chickens tend to be more like pets, not good I suppose. We name them all, kids and adults come over and get attached too. IT would be nice if they lay for more years.

We liked idea of getting a different color of egg than the "main flock with rooster" too so if we did decide to have some hatch we could tell by the color which ones to let hatch. I hope this makes sense. I saw the cream brabanters and they make me laugh, I know people would enjoy them, especially the kids (if the brabanters aren't too flighty). But Brabanters are very hard to find. I'd be afraid to pick it for the main flock, I learned their egg laying isn't as good ( a woman sells hatching eggs for both of these breeds, she's in Nantahala, NC). They are the same size as Dominiques from what I can find out so I thought maybe good.. online many sites talk about how docile both are they are and productive though not like egg business productive; the woman in NC said the Domiques are better layers.

Then the Cream Legbars are docile and they are so pretty too, I loved them when I saw them but when I did a search on "aggressive rooster" on the site, wow... things like the rooster from "H***" and then one breeder in the CCL Club said roosters are very protective of their hens and would not be a good choice around children.

Now with the Brabanters and the CCL I don't think I'd want to try to hatch the eggs as they are still trying to get to the breed standard. I don't want to cull my birds if they are giving me an egg, I just want to enjoy them. I don't care if they aren't top notch fitting a breed standard. I want docile! Especially want a calm rooster.

The Buffs we had, the hatchery sent us two roosters by accident... ah when they were 6 months old, one rooster turned into a meanie! He wouldn't let me in the back yard when the chickens were free ranging in the evening! He'd chase me and threaten me. My husband would simply turn him upside down and the rooster would still be trying to get away if husband had me hold him upside down. Ah. Then the two roosters got in a HUGE fight. My husband managed to get the two bloody boys separated and one in the isolation hutch. We waited a couple of days to be sure the mean one was isolated then our Mennonite friend came got the meanie and took him to rooster heaven.

Docile is at the top of our list! haha.

Anyway, the kids liked the barred rocks too they called them the "stripped ones" and Dominiques are same pattern. If they eat less, it'll help our budget; we give ours scraps from our garden too.

I like the ones with the fancy hairdos but we we thought a reliable layer mixed with the pretty ones too.

I would rather get from breeders but never again from just anyone, learned a hard lesson. Those birds looked healthy, we followed the keep them isolated rule too. Ugh.

Also, breeders will sell just straight run is what I found so far. We want just one rooster but we don't want to cull if we can help it. I found one person with CCLs whom I could get hatching eggs. Brabanter eggs cost a fortune and sold to people who are trying to perfect the breed so I probably one get those unless from the woman in NC. Then there is CCL but I am not sure if they are much larger than the other two.... then Dominiques, I guess I should find the club and ask also. The BYC thread on Domiques is pretty silent.

Alright, that's my long story. I may research some more but if Domiques are calm and I can get some more for layers not breeding at all in future, then I would want to get one breed with crest if they will all get along okay.

I don't have incubator though to get eggs and I don't want too many roosters either. hah

Thanks for patience, I know it was a long post.

 

[SallyinIndiana]

@Bawk you might like the heritage RIR banties. The full size are large and eat a bit more to maintain their size. I love my full size ones but if you are wanting a smaller feed bill perhaps the bantie heritage RIR would work.
My cream legbar rooster is standoffish but he does not attack people, now other roosters are his enemies but people he tends to just avoid. There was a short time this past winter when he had cabin fever that I thought he would turn mean but he didn't.

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

Got me a new little girl today at the Poultry Show in Bloomington, she is just beautiful!!!!

Meet Lana

Adorable lil lady!

Wow. So sorry and keeping you in my prayers. There is a really nasty respiratory virus that we are still battling here. I've been hearing from friends all over the Midwest who are getting it and its not flu. DH has been to ER 3x in past 2 weeks (including last night). Praying forfull recovery for your mom, dad and sister
Quote: Best wishes for your DH also that he is over it soon, sounds awful!

 

[amwchickin]

@Faraday40 - prayers to you and your family. Sending warm, healing thoughts your way!

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

Just wanted to share my new addition I picked up today from my local Ag School. They are rotating out some of the hens to make room for new ones. So, I figured I could add a white egg layer to my bunch. Meet Prim our little white leghorn, just under 2 yrs old.

Pretty lil girl, congrats!

 

[amwchickin]

Made a trip to see @ellymayRans yesterday. I adopted one of the Mille Fleur roos (who is quite a talker and so cute!), got a few chicks, and some Marans hatching eggs. We talked forever! It's so nice getting to talk poultry and not get blank stares or rolling eyes.


Since my first hatch didn't go so well - 6 non-fertile eggs and a double yolker that I know will not fully develop, I am going to work on these eggs. Going to set some in the Brinsea and some in my old styrofoam bator that I have been revamping.

I had work to do today after the storms on Thursday. The wind blew the roofs off both coops and a bunch of stuff ended up down in the creek and out in the fields. All the chickens were fine, so that's all that matters! Since tools will be out this week to make things sturdier, I will probably start working on another coop.

All this and I'm getting over Bronchitis! It's pretty sad that I work in an Urgent Care and I have been more sick than half the people we see!

 

[Bawk]

Who says it's not good to treat your chickens like pets and namethem all? We sure do! In fact a couple even have nicknames. I confess, I have spoiled chickens. We are convinced 2 think they are dogs. They follow us into the house and love to jump in the car.
Just as FYI in case you didn't know, Mt. healthy had more than one salmonella outbreak last year.
Congrats. You have added yet another chicken to my "I Want" list. Cream Brabanters are such cool birds! I love birds with crests and to have one that is a goodlayer-ooooo- great combo! You may be able to let a breeder know what you mentioned: that you don't need to have the perfect breed standard and that you'd be willing to buy a breeding reject. Hmmm. I was going to say something else and I can't remember! Time to go to sleep.

Ha my family /relatives have chickens for farming more and one WW2 vet family friend scolded me, "You named your chickens? That's the worse thing you can do!" My Mom asked, "Why don't you just get regular chickens?" With our first flock we got at TSC, my husband said we are getting 6 pullets. We left with 12 and some ducks. I couldn't decide!! ;-)

Good to know about Mt Healthy! How do you find out that? News?

There is a woman in MO who gives away the "culls" as strictly layers not breeders but I am not in MO and how to get them all the same age that way?

 

[Bawk]

I'll be less active for a while, but wanted to ask people to pray for my family.  My sis went to the ER gasping for air & then into ICU on Thurs. My dad (age 85) had to drop her off so he could get home to care for my mom - with pneumonia.  He currently has bronchitis himself.  Thurs night, my mom stopped breathing.  She went to a different hospital by ambulance & is still in ICU & not responsive.  The three live together & all caught something.  Life is changing fast.  We need prayers during this difficult time.

I can't imagine. You all are in my prayers.