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Shipping and How to Hatch Eggs
Shipping Hatching Eggs
Types of Incubators
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Make A Poultry Incubator

Dominique Chickens
Dom History: Colonial to 1900
Dom History: 1915 to Present
Dom Looks: Adult
Dom Looks: Chick/Pullet/Cockerel
Dominique Personality: Friendly
Dominique: Eggs, Broodiness
Dom: Determine Sex After Hatch
Photos Dominique Chicks
Photos Chicks with Mother Hens
Photos Roosters & Hens
Dominique Looks:
Chicks, Pullets, Cockerels, Feathers, Eggs
Dominique Chicks

Dominique chicks hatch well, feather early and mature young.

Occasionally, a single comb chick will hatch. That is OK because in its early history some Dominiques did have single combs.

This photo is a 1-week-old chick.

"I am a teacher from Alabama, and I ordered fertilized Dominique eggs from you last year and am hoping to do the same this year. We had a great hatch!" -Terri, 3rd grade teacher


Feeding Chicks

I add kelp to my chick starter feed. It contains a lot of trace minerals. I also feed them small weeds such as chickweed and small leaves of comfrey.

"Commercial feed producers are providing us the minimum requirements for poultry rather than an optimum ration." -David Hyman, Dominique News, November 1986

This photo is 2-week-old chicks. You can see less down and more feathers in this older group.

Determining Chick Gender

Dominique chicks are sex linked, meaning the males and females look different at hatching.

A cockerel chick has a light and scattered spot of white/yellow on top of the head.

Pullet chicks have a spot that is more compact, solid and small. The shanks and feet of a pullet chick are darker and more shadowed.

Hatch Day

"Out of 7 eggs set, 5 hatched yesterday (day 20). This is by far the best hatch I've ever had for shipped eggs, and the chicks are very lively. Thank you so much, and I'm sure I'll be doing business with you again in the future." - George, Raeford, North Carolina

This photo is from George.

Happy Chicks

"Nancy, we finished up with 16 out of 18 Dominiques. I'd say that's pretty good considering they came all the way from North Carolina. Thanks so much, I'll send some more pictures as they get bigger. They are some of the liveliest day-old chicks I've ever hatched." -Robert, Mobile, Alabama

This photo is from Robert.

More Happy Chicks

These chicks were hatched from Dominique eggs I mailed.

"I have been visiting your website for a year or so. I received the 10 Dominique eggs today. All were in great shape. I raise my birds for meat and eggs and of course pleasure. I have been looking for quality Dominique bloodlines in my area for several years to no avail. I believe your birds are what I've been looking for. I believe the Dominique is a very important breed and they need to be properly repopulated." -Tom, South Boston, Virginia

Creative Brooder System

The above chicks with their new, improved housing system. These chicks are very lucky.

Dominique Cockerels




Dominique cockerel Dom cockerels start crowing around 4 months old.

The photo to the left is a 7-week-old cockerel.

The photo at the right/top is a 4-week-old cockerel. The photo at the right/bottom is a 10- to 12-week-old cockerel.

Dominique Pullets

Dom pullets start laying at around 5-6 months old.

The photo to the left is a pullet about 3 weeks old.

To the right a pullet 4 weeks old.

The color is a little off in the photo to the right since it was shot in a barn.

Dominique Pullets with Adult Buff Orpington

These Dominique pullets are 6 weeks old. This photo is from Tiffany in Eau Claire, Wisconsin.

Dominique Cockerel and Pullet

The cockerel is on the left, the pullet on the right. You can see the pullet is darker. They are 7 weeks old.

Dominiques and 1 Cross Bred

These Dominiques are 5 months old. The darker ones are pullets. The lighter ones are cockerels. The really light one in the middle is an interesting cross between a Dominiqiue and a Cream Brabanter.

This photo is from Heff in Bolton, Massachusets.

Good for Feathers


From Colonial times to the early 1900s, their feathers were used to stuff mattresses and pillows.

Some old-time breeders feel that darker breeds of birds stay warmer in winter than lighter-colored breeds.

The photo to the left is feathers of Dominique hens.

The photo to the right/top is Dominique rooster tail feathers.

Dominiques usually molt in October. Molting is shedding old feathers so new ones can grow.

Good for Meat and Eggs

The Dominiques are a utility, dual-purpose breed (meat and eggs), but are mostly kept for being good egg producers. Their eggs are flavorful. I feed my hens flaxseed to increase omega-3 fatty acids.

Pullets start laying at about 6 months old. Hens average 230-275 small- to medium-sized brown eggs per year. They are 18 to 24 ounces per dozen.

The eggs vary in shade from light brown to dark brown.

Grand Old Breed

Dominique hens lay more eggs in winter than most other chicken breeds.

Dominiques are great birds for backyard poultry flocks and homesteaders. A wonderful American chicken.

"Ten years on a big utility poultry farm has proven this old breed, the one best of all the utility breeds. And hundreds of all the popular utility breeds have been tried against her." -W.H. Davenport, 1913 Dominique advertisement

This photo is fine art photographer Brenda Scott at the Stagville State Historic Site in Durham, North Carolina in 2014.

 
This is a chart of the relative egg production of a hen over 10 years.

The first year is considered to be 100% and then each year thereafter the percent goes down. The first few years hens are very good layers.

I have an 8-year-old Brabanter hen named "Friendly" who I keep as a pet with the rest of my chickens. She lays about 5-6 eggs a year, all in the spring. Usually hens live to be about 8-15 years. Though I heard about one hen who was 17 years old.
 
I recommend the book "Holy Shit: Managing Manure to Save Mankind" by Gene Logsdon.

It is a down-to-earth book about properly managing manure so farms and gardens get the best productivity. Great for anyone with livestock: chickens, ducks, turkeys, donkeys, goats, cattle, sheep, horses, rabbits, etc.

"In our family we have a standard joke that every conversation, even around the dinner table, eventually winds up about manure. And Gene Logsdon, in his naughty and inimitable style, has captured the essence of soil building, pathogen control, food ecology and farm economics by explaining the elegantly simple symbiosis between manure and carbon. What a great addition to the eco-food and farming movement. Logsdon's deep bedding approach for livestock housing, elegantly explained and defended, is the primary fertility engine that drives all of us beyond organic farmers." —Joel Salatin, Author of "You Can Farm" and "The Sheer Ecstasy of Being a Lunatic Farmer"

Check out Gene Logsdon's blog, "The Contrary Farmer". It has insightful accounts of his farming and the downside of large agribusiness. Frequently humorous.


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Dominique Chicken Personality: Friendly


Nantahala Farm in the Mountains of Western NC
No pickup at farm. I ship to the United States only.
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