Dominique Thread!

[Sylvester017]

@Faraday40 ~ life is a bummer when time advances, eh? I pray you have the strength & will to endure.

I'm 81 this year recuperating w/therapy from a broken humerous that required surgery & an arm sling for 9 months. My 91 yr old sister lost her husband last year, broke her arm & wrist TWICE & is legally blind in one eye & has an inoperable liver tumor. My DD's MIL has Alzheimers in a care facility so DD had to adopt MILs unruly large Golden Retriever to add to their own Pit mix at home. My DH gave up his work to care for me plus our 6 hens. As wonderful as Doms & Silkies are you know how much work poultry still is even w/o having added responsibilities of elder care!

I am devastated about the loss of those Orps. No matter how well we rehome chickens new owners don't have the same connection or care for the birds like we do ~ cuz they are more our pets than just a commodity.

Choosing a female Dom as a favorite is difficult. I chose a pasty butt runt chick as my favorite & she grew up choosing my DH as her favorite human ~ she had uneven wattles, thick taller crooked leader rosecomb, & was more silver than the other two prettier chicks.

Oddly one of the prettier chicks w/a gorgeous straight rosecomb chose me as her human.

Sadly the 2 prettier adults passed trying to lay an egg in a 115F heatwave.

The crooked leader uneven wattles Dom is still w/us at 8 yrs cuz she never was a good layer so heatwaves never bothered her.

Keep us posted as time permits

 

[Faraday40]

Here's Fizzy
(My last Dom was named Bubbles. This one is similar - but not quite the same. So she's Fizz)

Fizzy is very interested in the camera. It's hard to get good full body shots.

But Very Easy to get beak close-ups!

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Adorable!

 

[BigBlueHen53]

I've ordered half a dozen Dom pullets, they will arrive in July. Have had Doms before, I quite like them. Like EE, they are "nice people."

 

[Sylvester017]

Here's Fizzy
(My last Dom was named Bubbles. This one is similar - but not quite the same. So she's Fizz)
View attachment 4123531

Fizzy is very interested in the camera. It's hard to get good full body shots.

But Very Easy to get beak close-ups!
View attachment 4123529
View attachment 4123530

Fizzy is a sweetie ~ about 4 or 5 months as I see her blue eyes are turning the adult reddish-bay. And look at the telltale female black shading going down the front of her legs/toes & the black spot along the top of her beak also a female Dom trait. Is she your only Dom?

Our blue-eyed Dom juveniles:

By 4 months the blue eyes began turning color:

I've ordered half a dozen Dom pullets, they will arrive in July. Have had Doms before, I quite like them. Like EE, they are "nice people."

I wish I could've had more Doms but we have zone restrictions. Yes, Doms are "nice" people. Better than that they are active outgoing unafraid talkative people-friendly chicks while many other chick breeds cower in a corner to hide from humans. They are pretty calm as adults & flock-friendly & they continue carrying on expressive conversations w/ their human. Out of 3 Doms we have Dana left at 8 yrs old & still laying eggs! She is a fairly kind alpha over our 5 Silkies who have learned much from the old girl.

Dana w/ the 5 Silkies

 

[Backroadlogic]

A Dominique game hen with the next generation of tick fighters

 

[BigBlueHen53]

I find it very easy to sex Doms, as the females are about twice as dark as the males, from a very early age. The males look gray to me by comparison since they have twice as much white by comparison.

 

[Backroadlogic]

The last time I hatched from this hen and my rooster all the males where white with black dots and the females black with splotches of yellow.

 

[Backroadlogic]

My rooster : impossible to get really good pics of him

 

[BigBlueHen53]

He's a beauty!