Dominiques

Saw an interesting blog post on why you should raise Dominiques. I happily count myself as a Dominque owner!


Peck Peck (the brown Speckled Sussex rooster) with a Dominque hen.

Cuckoo for Google?

Sometime in September, I contacted McMurray Hatchery about my "Dominique" rooster Google. In question was whether he really was a Dominque, which didn't seem possible based on his large single comb. (Dominiques have small pea combs.) So what breed is he actually??? The hatchery folks seem to think that based on his comb type and that he has white legs, he is actually a cuckoo marans.

WHAT??????

How did I end up with that? Um, guess they threw in a complimentary rare chick as a little gift from them to me. Great gift when I only wanted hens. Luckily, my neighbors seem to think that the incessant crowing only adds to the pastoral charm of the neighborhood. Phew!

The top photo is a picture of a bunch of silver cuckoo marans, which kind of look like Google. I'll post a picture of him tomorrow and you can decide for yourself.

Around the Water Cooler, Chicken Style

The chickens are quite funny when they first are let out in the morning. They make a mad dash for the food and water. Once the initial frenzy dies down, they like to hang out and chat, sort of like those guys who hang out around the water cooler. If you listen, you can hear them gently clucking to each other. I think they're talking about The Office.

In this video, you can also see how big Google has gotten (except in China). He stands well above the other chickens and eats from the top of the feeder, which cracks my husband up to no end. If you look, you can also see Peck-Peck, the brown and white speckled rooster. He's scratching at the ground, but you can briefly see his blazing red comb and wattle.

Here's another brief but good look at Google. I have to admit that he's pretty impressive.

Blowin' in the Wind

Sometimes my kids come up with really funny ideas! Just this afternoon, the chickens were running around the yard and the kids were on the swings. Flynn thought it might be fun to have the chickens play along by roosting on the trapeze bars. The chickens kindly cooperated (Google and an as-yet unnamed white leghorn). They liked the roosting, except for when the kids started to swing the bar. Then, not so much.

Victor/Victoria

Once again, I am speculating on the gender of our Dominique (or is it Dominic?)!

The picture below is of Google from a couple of days ago. Google is the chick that we think may be a male.

Now look at one of the other Dominiques:


Notice that Google's comb (the bumpy ridge above his beak) is already visible and rather developed, especially compared with the other Dominique, who has no signs of a comb at all.

I guess the good news is that if Google is indeed a cockerel (and on his way to roosterhood), he will probably be a pretty mellow one. Why you ask? Well, because Charlotte manhandles him all day long. She is constantly holding/tormenting him and as a result, he is used to being around people. He doesn't even run away from the kids like all the other chicks do when they try to pick him up. Roosters can be nasty, so if we do have one in the mix, it would be nice to have a gentle one. Also, is it too much to ask for a quiet rooster as well? Probably!

As always, I'll keep you posted!

Choosing Breeds

Today my youngest had a play date with two other three-year-old boys. The three had a blast manhandling the little chicks (no one was hurt!). I was explaining why our chicks all look different and how I choose the four breeds: White Leghorn, Buff Orpington, Speckled Sussex, and Dominique (which are pictured at the top of this post).

When I selected the breeds, I looked for a combination of good egg layers, docile temperaments, and cold hardy birds. I wasn't too bothered about egg color (nutritionally they are all the same) or having rare or unusual birds. One tool I found helpful was the Which Chicken breed selector tool on mypetchicken.com.

Two of the breeds -- Buff Orpington and Speckled Sussex, matched all three of my criteria. I choose the Buffs because I just fell in love with their color and how poofy they looked.

Bill picked out the Speckled Sussex because he thought they looked cool.



We chose the White Leghorns based on their reputation as being great prolific layers. The White Leghorns are said to be nervous, but so far they seem the most mellow of all our chicks. By the way, it's pronounced "leggern." No Foghorn Leghorn here.

My oldest, Flynn, chose the Dominiques. He was originally drawn to Barred Plymouth Rocks because he liked how they looked with their alternating bars of black and white feathers. When we started investigating the Barred Rocks further, we found Dominiques who look similar but are a heritage breed that is critically endangered. As soon as Flynn heard that they were endangered, he was hooked. He takes great pride in doing his part to protect nature and helping an endangered breed really appealed to his sense of stewardship.

Three of our breeds produce brown eggs. Only the White Leghorns produce white eggs. If you grew up in New England you'll probably remember the commercial "brown eggs are local eggs, and local eggs are fresh." Apparently the ad campaign was so successful that in New England brown eggs outsell white eggs while every where else in the US the reverse is true. I have to admit that I always buy white eggs from the super market. I have no idea why...maybe I wanted foreign exotic eggs from far away instead of those boring ole local podunk ones??? Apparently the advertising didn't work on me.

Dominique? Perhaps Dominic...

So we're starting to wonder whether one of our Dominiques is a male. When I ordered my chicks, I purchased only pullets (females). The chicks are sexed at birth, and usually they are pretty accurate, but sometimes males do slip through.

The kids named the biggest and fastest chick Google (go figure!), and she/he is really the only one we can distinguish from the other Dominiques because of both size and the markings on his head. While all the other Dominiques have black heads with a fairly distinct white or yellow spot, Google's spot is less distinct and more scattered -- almost as if he has gone prematurely gray.

I then started reading about sex-linked characteristics of Dominiques and found out that the head spot on the cockerels (males) is larger and more scattered, while the pullets' head spot is smaller and more compact. Not only that, but the cockerels have yellow shanks (legs), while the pullets have a grayish or blackish coloration on the shanks and toes. Well guess what??? All the other Dominiques have a blackish coloring on their legs, but not our Google, who as you can see in the picture has nice yellow legs. Hmmm....

Dominique or Dominic? Only time will tell!

Secretly, I'm excited about the possibility of accidentally getting a rooster to throw in mix. Unfortunately, I'm not sure our neighbors are going to feel the same when the crowing begins at sun up...

They're Here!

I finally picked up the chicks this morning!

I kept farmer's hours this morning by getting up at five to fetch my chicks from the regional distribution center of the US Post Office. Luckily, it's only the next town over. When I finally found Door 15 in the behemouth of a post office, I found out that the chicks had already been shipped out to my local office. Back into the car I ran to pick up the chicks at post office #2. They were in this tiny box, peeping away madly. So incredibly cute! Of course, I later read that loud chirping means the poor things are under distress.

I got them home and couldn't wait to check them out. My husband, Bill, also got a chance to peek in on them before he headed off to the airport for a four-day stint doing booth duty in Lost Wages, NV.

We ordered four different breeds: 7 White Leghorns, 7 Buff Orpingtons, 6 Dominiques, and 6 Speckled Sussex. The chicks all look different, ranging from light yellow to black with a white patch on the head, so it's easy to tell the breeds apart.

Next step, onto the brooder once it's heated up!