White Dominique help!

[chickenlver2013]

Ok, I am anxious to see what a White Dominique would look like. I was thinking of making a new "breed." I'm planning to use either my White Rock pullet or cockerel over one of my Dominiques. I understand that barring will take a while to clean up, but how do I go about doing that? They'll be breeding age in September.

 

[Ridgerunner]

You are talking about what is normally called a project, not trying to develop a show bird according to the current SOP but to develop a bird according to your own specifications. Many of us on here are doing something similar, some looking at the breed SOP and some of us trying to do something totally different. Part of my breeding stock came from someone trying to develop a new color/pattern for Ameraucana. She’s part of a consortium working on that project with the hope of eventually getting a new color/pattern recognized and officially added to the Ameraucana SOP. She was quite pleased with how the eye color and leg color were stabilizing, and after 15 generations, the egg shell color was getting pretty close. Weight and conformation were getting close too.

Everything that defines a Dominique is in the Standards of Perfection for Dominiques. Get a copy of that SOP, then go to shows and see what a true Dominique looks like. Learn what conformation is supposed to look like. That’s a lot easier looking at a live chicken than a picture in a book. A Dominique is not just a color and pattern. Shape and conformation probably has more to do with what makes and separates breeds than other things, but everything in that SOP is important. If you want to create a White Dominique, you need to make it look exactly like a true barred Dominique except that it is white. Leg color may present a real challenge.

In a white bird, barring is irrelevant. You can’t see it. Some breeders breed in barring on their white birds because they consider it to make the white look even whiter.

Since barring is dominant, it is really easy to eliminate in a non-white bird. Just don’t breed any barred birds. It will be gone in the next generation. The recessive genes are the ones that are a real pain to get rid of. You think you have gotten rid of them, then they pop up a few generations later.

 

[chickenlver2013]

You are talking about what is normally called a project, not trying to develop a show bird according to the current SOP but to develop a bird according to your own specifications. Many of us on here are doing something similar, some looking at the breed SOP and some of us trying to do something totally different. Part of my breeding stock came from someone trying to develop a new color/pattern for Ameraucana. She’s part of a consortium working on that project with the hope of eventually getting a new color/pattern recognized and officially added to the Ameraucana SOP. She was quite pleased with how the eye color and leg color were stabilizing, and after 15 generations, the egg shell color was getting pretty close. Weight and conformation were getting close too.

Everything that defines a Dominique is in the Standards of Perfection for Dominiques. Get a copy of that SOP, then go to shows and see what a true Dominique looks like. Learn what conformation is supposed to look like. That’s a lot easier looking at a live chicken than a picture in a book. A Dominique is not just a color and pattern. Shape and conformation probably has more to do with what makes and separates breeds than other things, but everything in that SOP is important. If you want to create a White Dominique, you need to make it look exactly like a true barred Dominique except that it is white. Leg color may present a real challenge.

In a white bird, barring is irrelevant. You can’t see it. Some breeders breed in barring on their white birds because they consider it to make the white look even whiter.

Since barring is dominant, it is really easy to eliminate in a non-white bird. Just don’t breed any barred birds. It will be gone in the next generation. The recessive genes are the ones that are a real pain to get rid of. You think you have gotten rid of them, then they pop up a few generations later.

Thank you. I got my Dominiques from a breeder in New Hampshire. Her name is Amy Rawson. I don't know if hers is show stock.

 

[Yellow House Farm]

Thank you. I got my Dominiques from a breeder in New Hampshire. Her name is Amy Rawson. I don't know if hers is show stock.

There is only one breeder of Dominiques in NH that is an APA presence at the regional shows.

 

[chickenlver2013]

There is only one breeder of Dominiques in NH that is an APA presence at the regional shows.

Hmm. Who knows.

 

[buffalogal]

Quote:
I realize this is going to sound obvious, but white Dominiques look just like regular Dominiques, only solid white. Crossing a Dominique with a white Rock would destroy the Dominique type, but fortunately, there is no need to crossbreed because there are already lines of standard bred Dominiques that occasionally (that would be very, very rarely) throw white birds.For example, mine do and so do Fred Farthings. Fred eats his, mine just hang out in the yard. this year Fred has been generously sharing hatching eggs far and wide, so I'm sure there will be other flocks. They are not a recognized variety, and AFAIK, no one is interested in getting them recognized as an official color simply because the temptation to crossbreed (to rocks, to leghorns, to games) would be too great and those birds could eventually drag down the overall breed. mark Fields writes about one line (Voter0 that threw white birds at http://www.dominiquechicken.com/White_Dominiques.html He has pictures of white Dominiques dating back to 1928 that were solid white, and a cock bird that was the result of crossbreeding over a game hen that has a white body and grey tail. It's been my experience that when the white "just happens", they are solid white birds, crossbreeds have spots, specks and occasional barred feathers.

 

[Yellow House Farm]

Hmm. Who knows.

I know, I am the secretary of the only NH APA show. I know every breeder in the state, and most in the region who are recognized by the regional judges as being breeders. There is only one breeder from NH who enters Dominiques into the APA show in NH, and he works with stock from Mike Stichler.