my birds this winter

I like the looks of this Saxony female, she is nice and big and well marked, have to see if she is a good layer or not.
And I think this is the best drake, the one in the foreground

They are all looking good, hope the girls start laying by March this year, I do love duck eggs to bake with and I should have lots with 6 girls laying

Some of the cockerels out for a bit in the afternoon

year old cock on right facing two cockerels on the left

Right now the fellow on the left is one cockerel I am eyeing up for the breeding pen, I like his stance and his nice tight head gear, yellow beak and legs

One of the 5 cock birds I used last year, i find they really bulk up in the chest in their second winter.

oh Miry your roosters are so handsome  -  how lovely and upright and chesty chesty  -  I am still looking with ignorance but I enjoy the stance nonetheless, hope I have not said the wrong thing.  His legs look very short under all that wonderful underneath feathering   . I wanted to ask you, and hope this doesn't make a hijack, if so I can pm you, just say.  I was looking over photos recently and saw one of your posts from some time back and saw your comment on one of your hens who was photographed with a rooster.  You said you liked her black on white and his white on black plumage  -  or the other way around.  Can't remember.  I am being very very brave in asking a genetics question so if there is something in this, please reply as if you are talking to a toddler because that is pretty much my level of understanding.  this is not a joke.  all true.  In my recent post about dark cornish rooster (and did I have a purebred one), the concept of barring came up and some discussion on genetics, and to do with sexlink stuff too, and since then I saw your pics of the pullet with a cockerel and was curious about the black on white and white on black.  Is this something that happens in just the dominiques or can it happen in any chicken who has barring and if so what is behind it?  or more easily, can you comment on it?  maybe it is a quick answer.  I can put this question on that post if you would prefer.

nice looking Saxony duck!

Beautiful birds! Love the marking on the saxony duck she pretty!

Magdelan wrote:oh Miry your roosters are so handsome  -  how lovely and upright and chesty chesty  -  I am still looking with ignorance but I enjoy the stance nonetheless, hope I have not said the wrong thing.  His legs look very short under all that wonderful underneath feathering   .  I wanted to ask you, and hope this doesn't make a hijack, if so I can pm you, just say.  I was looking over photos recently and saw one of your posts from some time back and saw your comment on one of your hens who was photographed with a rooster.  You said you liked her black on white and his white on black plumage  -  or the other way around.  Can't remember.  I am being very very brave in asking a genetics question so if there is something in this, please reply as if you are talking to a toddler because that is pretty much my level of understanding.  this is not a joke.  all true.  In my recent post about dark cornish rooster (and did I have a purebred one), the concept of barring came up and some discussion on genetics, and to do with sexlink stuff too, and since then I saw your pics of the pullet with a cockerel and was curious about the black on white and white on black.  Is this something that happens in just the dominiques or can it happen in any chicken who has barring and if so what is behind it?  or more easily, can you comment on it?  maybe it is a quick answer.  I can put this question on that post if you would prefer.

 "The light bars are a silvery white and the dark bars are not quite black, this author preferring a dove gray.  The light bars are to be almost twice as wide as the dark bars; this combined with the bar shape gives the Dominique its mottled appearance.     The light barring on the Dominique male should be twice as wide as that of the female.   This results in a male that is much lighter than the female.    The reason for this is simple; the Dominique male carries two chromosomes for the barring while the female only carries one.    An interesting bit of trivia – the Dominique is actually a dark bird with light bars though it is often described in just the opposite manner"
  this is a condensed quote taken from mark fields on his website www.dominiquechicken
hope this explains it nicely...thanks for your comments I do appreciate them!

Looking good!

mirycreek wrote:
Right now the fellow on the left is one cockerel I am eyeing up for the breeding pen, I like his stance and his nice tight head gear, yellow beak and legs

One of the 5 cock birds I used last year, i find they really bulk up in the chest in their second winter.

Thanks MiryCreek for posting the great pictures. I really like the idea of having small combs on the birds for our Canadian climate. Is that why you picked the Dominique breed of bird? I don't see too many other breeders for the Dominique's. I would like to raise this breed. Do you sell hatching eggs or know of others that I could talk to.

I really like the look of your cockerels, nice and big. What do you think they will weight at 20 to 24 weeks? Do you use them for meat birds?
Thanks again MiryCreek.  

mirycreek wrote:
 "The light bars are a silvery white and the dark bars are not quite black, this author preferring a dove gray.  The light bars are to be almost twice as wide as the dark bars; this combined with the bar shape gives the Dominique its mottled appearance.     The light barring on the Dominique male should be twice as wide as that of the female.   This results in a male that is much lighter than the female.    The reason for this is simple; the Dominique male carries two chromosomes for the barring while the female only carries one.    An interesting bit of trivia – the Dominique is actually a dark bird with light bars though it is often described in just the opposite manner"
  this is a condensed quote taken from mark fields on his website www.dominiquechicken
hope this explains it nicely...thanks for your comments I do appreciate them!

Thanks Miry, my education continues   .  and I am also glad my comments are happily received and not the other way.    I also love those combs, and am looking forward to hearing your reply to BCBoy.

Yes the combs were the reason I got into this breed, started with the rocks but hated the single combs especially in the winter or if the boys got to scrapping...
The two year old boys are big now but not exactly what I would call a meat bird, they take a lot of time to get to that weight, weights for a dom cock in APA standard are 7 lb and 6 lb for a cockerel so not really that big of a bird. I think of them more as a heritage layer that lay well yearround and do a lot of their own foraging as they are quite active birds.
We do butcher all the extra roosters for our own freezer but usually cook two for a family meal.
I am not planning to raise any chicks for sale this year as I will only be raising enough for my own purposes (going on vacation this summer!) but I should have fertilized eggs for sale in April and May.

Lovely, Miry, the red and grey on the white background is astoundingly beautiful. have a wonderful day, CynthiaM.

mirycreek wrote:
year old cock on right facing two cockerels on the left

I love this photo. It's like three old men at a coffee shop. Beautiful birds Miry. I like the comb also. Are they good layers?

well the girls are!   
So as not to be accused of favouring the boys, here are some shots of the girls on their day out today(they have to take turns right now)

this one was busy bugging the boys as they could not come out and play

What a tease...




Enjoying being queens of the castle.

Those doms look great! They are looking nice and chunky! And those legs! Oh the yellow! Great birds!

That was a lot of exclamation marks ahahaha, I suppose I just really like Domoniques.

Will you be selling eggs at any sales this year Miry?

Pretty Quacks!

Sweetened wrote:Will you be selling eggs at any sales this year Miry?

swift current april 12 at the ag n ex I will plan to have some there...should have duck eggs too.

It'll be great to see you again!

Miry, what are the other dark birds in the background?

Bigrock, those are known as Buckeyes. I think you might have seen this breed at my place when I first met you. They are beautiful. Her Son has been working hard on the breed for a good number of years now, he has some lovely Buckeyes. I wonder if Miry has taken over the breeding though, think the Son went to college . Right Miry, or am I making things up, smiling that big smile, have a beautiful day, CynthiaM.