The Dominique is a medium size bird with a rosecomb and has an irregular black and white barring color pattern. They are recognized as the oldest purebred poultry in America.
Some of them were shown at the very first Poultry Show in Boston in 1849. Dominiques were extremely popular in the early 1900’s as a dual-purpose bird, meat and eggs, to have on the family farm. Their popularity declined with the introduction of hybrid varieties such as the White Leghorns and Cornish / Rock crosses from commercial hatcheries.
I started keeping Dominiques in 1990. I had Light Brown Leghorns since 1968 and was looking for something different to keep and be able to eat the culls. Wilbur Stauffer showed some nice birds in his string that year that caught my eye. At the end of the fair season I bought the birds from him and was in the Dominique business.
I have found the Dominiques to be a quiet and good-natured bird. They are very hardy in our Ohio winters and being rosecomb there is no problem with the combs freezing. My coops are not heated, but the barn is tight and draft free. I provide warm water at all times for them to drink and they do just fine. With lights on a timer, layer crumbles, and some lettuce or alfalfa hay once a week, I am able to run breeding pens at any time of the year.
Dominiques are good layers. They lay a brown egg, with the pullets starting to lay by 5 months of age. Laying will continue for several months or until the hens go broody. Yes – they will hatch and rear their own young. One interesting fact about the Dominique is that the baby chicks carry a sex-linked gene that allows you to tell at hatching the males from the females. The cockerels have yellow toes and leg shanks, while the pullets have dark gray or black. Also the pullets have a yellow spot on top of their head and the cockerels' heads are a blend of black and yellow. Fertility is high and the chicks hatch easily. I have found that females take 5 months and males take 7-8 months to mature into "show "condition.
Dominiques are also available in the Bantams. All of my experiences have been with the large fowl however.
If you get some Dominiques to raise, like them and want to continue to keep them year after year – and maybe even show a few at your fair or local Poultry show – I would highly suggest 2 things. First join the Dominique Club of America. The contact is Mark Fields, 5000 Driskel Rd., Columbia, MO 65202. Mark puts out a very informative newsletter quarterly and a breeders directory. Secondly, I would buy a copy of the book "The American Dominique – A Treatise for the Fancier". It is available through the Club and contains anything you would ever want to know about the Dominique breed.
I hope you have found this interesting reading and wish you good luck if you decide to try raising some Dominiques. You will not be dissappointed!